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Monday, 7 October 2013
Saturday, 5 October 2013
Friday, 4 October 2013
Porous borders turn Libya into radical sanctuary
Libya has morphed into the Wild West of northern Africa just two years after the fall of the Gadhafi regime. In particular, the Libyan Desert has become a sanctuary for radical forces.
In the middle of nowhere in the Sahara Desert in the town of Isseyen, time seems to stand still. Now that voter registration is over for the upcoming municipal elections, tranquility has returned to the simple offices of the town hall. Visitors only come by for the satellite Internet connection, one of the very few public services provided in this remote area of post-revolution Libya.
But the calm is deceptive. Located southwest of the Tuareg town of Ghat, Isseyen is the last outpost before the Algerian border, a route used to enter the country by smugglers and Tuareg fighters from Mali, including members of AQIM, Al Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb.
“I saw al Qaeda vehicles there, but the authorities don’t want to have anything to do with it,” says Hassan Massafer, who belongs to an army unit stationed in Ubari, 400 kilometers further inland.
Locals in Isseyen are skeptical. “Recently there were rumors going around that a heavily armed al Qaeda convoy was moving north. But when we looked into it, it turned out to be a local border patrol,” says tour guide Abishini Aissa, adding that “as soon as people see Tuaregs with turbans they get scared.”
For the people of southern Libya Islamists are not the problem, but rather criminality and turf wars between the drug gangs. “In the desert, it’s the rule of the strongest, but in our communities, it is usually safe because we know each other,” say several residents of Ghat.
Tense security situation
On the other hand, nobody contradicts the general assessment that the security situation in the region is a disaster and that the Libyan authorities have no control over the border region.
Mohamed Abdelkader, the mayor of Ghat, does not beat around the bush when he says, “The borders are wide open. Drugs and weapons flow in and out and the army has no capacity to catch smugglers or extremists.”
An army, in the conventional sense, does not exist in Libya anyway. Out of fear there could be attempts to overthrow him, Gadhafi, when he was alive, kept the army weak. Currently, national security forces are still in the process of being built up. The transitional government chose to incorporate rebel forces into the military in an effort to demobilize revolutionaries. For the fighters – mostly untrained youngsters – this has brought prestige and a government salary, but they are still not capable of dealing with the demands of the job.
“There are not enough men for border guards and patrols. Normally, passports are not even checked,” notes Abdelkader.
Failed security strategies
Furthermore, the national government lacks authority. Most of the former rebels feel obliged to follow the orders of their direct superiors and the interests of their tribe, their clan and their community.
“The way the army was formed was a big mistake,” says Barka Wardougou, who heads the military council in Murzuk in southwestern Libya. He argues that a core forces should have been trained abroad and then distributed across the country to create a professional armed force.
But Wardougou does not only represent Libya; he also represents the interests of his tribe, the Tubu. Because of their cross-border family connections – most of them live in Chad – the Tubu are viewed by most Libyans as dangerous interlopers and often face harsh discrimination.
Colonel Wardougou spent decades fighting a rebellion in the Sahel region and was even the commander of the so-called Sahel Liberation Army in Niger. In his view, the government in Tripoli is a farce because radical forces from Benghazi, the second largest city, are pulling all the strings.
“They have sent us more Islamists [as reinforcements],” says Wardougou. “They want us to believe that they have the border region to Chad and Niger under control. But actually we are the only ones who provide a degree of order and root out the drug smugglers.” They never stay long anyway, he adds, because of the harsh conditions in the desert.
The frustration of the local government is palpable and, in Wardougou’s view, the national security strategies Tripoli likes to talk about are not worth the paper they’re printed on by the time they’ve reached southern Libya.
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Saturday, 28 September 2013
Governments Anti-malaria drug endangers UK troops
Anti-malaria drug endangers UK troops
The drug, Mefloquine – better known as Lariam, has been banned by the U.S. military because of its effects on mental health and the dangers it poses to troops because of its high level of toxicity, The Independent reported.
After the drug known as a modern-day œAgent Orange” by doctors was linked to a series of suicides and murders – the most typical of which was the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians by a U.S. trooper – the U.S. military announced a total ban on its use this month.
However, Lariam is being given to British troops and repeated warnings over its dangers have fallen on deaf ears as revealed by a former senior medical officer.
œFor the past 12 years I was saying this is potentially a dangerous drug – most people can take it without problems but a few people will experience difficulties and of those a small number will become psychotic and because there are other alternatives that are safer and just as effective we should move to them but my words fell on deaf ears”, said Lt-Col Ashley Croft, who served for more than 25 years in the Royal Army Medical Corps and is an expert on malaria.
Lt Col Ashcroft, who retired in April, accused the MoD of being in œdenial mode”.
œThe problem is that it can make people have psychotic thoughts and therefore act in an irrational manner and potentially a manner that is dangerous to themselves or their colleagues, or civilians”, he added.
According to the retired officer there are other drugs such as Doxycycline and malarone, which are both safer and effective in preventing malaria.
œReally the only people that get it [Lariam] now are the poor old soldiers and they have no choice”, he noted. Lt Col Croft estimates around 2,500 soldiers a year are given the drug.
The U.S. Army produced Lariam in the 1970s, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved it in 1989. It was then recognized as a popular drug for preventing and treating malaria, but newer anti-malarial drugs, such as malarone have been developed in recent years with less side-effects.
MOL/HE
Copyright: Press TV
Friday, 27 September 2013
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Monday, 23 September 2013
Sunday, 22 September 2013
For One Russia-Christ Victorious
TO SERVE CHRIST IS ALL! if we serve him He serves us. With his protection from the forces of Evil. We in the west no are suffering from that lack of protection from Our Most gracious lord Jesus Christ. God bless Holy Christian Russia and may her example be one to us all!
Saturday, 21 September 2013
Saudis Sent 1,200 Death-Row Inmates to Syria to Join Rebels
Saudis Sent 1,200 Death-Row Inmates to Syria to Join Rebels
Offered Detainees Freedom, Stipends for Families
by Jason Ditz,
September , 2013
According to reports from the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), a Syriac Christian-run media outlet,
the Saudi Arabian government sent over 1,200 death-row inmates to Syria
to join the ongoing civil war on the side of the rebellion.
The AINA report cites a leaked memo from the Interior Ministry as saying the 1,239 inmates were all sentenced to “execution by sword” for various crimes, and were given full pardons, as well as stipends for their families.
An unnamed Iraqi MP confirmed knowledge of the program, and said that Saudi Arabia had been forced to end the policy after Russia threatened to bring the issue to the attention of the United Nations.
The quiet deal between Russia and Saudi Arabia was that the influx of inmates would end and Russia would keep the matter from becoming public knowledge. Now that the information is out there, it will be interesting to see how Russia and Saudi Arabia react.
The AINA report cites a leaked memo from the Interior Ministry as saying the 1,239 inmates were all sentenced to “execution by sword” for various crimes, and were given full pardons, as well as stipends for their families.
An unnamed Iraqi MP confirmed knowledge of the program, and said that Saudi Arabia had been forced to end the policy after Russia threatened to bring the issue to the attention of the United Nations.
The quiet deal between Russia and Saudi Arabia was that the influx of inmates would end and Russia would keep the matter from becoming public knowledge. Now that the information is out there, it will be interesting to see how Russia and Saudi Arabia react.
Friday, 20 September 2013
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