Category: Politics

Brazil’s Rousseff defiant after impeachment vote

{Brazil’s president says she is outraged in emotional address after Congress authorised a move to impeach her.}

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff has said that she is “outraged” by a vote in Congress to authorise impeachment proceedings against her.

In an emotional first public response on Monday, Rousseff said that she would “continue to fight” for her political survival and that there was no legal basis for any impeachment.

Rousseff is accused of making illegal accounting moves to mask government shortfalls during her 2014 re-election, but she has not been accused of corruption.

Many Brazilians also hold her responsible for the failing economy and a corruption scandal centred on state oil company Petrobras – a perception that has left her government with 10 percent approval ratings.

{{Senate vote}}

Brazilian legislators voted in favour of impeaching Rousseff on Sunday after a contest that has deeply divided the country and could end more than a decade of left-wing rule.

The motion will now go to the Senate which will vote, probably in May, on whether to open a trial.

If the Senate votes by a simple majority to go ahead with the impeachment, Rousseff, 68, would be suspended from her post and be replaced by Vice President Michel Temer as acting president, pending a trial.

Temer would serve out Rousseff’s term until 2018 if she were found guilty.

The impeachment battle, which comes during Brazil’s worst recession since the 1930s, has divided the country of 200 million people more deeply than at any time since the end of its military dictatorship in 1985.

The 513 legislators voted one by one, all of them given 30 seconds to speak before casting their ballots. The floor of the lower house was a sea of Brazilian flags and pumping fists as dozens of MPs carried the deputy who cast the decisive 342nd vote – needed for impeachment to succeed – in their arms.

April 19, 2016
South Sudan rebel chief Riek Machar fails to return amid ‘logistical issues’

{Riek Machar had been expected to arrive in Juba on Monday from his stronghold of Pagak after more than two years of conflict.}

South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar’s highly-anticipated return to the capital Juba, to take up the role of vice president, was delayed Monday, his spokesman said, citing “logistical reasons”.

“We are committed to the peace agreement, but there have been logistical issues and the first vice president, Riek Machar, will come tomorrow,” spokesman William Ezekiel said.

Mr Machar’s return to Juba and swearing-in as President Salva Kiir’s deputy will mark an important step in a floundering August 2015 deal to end the country’s civil war.

The agreement is seen as the best hope yet for ending more than two years of fighting that have left the world’s youngest nation in chaos and pushed it to the brink of famine.

Mr Machar previously served as Mr Kiir’s deputy until he was fired just months before the start of war in December 2013.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in a conflict marked by numerous atrocities, with more than two million forced from their homes and nearly six million in need of emergency food aid.

The war broke out in December 2013 when Mr Kiir accused Mr Machar of planning a coup, claims he denied, triggering a cycle of retaliatory killings that divided the desperately poor country along ethnic lines.

The rebel leader was expected to arrive in Juba on Monday from his tribal stronghold of Pagak in the east of the country, but despite the latest hitch spokesman Ezekiel said the rebels remain committed to peace.

“We are here to implement all the peace agreement. We have been missing deadlines but we will fulfil in the end,” he said.

The red carpet had been rolled out at Juba’s airport on Monday morning, the sentries lined up and the dignitaries were assembling when Machar’s no-show was announced, disappointing many for whom his arrival marks a major tangible step towards peace.

MILESTONE

Overnight, posters welcoming Machar, some reading “Reconciling, uniting the nation,” had been torn down, said Ezekiel.

Machar’s arrival will be a milestone in the peace process but experts warn that implementing the deal will be a long and arduous task.

“It will allow the formation of the transitional government, the most significant step in the implementation of the peace agreement,” said Casie Copeland from the International Crisis Group think tank, while warning warned that the conflict would likely continue.

Several militias, driven by local agendas or revenge, do not obey either Machar’s or Kiir’s commands.

Tensions are high ahead of Machar’s return.

A 1,370-strong armed rebel force arrived in Juba this month as part of the peace deal, while the government says all but 3,420 of its troops have withdrawn from the city.

The opposing forces are based in camps scattered in and around the capital, while other forces are not allowed within a 25 kilometre radius of Juba.

The army has denied opposition claims that it has secretly returned truckloads of its troops to the capital.

The UN has 11,000 peacekeeping troops in South Sudan, many of them guarding the 185,000 civilians who have spent the past 28 months inside UN bases, too afraid to leave in case they are attacked.

Both the government and rebel forces have been accused of perpetrating ethnic massacres, recruiting and killing children and carrying out widespread rape, torture and forced displacement of populations to “cleanse” areas of their opponents.

April 19, 2016
Keep the Candle of Freedom Burning in the Congo

{The U.S. should seize the opportunity to help facilitate the peaceful transfer of power in the Democratic Republic of Congo.}

The history of postcolonial Africa is brimming with tales of greed, avarice, corruption and thuggery that would produce envy in the heart of even the slickest Chicago pol. If it weren’t for the poverty, disease, bloodshed, war and death accompanying it, it might even be amusing, like something out of a late Graham Greene novel.

The problem is not intractable as it is seems. It’s the lack of resolve among the truly democratic nations of the world that allows it to continue. They pump in billions in aid, the plutocrats steal it, and as long as the special interests on both sides are getting what they want, everyone tries to pretend nothing is going on.

For the world to pay attention, an event typically has to be like the Ethiopian famine, the genocide in Darfur, the Rwandan civil war – extraordinary in its inhumanity and brutality. When the crisis is past, however, we all turn away.

Despite its many democratic successes, Africa is not a continent where people expect to see peaceful transitions of power in countries from one regime to the next. Democratic institutions and constitutions are still undergoing their shakedown cruise in many places, where political successors are trying just as hard to cling to power as their predecessors.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Joseph Kabila is giving every indication he does not plan to leave office at the end of this year but will instead run again for the presidency, in violation of the country’s newest constitution.

“A political crisis is building as [Congo] prepares, or rather fails to prepare, for upcoming historic elections scheduled for this November,” former Rep. Tom Perriello, now the U.S. Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, told a congressional hearing in February.

Such a move, he said, would undermine the political and economic gains the country has experienced over the past decade. “A confrontation between President Kabila and those demanding timely and credible elections in the country is not inevitable, but it is becoming increasingly probable,” he said.

Kabila’s signals that he may resist a peaceful transition is drawing bipartisan attention on Capitol Hill.

In a letter sent Friday to the Congo’s ambassador to Washington, Republican Sen. John McCain wrote of his “deep concern at the increasingly repressive political climate and the deterioration of the human rights situation” in the country, a former Belgian colony once known as Zaire.

McCain went on to criticize what he called “a wide-scale campaign to crack down on political dissent and consolidate power,” including the expulsion of members of the ruling coalition and the arrest and imprisonment of activists calling for a general strike to protest Kabila’s efforts to remain in office. McCain noted “reports from credible rights groups indicate that political opponents are now facing death threats from authorities.”

Alongside McCain in this crusade is Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, who wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry in February about the situation in the Congo, saying, “Continued delay and public perceptions that President Kabila is clinging to power have create a very real risk of violent upheaval.”

The Congo is no stranger to violence. Kabila came to power after his father, Laurent-Desire Kabila, who led the coalition that ousted Mobuto Sese Seko after a 31-year dictatorial reign and then proclaimed himself president, was assassinated in 2001. The prospect of civil unrest, perhaps even another war if Kabila refuses to abide by the constitution, is quite real.

In his letter to Kerry, Markey outlined three points the United States should “clearly and unequivocally” impress upon Kabila:

Kabila should immediately, clearly and publicly state he will not remain in power once his term ends this year.

Provided there is verified, on-the-ground progress toward a free and fair national election this year, including an end to the current efforts to close political space and crack down on peaceful dissent, the U.S. and international partners will help fund the electoral process, and encourage increased private investment.

If he fails to meet clear benchmarks required to hold a free and fair national election this year, then the U.S. and other partners will implement sanctions. Such sanctions should include targeted visa denials and asset freezes under the Executive Order on the DRC of July 8, 2014, review and reduction of bilateral and multilateral security and economic aid going through the government and discouragement of private investment.

In their letters, both McCain and Markey acknowledge that Kabila has, up to now, helped bring “relative stability” to the Congo after a prolonged period of turmoil. The respect he has earned, they caution separately, could be wiped out if he continues the transition from democrat to dictator by blocking or impeding the upcoming election, continuing to crack down on democracy supporters and standing for a third term in office.

“The United States values its good relationship with the [Congo] and is proud to have provided assistance to your government as you continue to confront ongoing challenges,” writes McCain in the penultimate paragraph to his letter. “President Kabila has been instrumental to the [Congo’s] path from conflict to relative stability. He now has the opportunity to cement his legacy by setting the country on the successful path towards democracy and prosperity that future generations of Congolese and the world will long celebrate.”

There are those within the Washington policymaking community who will no doubt say, “It’s Africa – who cares? What is America’s compelling strategic interest in what happens in Congo?” The answer is freedom, for all mankind – an idea that has animated this nation since its founding. We long ago determined that the men and women who inhabit this small planet have an inalienable right to be free that comes to us from the Creator. Our size and economic and cultural power give America a unique opportunity — some would even call it a responsibility — to spread that belief far and wide, not just through Africa but through Asia, Central and South America and the Middle East. It may not be our job to topple every tinhorn dictator who plans his flag on a plot of land. But it is our job to keep freedom’s light burning on the highest hill so that all can see it and embrace its glow.

April 19, 2016
UN proposes options for sending police to Burundi, government OKs 20

{United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has proposed sending between 20 and 3,000 police to Burundi, where political violence has been simmering for a year, but warned that the government signalled it would only accept 20 unarmed experts.}

In a report, seen by Reuters on Monday, Ban outlined three possible options for a police deployment to the small landlocked African state as requested by the 15-member U.N. Security Council in a resolution unanimously adopted earlier this month.

Tit-for-tat attacks between President Pierre Nkurunziza’s security forces and his opponents have escalated since April 2015 when he announced a disputed bid for a third term as president and then won re-election in July. The United Nations says more than 400 people have been killed and over 250,000 have fled.

“The security situation in Burundi remains alarmingly precarious,” Ban told the council.

More than two decades after the 1994 genocide of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus by the Hutu majority in neighbouring Rwanda, the United Nations is under growing pressure to show it can halt the bloodshed in Burundi. Rwanda and Burundi have a similar ethnic makeup.

The Security Council had asked Ban to provide options for a “police contribution to increase the U.N. capacity to monitor the security situation, promote the respect of human rights and advance rule of law.”

Ban gave the council three options: a light footprint of 20 to 50 police personnel to assess the Burundi police, a monitoring presence of 228 police, or a protection and monitoring deployment of some 3,000 police.

He said a U.N. police deployment would “help create an environment conducive to political dialogue by averting a further deterioration of the security situation and decreasing the occurrence of human rights violations.”

The Security Council would need to adopt another resolution to authorize a police deployment to Burundi. Ban said full cooperation of the Burundi government would also be needed to ensure the success of any deployment.

Ban told the council that the Burundi government said in an April 13 letter it was ready to receive “around 20 unarmed police experts to provide support to the Burundian national police and welcomed United Nations support in the form of logistics and, above all, capacity building.”

In January, the Security Council made its second visit to Burundi in less than a year, where fears of an ethnic war have led to an economic crisis. Ban also visited in February.

April 19, 2016
Rwanda finds regional integration sweet spot, beats drums for the ‘developmental state’

{Rwanda says it has found opening up its borders to other Africans “extremely beneficial”, with fears of being swamped by foreign nationals having been overblown.}

The country in 2011 notably scrapped work permit restrictions for Kenyans and Ugandans wishing to work in there, amid fears that the former would take all consultancy jobs, and Ugandans overrun its small business and unskilled sector jobs, its foreign affairs minister Louise Mushikiwabo said, a fear many other African countries tend to harbour.

But the actual experience had stripped away those fears, she said at a public speech at Ethiopia’s Bahir Dar University on Friday.

“The benefits have been enormous, including bringing competition and skills,” she said, adding that Rwanda was a “strong believer in regional integration.”

Part of that is necessity. As a landlocked nation opening up itself allows more access to the wider East African market, growing from its 12 million people to over 150 million people, she said, while it also lowered the costs of trade, for which transport takes up to a third.

The “developmental state”
But it is also borne out of historical experience, where confining its grievances within a small space had been detrimental to its growth, Mushikiwabo said in her lecture titled “The Developmental State in Africa: The Rwandan Experience”.

For Rwanda, the developmental state was about the government taking a strong role in meeting the people’s basic needs, she said, with the observation that development and democracy were complementary.

“In Rwanda, politically we have decided to govern by consensus. Our idea of democracy is Rwanda is providing for the people and giving them a say and a voice,” she said.

To achieve their economic goals, African countries must be bold and take chances with their decisions, including making those that many would see as impossible, the minister said.

“We believe in Rwanda that there is not an inherent link between Africa and poverty.”

The country’s Vision 2020 growth plan launched in 2000 aims to transform the country into a knowledge-based middle income country, in the process providing inclusive growth.

“We’ve done pretty well when measured against our ambitions,” Mushikiwabo said at the event that took place on the sidelines of a high-profile meeting called to take stock of Africa’s security challenges.

The annual Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa is chaired by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo. This year it is exploring ways of extricating the continent from what it says are externally-driven solutions to its security challenges.

Mushikiwabo said African countries should look to transpose indigenous solutions with dominant western-led security paradigms, alluding to the country’s much-documented Gacaca courts that aimed at reconciling Rwandans following the genocide using traditional approaches.

“After 11 years it has given us extraordinary results in a very difficult situation,” she said, even as she conceded it had not been “perfect”. “Reconciliation is a long, long journey, and sometimes it is personal.”

“[But] If Rwanda made it, anyone can make it,” she said, terming the country’s journey back from the genocide as one of “extraordinary choices” and sometimes “impossible solutions”.

The country’s media, which was in the wake of the genocide cited for its role, had also much improved, even if “now and then there will be a fight [with government], as long as it does not become a chronic issue.”

African countries should also take ownership of external aid partnerships she said, to counter a situation where they did not fit in with a country’s interests, leaving donors in the driving seat.

The country of 12 million is still faced infrastructural and ethnic challenges, she said.

Former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano said the continent should look to treat its diversity—ethnic, environmental or cultural—as wealth and build on this towards the African Union’s Agenda 2063 goals.

April 18, 2016
South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar postpones return to Juba

{The expected return of South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar to the capital, Juba, has been postponed for logistical reasons, a spokesman said.}

He was due to take up the post of first vice-president, a key part of the peace process aimed at ending more than two years of civil war.

Mr Machar fled Juba at the start of the conflict in December 2013.

More than two million people have been displaced and tens of thousands killed in the fighting.

Rebel spokesman William Ezekiel told journalists waiting for Mr Machar at Juba’s airport that the trip had been postponed until Tuesday.

He said that the rebels were still committed to the peace process.

{{South Sudan: The world’s youngest country}}

Split from Sudan in July 2011 after an independence referendum

One of Africa’s least-developed economies. Highly oil-dependent

Relations with Sudan strained by disputes over oil revenue sharing and borders

Power struggle led to civil war in December 2013

An estimated 2.2 million fled their homes during conflict

A tentative, internationally mediated, peace agreement signed in August 2015

April 18, 2016
Why Did Congo Offer Clinton $650,000 For Two Pics And A Speech?

{Congo, one of the poorest nations on Earth, offered former President Bill Clinton a speaking fee of $650,000–a sum equal to annual per-capita income of 2,813 Congolese. Indeed, the International Monetary Fund ranks the Democratic Republic of the Congo dead last in its global income rankings. What did it expect in return for its investment?}

In the proposed 2012 contract, the organizers expected a speech and at least one photograph each with the leaders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Congo, which appeared to be splitting the princely honorarium. (Since there are two nations known as Congo, in this article, unless otherwise specified, I am referring to the Democratic Republic of the Congo whenever I write “Congo” alone.) That doesn’t seem like much of a return, two snaps and a chat. So the question is: What else did Congo want for its money?

Congo’s extraordinary offer to Clinton first surfaced in a batch of Hillary Clinton’s emails released this past August, where it won little attention at the time. Newly leaked documents, known as the “Panama papers,” shed new light on the mystery as well as the misdoings of Congo’s corrupt rulers.

While Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, America’s top official dealing with foreign leaders, former President Bill Clinton travelled the world giving speeches to world leaders and overseas interests–earning at least $48 million while his wife was America’s top diplomat. Why weren’t the payments to one Clinton not considered a bribe to the other Clinton?

Former US President Bill Clinton (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Congo, one of the poorest nations on Earth, offered former President Bill Clinton a speaking fee of $650,000–a sum equal to annual per-capita income of 2,813 Congolese. Indeed, the International Monetary Fund ranks the Democratic Republic of the Congo dead last in its global income rankings. What did it expect in return for its investment?

In the proposed 2012 contract, the organizers expected a speech and at least one photograph each with the leaders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Congo, which appeared to be splitting the princely honorarium. (Since there are two nations known as Congo, in this article, unless otherwise specified, I am referring to the Democratic Republic of the Congo whenever I write “Congo” alone.) That doesn’t seem like much of a return, two snaps and a chat. So the question is: What else did Congo want for its money?

Gallery
Hillary Clinton’s (Very) Public Life
Launch Gallery
25 images

Congo’s extraordinary offer to Clinton first surfaced in a batch of Hillary Clinton’s emails released this past August, where it won little attention at the time. Newly leaked documents, known as the “Panama papers,” shed new light on the mystery as well as the misdoings of Congo’s corrupt rulers.

While Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, America’s top official dealing with foreign leaders, former President Bill Clinton travelled the world giving speeches to world leaders and overseas interests–earning at least $48 million while his wife was America’s top diplomat. Why weren’t the payments to one Clinton not considered a bribe to the other Clinton?

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Precisely to prevent this perception, the State department had to vet all of the international speeches of the former president. Thus, the foreign policy director at the Clinton Foundation, Amitabh Desai, emailed Clinton’s request to accept the $650,000 to a State department official, writing “WJC [William Jefferson Clinton] wants know what state thinks of it if he took it 100% for the foundation.”

This a favorite camouflage of the Clintons. The money was destined for the non-profit Clinton Foundation, which is controlled by the Clintons and their daughter, where it would be used for healthcare, schooling and other good works. Using money to help your fellow man isn’t self-enrichment, they say. True, but beside the point. Giving money to charity doesn’t address whether that money was received as a bribe. To answer that key question, one would have to know what foreign leaders wanted in exchange for their donations. After all, Congolese leaders aren’t worried about charitable deductions on their U.S. tax forms. So why did they proffer so much of their poor country’s money?

Apparently Foggy Bottom nixed Clinton’s plans to travel to Congo as well as his request to give a paid speech in North Korea. In any event, he didn’t go. But the offer itself is the issue.

What could Congo President Joseph Kabila want? While the possibilities are endless, two seem most likely: he sought U.S. permission to ignore Congo’s constitution and stay in power beyond his two-term limit, which expires in 2016, and he wanted to shield his overseas assets from international investigators.

Bill and Hillary, especially when she was secretary of state, could be helpful on each count, if they wanted to be. Staying in power and keeping billions in shadowy gains would certainly be worth $650,000, if that was the deal that Kabila had in mind.

It is time for the Clintons and their foundation to disclose all of their communications with Kabila and his regime. How was the $650,000 sum arrived at? What did Congo want in return? Did the Clintons offer to provide any help with U.S., UN, EU or other international officials?

April 18, 2016
I will serve all Ugandans, Museveni reassures

{President Museveni on Saturday castigated residents of Kasangati village, Kyadondo East Constituency in Wakiso District for voting the Opposition.}

Kasangati village is under Kyadondo East Constituency that was won by Mr Apollo Kantinti, an FDC parliamentary candidate. Kasangati is also home to President Museveni’s political rival Dr Kizza Besigye.

“I know some of you did not vote for us, but others voted for us. Those who did not vote for us and those who voted for us we shall work for you all,” Mr Museveni said.

The President was speaking at centenary celebrations for Wampewo Primary School that is located not so far away from Dr Besigye’s home. Mr Museveni told the residents that his government had constructed Gayaza Road and others in the nearby Kira Municipality.

According to the final results that were released by the Electoral Commission chairman, Mr Museveni received 5,617,503 votes (60.75 per cent) and Dr Besigye emerged second with 3,270,290 votes (35.37 per cent).

The school which opened in April 16, 1916 is currently in a very sorry state with insufficient and dilapidated structures. It has 1,200 pupils. The school also lacks staff quarters according to Ms Marjorie Kilemerwa, the headmistress.

Ms Kilemerwa said the school needs to raise the Shs2.8b to erect a three-storeyed structure which can accommodate the pupils and teachers.

“We started a fundraising campaign three years ago but we have only collected Shs31million. Many people are hesitant to contributing funds because we are seen as an Opposition school,” she said while speaking to Daily Monitor on the sidelines of the fundraising.

Not even Mr Museveni’s presence at the celebrations that also acted as a fundraising campaign could change the situation as less than Shs50m was collected. The President contributed Shs30m in cash and pledged another Shs20.

“I have seen the school has very old structures. I am going to take special interest in it. I am going to task the Education ministry to consider it in its plans,” the President added.

Bishop Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira of Namirembe Diocese applauded Mr Museveni for steering education in the country.

April 18, 2016
Iraqis protest as political deadlock deepens

{Third attempt to approve new cabinet fails after dissenting MPs continue attempts to replace the speaker of parliament.}

Protesters have taken to the streets in Baghdad to demand a new government, after the Iraqi parliament cancelled its third session in a week to discuss political reforms.

Saturday’s session was scrapped because “parliament couldn’t be secured” by security forces, said a statement from the office of the speaker, Salim al-Jabouri, whose position is under threat as some legislators are seeking to replace him.

The political crisis centres around divisions over a plan by Haider al-Abadi, the prime minister, to bring technocrats into cabinet in a bid to check corruption.

On March 31, Abadi presented a list of independent professionals who he hoped could free ministries from the grip of dominant political groups.

But under pressure from leading politicians, he drafted a second list this week based on party links.

The modified list, which Abadi had planned to present for a vote, prompted a sit-in by MPs who say it will allow corruption to continue to flourish.

Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said if the reforms are actually put in place, it will be the most significant development in Iraqi politics since 2003.

“The political system created after Saddam Hussein was toppled distributed power among Shia, Sunni and Kurdish political blocs. It has created a government that many Iraqis feel serves politicians but not the people,” she said.

Power distribution

The dissenting MPs, who accuse the speaker, Jabouri, of blocking reforms, said they would meet on Monday to elect a new assembly leader.

The protesters include followers of influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who on Saturday issued a statement asking all the ministers to immediately resign, and even Abadi’s Dawa party.

Sadr pledged to start protests in 72 hours if the nation’s leaders failed to vote on a technocrats’ cabinet.

“If these conditions are not met then let it be known that the people will decide,” he said in a handwritten statement.

Earlier this week, a parliamentary session degenerated into a massive brawl with shoving, shouting, and water bottles thrown.

The UN has called on Iraqi leaders to resolve the political crisis, warning that instability could jeopardise the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, which still controls much of northern and western Iraq.

“The only party that benefits from the political divisions and chaos …. is Daesh,” said the UN’s acting head of mission to Iraq, Gyorgy Busztin, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

The costs of the war against ISIL, along with the plunge in the price of oil – which accounts for 95 percent of Iraq’s revenues – have caused an economic crisis, adding fresh urgency to calls for reform.

Iraqi officials predict a budget deficit of more than $30bn this year.

April 17, 2016
France and Germany back Libya unity cabinet

{The French and German foreign ministers have made an unannounced visit to Libya, in a show of support for the country’s new UN-backed government.}

In Tripoli, Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the EU was ready to train Libya’s security forces.

Since 2014 the country has had two competing administrations.

The new UN-brokered unity government is trying to restore peace in Libya, which has been ravaged by conflict since the fall of Col Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Western nations hope the Government of National Accord (GNA) – led by Prime Minister-designate Fayez Sarraj – will be able to unite the country and combat an affiliate of the so-called Islamic State, which has a foothold in the country.

‘Defending same cause’

“We know how difficult it is to get legal security forces behind this government and so we don’t want to underestimate the challenge of fighting against the cancer of Daesh (Islamic State),” Mr Steinmeier said on Saturday.

“We also know that only the Libyans themselves can tackle this task successfully.”
Mr Steinmeier suggested the training of Libya’s security forces and border guards could start outside the country.

If the situation stabilised in the country, the minister added, the training could continue on Libyan soil.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said: “We are defending the same cause, we are defending the same interests: the respect of the identity, the integrity, the independence of every country.

“It’s for the sake of this common cause that we came here, bringing our complete support to the government of Mr Seraj and calling on all countries who want to join, to give a real chance of success to the legitimate, national unity government of Mr Seraj.”

Mr Sarraj’s government arrived in Tripoli earlier this month, and is now operating from the city’s naval base.

The GNA is yet to receive an official endorsement from the parliament in the eastern city of Tobruk, which is internationally recognised as legitimate.

A vote on the issue is expected on Monday.

The rival government – backed by powerful militias – is based in Tripoli.
Libya slid into chaos after the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that ousted Col Gaddafi.

April 17, 2016