Category: Politics

The head of a coalition ruling western Libya and the capital, Tripoli, appears to have reversed a decision to dismiss his administration.

The statement, posted on Khalifa Ghweil’s website, has caused confusion.

In it he threatens to prosecute any of his ministers who co-operate with the leaders of a UN-back unity government waiting to take national control.

Tripoli’s justice ministry had said earlier that ministers were standing aside to prevent further bloodshed.

The UN-brokered unity deal, agreed in December, is aimed at reconciling splits after five years of conflict.

Libya has been in chaos since the 2011 overthrow of long-serving ruler Muammar Gaddafi by Nato-backed forces.

Since 2014 the country has had two competing administrations, the one in Tripoli, which is backed by powerful militias, and the other about 1,000km (620 miles) away in the eastern port city of Tobruk.

Some rival lawmakers signed up to the UN agreement to form a unity government but the deal has not yet been backed by all the country’s many militia brigades that formed after the uprising.

The Tobruk-based administration, formed by a parliament chosen in national elections in June 2014, is split over its backing for the unity government.

It is not uncommon in Libya to get contradictory statements within the space of minutes or hours from an institution or official.

In the broader context of developments this month, the two statements published by members of the Tripoli-based administration are indicative of a split within this group and its militia backers – as well as what looks like a last-ditch effort to remain in power.

This is because many stand to lose their privileges with the new unity government trying to take the helm.

Nevertheless it remains unclear who is in charge given the claims and counter-claims. We are likely to see more of this posturing until the UN-backed government is able to assert itself.

Speaking to the BBC, a Tripoli government adviser said, “Things are not clear at the moment.”

In his statement, Mr Ghweil warned ministers in his National Salvation Government: “Given the requirements of public interest… you are requested to continue your mission in accordance with the law.”

Leaders of the unity government, known as the Presidency Council led by Fayez Sarraj, arrived in Tripoli a week ago and have been operating from a naval base.
At the time Mr Ghweil said they were not welcome and urged them to “surrender” or return to Tunisia where they had been based for the last few months.

Western countries want the unity government to unite as many factions in Libya as possible against an increasingly powerful affiliate of the group known as Islamic State.

The UN says it is considering lifting sanctions on Libya’s estimated $67bn (£46.8bn) sovereign wealth fund if it can regain control of the country.

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has told the BBC he will step down in 2020 when his current mandate ends.

Mr Bashir also denied allegations of abuses perpetrated by the Sudanese forces in renewed violence against black African villages who took up arms in the country’s western Darfur region.

The president has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on counts of genocide and war crimes.

Mr Bashir has been in power since 1989. He won elections in April last year.
He told the BBC’s Thomas Fessy that his job was “exhausting” and his current term would be his last.

“In 2020, there will be a new president and I will be an ex-president,” he said.

However, sceptics will say that he had already pledged to step down in the past and later went back on his word, our correspondent says.

‘No aerial bombing’

The UN says more than 2.5 million people have been displaced in Darfur since 2003 – with more than 100,000 this year alone.

President Bashir said that there was no reason for the UN peacekeepers and aid workers to stay in the troubled Darfur region.

He denied reports of recent abuses in the mountains of Jebel Marra where government forces launched an offensive in January.

“All these allegations are baseless, none of these reports is true,” he said.
“We challenge anyone to visit the areas recaptured by the armed forces, and find a single village that has been torched.

“In fact, there hasn’t been any aerial bombing.”

The president said that people who fled the fighting had gone to government-controlled areas which was “proof that the government does not target citizens”.

President Bashir said that UN estimates that more than 100,000 people have been displaced in Darfur since January because of the fighting were “highly inflated and not real”.

“Only a very small number of people have been displaced and they have either reached our positions or [gone to] where the UN peacekeepers [Unamid] are deployed.

The president said that UN forces and Unamid “have no vital role to play” in Darfur, “not even in defending themselves and their units”.

“As peace has returned to Darfur, I think that they have no role to undertake and that’s why we want them to leave.”

Likewise he said there was no role in the region for aid workers because there is no food crisis in Darfur.

He said that estimates that 2.5 million people were living in camps in Darfur were “much too inflated” and the true figure is closer to 160,000.

The president dismissed the ICC as a “politicised tribunal” and that evidence of his popularity in Sudan could clearly be seen by the huge crowds that greet him.

“These are the same crowds I’m accused of having committed genocide and ethnic cleansing against. This is why I’ve defied the tribunal, and [why] I’ve been travelling freely around the world.”

Mr Bashir was re-elected last year with about 94% of the vote in an election boycotted by the main opposition parties who said it was not free and fair.

Contrary to earlier reports, Tripoli-based PM Khalifa Ghweil refuses to cede power to UN-backed unity government.

Libya’s new unity government has been thrown into chaos, as the head of its rival Tripoli-based authority apparently refused to cede power.

Contradicting an earlier announcement that his National Salvation Government was ready to step aside, Tripoli’s unrecognised Prime Minister Khalifa Ghweil urged his ministers not to stand down in a statement on Wednesday.

“Given the requirements of public interest… you are requested to continue your mission in accordance with the law,” he said, threatening to prosecute anyone working with the new government.

The reason for the U-turn was not immediately clear, but suggests a split within the Tripoli authority that seized the city two years ago forcing out the internationally recognised government.

The move derails a United Nations push to end the instability that has ripped Libya apart for five years, one day before its envoy Martin Kobler reports to the Security Council on his progress.

Moments before Ghweil’s statement, Kobler had urged a rapid and complete handover of power to the unity government, warning that a fragile peace in Tripoli may not hold if the new government were unable to deliver.

The UN envoy had also called on Libya’s internationally recognised eastern parliament to hold a long-sought vote on whether to approve the UN-backed Government of National Accord, and said that the chamber risked being sidelined if it failed to do so, according to Reuters news agency.

Ghweil’s administration seized Tripoli in mid-2014 with the support of powerful regional militias, forcing the government backed by the international community to flee to the country’s far east.

Sarraj’s Government of National Accord was created under a power-sharing deal agreed by rival politicians in December.

He arrived in Tripoli under escort by sea last week, established his headquarters at a naval base and had been moving to bolster his authority.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said since the Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has rejected the proposal of a stabilising force from the African Union for his country that was currently witnessing political crisis, the idea could not be imposed on the country.

Buhari therefore urged the people and government of Burundi to explore dialogue in resolving the current political differences in the country.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke while receiving the former Burundian President, Mr. Pierre Buyoya, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said Nigeria would continue to support peace processes in the continent through the AU which had already intervened in Burundi.

‘‘Nigeria has been playing a key role in the continent through the AU. We participated fully in ensuring a truce in Mali, and we want citizens to enjoy the impact of the truce, although the terrorists are not helping matters,” he said.

‘‘Nigeria is always committed to regional and continental peace, and we will continue to do our best.’’

The President told the former President of Burundi, who is the High Representative of the AU Mission to Mali and the Sahel, that he remained hopeful that there would be an amicable solution to the situation in Burundi.

In his remarks, the former President commended Nigeria for the role it played in restoring peace to Mali, adding that the AU was working to promote security in the Sahel, particularly through fighting trans-border terrorism.

He also urged Nigeria to use its clout to work for peace in Burundi, warning that the “country is gradually inching towards a civil war.”

Democratic Alliance is making a third bid to have the ANC leader removed.

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has, once again, jumped to President Jacob Zuma’s defence saying there was no basis for Wednesday’s planned motion to remove him.

The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) is making a third bid within six months to have the ANC leader impeached.

The motion was to be debated on Tuesday in Parliament. The DA brought the motion after the Constitutional Court found that President Zuma’s failure to comply with the Public Protector’s remedial action was inconsistent with his Constitutional obligation.

ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe insisted that constitutionally there was no basis to remove the president. “In our view there is no basis for the proposal to impeach….because the provision of impeachment in the constitution is given conditions, that is why when in talks about contravention the degree in the emphasis in law makes a big difference, so from where we are seated there is no basis for that motion,” he said.

The ANC’s 20-member National Working Committee (NWC) held a closed meeting in Cape Town until midnight on Monday to discuss the matter. The NWC is responsible for the day-to-day running of the party.

The committee accepted the president’s apology over the controversial matter of his Nkandla rural home in KwaZulu-Natal province. “The NWC accepted the fact that the president apologised and said that it is humility that is necessary for any leader to apologise.

STAND UP AND APOLOGISE

It’s not an easy thing to stand up and apologise,” Mr Mantashe said.

President Zuma apologised in a national television address on Friday for the “frustration and confusion” caused by the affair, but made it clear that he had no intention of responding to calls to resign.

(READ: Pressure mounts on President Zuma to quit)

He said he would pay back some of the money as ordered.

The DA has called on ANC MPs to join them to remove President Zuma saying the matter transcends party politics and affects all South Africans.

ANC caucus spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said the expectation is that members of parliament will be voting in line with party affiliations.

“No member of any political party since 1994 has ever voted differently from the party line. Even those opposition parties, they will be voting in accordance with their party line. Why would they expect differently from the ANC? ”

It is unlikely that Zuma will be in parliament for the debate, which means that it might escape the chaotic scenes which have regularly erupted when he is present.