He tells them it’s happening at a challenging time for the country, the continent and world.

President Cyril Ramaphosa takes a swipe at Russia and Turkey, without naming them, for having ulterior motives in getting involved in Libya.

South Africa will look carefully at this as chair of the African Union and a revolving member of the UN Security Council.

Ramaphosa says advancing peace and security is priority for the South African chairmanship of the AU as the continental body seeks to silence the guns in 2020.

The post Ramaphosa to look at interference in Libya appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The actors that needed to be in Berlin at the weekend were all there. But the agreement they reached on Libya is as full of holes as a colander.

So much depends on what happens at the follow-up meeting in Geneva later this week.

Will the five parties named by each side in the conflict be able agree on how best to monitor the deal?

The success or failure of the deal concocted at the German-hosted deliberations will be determined by whether it can be translated into a resolution that can be unanimously adopted by United Nations Security Council.

The ultimate question, however, is who holds the economic trump card?  

Libya has confounded the best-intentioned peacemakers since the fall and killing of Muammar Gadaffi in 2011.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hosted peace talks in Moscow a week before the Berlin gathering can hardly be said to fall into this category.

Neither, in all honesty, can German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

She was able to get the great and good to attend her talks.

But her motivation, like Putin’s, was not altruistic.

An increasing number of the desperate  people using Libya as a launching point for reaching a more secure – both physically and economically – future in Europe end up in Germany.

She has to be seen to be doing everything she can to stem this flow.

The oil-rich nation of Libya has become a poor country split between the weak United Nations-backed Government of National Accord led by Fayez Al-Sarraj and the rebel- held Benghazi in the east led by Khalifa Haftar.

Both these leaders were present in Berlin but did not overtly participate in the talks.

This was left to the leaders of Russia, Turkey, France, Egypt, Italy, the United States. and Britain.

Berlin was a convenient stopover for the World Economic Forum meeting starting in Davos, Switzerland.

Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, China, Congo Republic, United Nations, European Union and African Union all sent representatives.

En route to Berlin Al-Sarraj and Haftar stopped over the Athens for talks with the Greek government that has taken a far more active interest in Libya following the signing of a maritime and military agreement by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Al-Sarraj.

Fears of Libya becoming a proxy war are plainly well grounded.

No surprise, therefore that the primary demand from Berlin was of non interference.

Ironically it as the interference of Turkey – whose parliament voted to allow deployment of troops to protects to GNA – and Russia playing its more muscular regional role that led to the ceasefire earlier in January.

The Berlin conference, having called on players to implement the 2011 arms embargo on Libyan combatants, urged those opposing parties to observe the ceasefire.

The conference added that sanctions will have to be imposed on those breaking this embargo – yet another issue that has to pass the UN Security Council

The only way through the impasse is by restoring the political process.

That is what has to happen in Geneva.

The biggest question is  whether Haftar, who walked out of the Moscow meeting, actually inked any document in Berlin.

He maintains he holds the whip hand when it comes to Libyan oil.

He has brought the flow of oil out of Libya to halt by preventing exports through the ports of  Brega, Ras Lanuf, Hariga, Zueitina and Sidra.

As long as  he maintains this choke-hold on the economy, he can be considered effectively to control the peace process.

Even human rights, always a major consideration, has to follow the money. 

In Berlin countries were once again urged not to return rescued migrants to the appalling conditions in the Libyan detention centers.

The post Who’s holding Libya’s economic trump card appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The post Khalifa Haftar says he’ll rejoin Libyan peace conference appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

This message on their website hours after leader Khalifa Haftar left Moscow without signing a ceasefire.

Libyan government leader Fayez Al Sarraj must wonder how he was played by his backer, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin who supports Khalifa  Haftar’s rebels.

They were called to Moscow to ink a ceasefire proposed last week by Erdogan and Putin.

It was clear from the start Putin could not deliver Haftar who left, saying he had to consider a few details.

The bellicose message that followed shows he intended duping the Government of National Accord while pursuing his plan to seize the capital Tripoli.

The post Libyan rebels quit Moscow without signing a ceasefire appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

It’s hoped Government of National Accord leader Fayez Al Sarraj will ink and deal with rebel lead Khalifa Haftar.

ends intro

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who support opposing parties in Libya, called for the ceasefire when they met in Istanbul last week.

There were exchanges of fire at the weekend leading to fears that the truce would not hold.

Then the GNA and rebel leader headed for the Russian capital  raising hope that the eight years of turmoil that have brought Libya to its knees since the killing of Muammar Gaddafi might be coming to and end.

The post Hopes that Libyan ceasefire will be inked in Moscow appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

This comes as Turkish troops move into the capital Tripoli to support the United Nations backed Government of National Accord.

Situated 450 kilometers east of Tripoli, Sirte was liberated from the Islamist State rebels in 2016.

It is the hometown of dictator Muammar Gaddafi whose fatal overthrow in 2011 has plunged Libya into chaos.

The GNA has not confirmed the loss of Sirte, which was announced by rebel leader Khalifa Haftar in the city of Bhengazi on Libya’s eastern border.

With Turkey moving troops in to protect the GNA and its interests in the eastern Mediterranean, Arab fears of a proxy war in Libya look more and more likely. 

The post Rebels seize eastern coastal Libyan town of Sirte appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

He is speaking on the eve of summit Russia hope will give it a leg up in dealing with Africa.

Vladimir Putin knows the toughest competition Russia faces in boosting ties with Africa comes from China, the United States, India and Turkey.

He will tell the 47 African leaders gathered in Sochi this week that Russian friednship is based on their demand for African solutions to African problems.

There are sound economic reasons for improving relations with the fastest growing consumer market on the planet.

But, as China has shown, the immediate benefit is political with winning votes at the the United Nations and support in other international forae. 

The post Putin accuses West of blackmailing Africa appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The rebel Libyan National Army denies it mountain the airstrike that wounded more than70 people.

The dead migrants were housed in a hangar on the outskirts of the capital that also the site of military camps billeting troops loyal to the United-Nations-backed government of national unity.

Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army is trying to seize Tripoli.

Last week it kidnapped Turkish sailors supporting the national government but released when Turkey threatened military retaliation.

The attack highlights to plight of African migrants returned to Libya after unsuccessfully trying to escape fighting and poverty in Africa by crossing the Mediterranean into Europe

The post Migrants killed by air strike on detention centre in Libya appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Egypt’s first democratically elected president has been jailed since being deposed in 2013 by his defense minister Abdel Fatah el Sisi who is now the country’s president.

Egyptian authorities have declared a state of emergency in Mohamed Moursi’s birthplace El Adwah where he will be buried today according to Muslim practice.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar’sEmir Sheikh Tamin Bin Hammad Al Thani have both referred to Moursi as a martyr.

Members of the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, that he led to victory in 2012 elections, describe his death a murder, saying he was denied medical treatment in prison for diabetes and high blood pressure.

The post Mohamed Moursi dies after collapsing in court appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

It’s blaming Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for fomenting riots and violence that’s cost at least 37 lives.

Saudi Arabia and the the UAE want to exclude Turkey from the international Muslim community.

They offered Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir generous aid if he cut ties with Ankara.

They also made their aid to Sudan conditional on it turning its back on Iran and Qatar.

Al Bashir, who’s an Islamist, refused.

Highly placed advisers in in the ruling Sudanese National Congress say Saudi and UAE support for the protests against a tripling of the bread price and fuel and food shortages is designed to make Al Bashir reconsider.

The post Sudan says it’s in the middle of an international Muslim power play appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.