Libya Makes Gains Against ISIS but Internal Discord Threatens Progress
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10 June 26, 2016 News & Analysis Maghreb Libya makes gains against ISIS but internal discord threatens progress A fighter from forces aligned with Libya’s new unity government monitors Islamic State locations at Algharbiyat area in Sirte, on June 21st. Lamine Ghanmi some fighters staged protests over porarily allied with the Misrata mi- head of the oil-rich region stretch- lacked cash for months and food the lack of medicine and hospital litia ing from Derna to Bin Jawad. prices have skyrocketed due to the staff shortages. PFG commander Ibrahim Jadhran Adding to the discord was influ- soaring currency value of the Liby- Tunis Infighting and rivalries among is reported to be manipulating the ential Grand Mufti Sheikh Sadiq al- an dinar on the black market. various militias and officials are shutting of oil ports under the con- Ghariani telling Islamist militias to Power cuts have hit most of the ilitias aligned with said to threaten progress on the trol of his forces, though he had fight Haftar and his forces. capital Tripoli and parts of southern forces of Libya’s in- battlefield despite GNA spokesman pledged allegiance to the GNA. “I call for attacking the oppres- Libya have endured total blackouts. ternationally sup- Mohamed al-Ghassri optimistically sors, I urged the revolutionaries to People in several parts of the coun- ported government saying: “The operation to clear Sirte Infighting and head to Benghazi after Sirte… to try have become accustomed to the have rolled back gains from Daesh will not last much long- rivalries among fight Haftar and his soldiers only. sound of generators running day Mmade by the Islamic State (ISIS) in er.” Daesh is an Arabic acronym for various militias and [Muammar] Qaddafi’s former bri- and night, a far cry from when Lib- the central Sirte region but it has ISIS. officials are said to gades have joined Haftar’s forces to yan exported electricity to neigh- come at a price with 150 fighters The Libyan National Army head- threaten progress on practise oppression, tyranny and in- bouring countries. killed and more than 600 wounded. ed by General Khalifa Haftar is in the battlefield. justice on people,” he said, referring The government has vowed to The Government of National Ac- open conflict with Islamist militias to the country’s dictator who was tackle the power outages, acknowl- cord (GNA) praised the fighters for from western Libya. This could lead Conflict over control of the oil deposed and killed in 2011. edging the influence of militias in their sacrifices in Sirte and urged to broader strife because of tribal wealth was exacerbated by House As the war of words and on the control of the electricity grid. Libyans to fight terrorism across the and regional structures involving of Representatives Speaker Ageela battlefield continues so do econom- country. It pledged better treatment the army and Petroleum Facilities Saleh appointing army chief of staff ic troubles for ordinary Libyans. Lamine Ghanmi is an Arab Weekly for the wounded after relatives of Guard (PFG), secular militias tem- Abderrazak Nadhouri as military Most banks in the country have correspondent in Tunis. Minority in Maghreb claims right not to fast despite ambient conformism Lamine Ghanmi quirements of the faith. onstration against the opening of “It was decided that cafés and a restaurant for tourists at a time shops inside residential and work- when such visitors are rare in the Tunis ing-class neighbourhoods are not country’s south. That was as vio- allowed to open during the days lent as resistance to non-obser- aghreb societies of Ramadan,” said the Tunisian vance of fasting got this Ramadan share belief in the Interior Ministry in a statement on in Tunisia. Sunni Malikite strain the first day of the holy month this Overall, the country seemed to of Islam in which year. “As for touristic coffee shops, be at ease with its religious iden- Ramadan figuresthese are authorised to open on the tity during the holy month. Fear of Mprominently. A 2013 Pew Research condition to cover outside view of hard-line Salafists seems to have Center survey indicated that 93% the premises.” subsided, compared to previous of Muslim respondents around the years. world say they fast during Rama- Authorities try to There were attempts by ultracon- dan. accommodate servative activist Adel Almi to take In Tunisia and Morocco, the non-observance pictures of non-fasting patrons sit- A 2013 file picture shows Algerian demonstrators drinking water percentages are higher — 98% and of the Ramadan fast ting at a café in the affluent Marsa during Ramadan in the city of Tizi Ouzou, Algeria. 96%, respectively. with the overall trend district of Tunis to shame those Even if opinion polls on reli- of compliance with the who do not fast. Almi ended up gious issues in the Muslim world requirements of the having a peaceful discussion with nority in Kabylia and feelings that a vidual Freedoms, claimed this year are deemed unreliable by some faith. the café owner before delivering a central government dominated by that it has the support of 600 peo- experts, the percentages of people self-serving piece to the camera. pro-Arab nationalists has margin- ple — another indication it is a small observing the fast in Ramadan in Dozens of cafés and small res- In Algeria, activists in the Berber- alised Berber language and culture. minority opposing a Moroccan law predominantly Muslim nations, taurants remained open in Tunis speaking Kabylia region continued In Morocco, six young people that jails for up to six months any including the Maghreb, are high, and other towns. Patrons were con- a practice that started in 2013 when began a dissident movement in Muslim who eats or drinks in public even on hot, summer days. cealed behind newspaper-covered about 300 men gathered in Tizi Ramadan in September 2009 by during Ramadan fasting hours. Muslims, with the exception of windows in businesses satirically Ouzou to openly eat sandwiches announcing they would eat sand- “The logic of modernity and those who are sick or travelling, are described as “newspaper cafés”. and drink water during Ramadan. wiches at a forest in Mohammedia globalisation makes respect of di- required to abstain from food and Despite the clarity of the funda- While many Algerians do not fast between Casablanca and Rabat. Po- versity and pluralism in societies a drink from sunrise to sunset. mental law on matters of religious during Ramadan, the action in Ka- lice later arrested them and seized necessity. Can we see our society In Maghreb countries, including freedom and pluralism, such moves bylia was deliberately public and the sandwiches as evidence. accept differences of opinion, re- Tunisia, where the constitution have given leeway to fundamental- relatively large. Almost all political groups, even ligion and thought in the future?” enshrines “freedom of religious ist Islamists and other conserva- The move was abetted by mili- the secularist USFP socialist party, asked Moroccan sociology re- conscience”, authorities try to ac- tives trying to push back. tants of the Kabylia’s Autonomy denounced the move as “staining searcher Abdallah Abdallah. commodate non-observance of Protesters burned tyres and Movement to underline differences the image of Islam”. “Our society is still a minor. It has the Ramadan fast with the overall closed a main road in Tozeur in with other regions of Algeria. It was The six-person group, known as not reached the required maturity trend of compliance with the re- south-western Tunisia in a dem- helped by the large Christian mi- the Alternative Movement for Indi- culturally and legally.”.