November 21st, 2018 | 0 commentsLibya expects to end a long-running liquidity crisis by early 2019 as a foreign currency tax helps the official and black market exchange rates converge at less than 3 dinars to the dollar, the Tripoli-based deputy prime minister said. The chasm between the two rates has enabled armed groups and their allies to reap vast profits to fund t...
November 21st, 2018 | 0 commentsWith overt enthusiasm, Libyans openly celebrated Prophet Mohamed’s birthday (the Mawlid al-Nabawi or Miloud) this year, reinvigorating life into an old traditional practice recently prosecuted, silenced and perceived as un-Islamic by some Islamic interpretations. The Sufi turuqs (orders) have been an integral part and in the forefront of...
October 17th, 2018 | 0 commentsLibya’s state-owned Al-Madar mobile phone company, the second largest mobile phone company in Libya, announced yesterday the launch of its fourth generation plus (4G+) high speed mobile internet service. Al-Madar said that it will start the 4G+ service “soon” in the greater Tripoli area, and that the service will also be available in the...
October 17th, 2018 | 0 commentsLibya’s High State Council (HSC) voted on Monday its preconditional approval of the House of Representatives’ (HoR) proposal to restructure the Presidential Council (PC). The HSC agreed to the main thrust of the HoR’s proposal that the PC be reduced to only three members consisting of a head with two deputies. However, the HSC amendments...
October 12th, 2018 | 0 commentsLibyan National Army (LNA) forces captured late Wednesday Safwat Zidan, a notorious associate of Hisham El-Ashmawy, one of Egypt's most wanted terrorists, who was captured in Libya's eastern city of Derna earlier this week. Egyptian official newspapers reported Tarek Ibn Zeyad’s Battalion, affiliated with the LNA as saying they captured Z...
October 9th, 2018 | 0 commentsLibya’s Ministry of Interior, aligned to the internationally recognised Libyan Presidency Council and Government of National Accord led by Faiez Serraj, announced yesterday that it had taken over the security of Tripoli port. The announcement follows on from the announcement last Tuesday (2 October) by Mustafa Gadur, commander of one of T...
October 9th, 2018 | 0 commentsFaiez Serraj, head of the Presidency Council and Government of National Accord (PC/GNA), announced a mini reshuffle of four of his ministers yesterday. He has appointed Ali Issawi as Minister of Economy, Fathi Bashagha as Interior Minister, Farah Bumatri as Finance Minister and Mohamed Al-Gantry as head of the Youth and Sports Authority....
October 9th, 2018 | 0 commentsLibya’s militia problem is worse than the militia problems of Lebanon, Ghassan Salame, the head of UNSMIL has said. Speaking to the London-based Al-Hayat Arabic-language newspaper, Salame said that Libya has 200,000 militia-members that the Libyan state has been providing some kind of (legal and financial) cover for – over the last five y...
October 9th, 2018 | 0 commentsLibya’s UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj changed the interior minister and reshuffled other cabinet posts on Sunday in a move seen as a bid to broaden his support nationwide and bolster security in the capital after weeks of clashes, Reuters reports. Tripoli has been hit by fighting between rival armed groups competing over access...
September 25th, 2018 | 0 commentsFrance on Monday called for stronger UN sanctions on Libyans who stand in the way of a political solution in the conflict-ridden country. The current situation “forces us to show greater firmness toward those who want to insist on the status quo for their sole benefit,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters at the Unit...
