British Citizens for Peace in Libya – Interim Report

 

INTERIM REPORT OF FACT FINDING MISSION TO WESTERN LIBYA
1) Delegation Members:
David Roberts ( Delegation Leader)
Dr . Anour Izzadine (Forensic Doctor)
Mrs Nidaa Sabbagh ( Political Writer)
Mr Manzur Sadaq ( Humanitarian Worker/Campaigner)
Mr Baboo Zanghar ( Humanitarian Worker/Campaigner )
Mr Ishmahil Blagrove (Independent Journalist and Filmmaker)
Mr Majed Sabbagh (Humamitarian worker/interpreter)
Mr Richard Mejeh (Independent Filmmaker)
Mr Mohamed Elhaddad (Arabic Society UK)
Mr Martin Longhurst ( Humanitarian Worker/campaigner)
Mr Agab Eldoor Khamis ( Vet nary Surgeon )
Mr Mohielddin Zakaria (Humanitarian worker)
Mr Sukant Chandan (Independent Journalist)

2) Purpose of fact finding mission.

-To ascertain whether reports of civilian casualties caused by NATO bombing were true or not.
-To Ascertain whether reports of civilian casualties caused by Government forces in western Libya were true or not
-To evidence the sequence of events giving rise to the conflict. -To ascertain whether government led peace initiatives were substantive
-To gather evidence of the impact of the conflict on civilians and communities.

DIARY OF EVENT ACTIVITIES and MEETINGS

Saturday 9th April Depart from London in the early evening.

Sunday 10th April Before we crossed the border in the early evening from Tunis, we witnessed at first hand tens of thousands of refugees, encamped on the Tunisian side of the border. We travelled through Sabratha and Zawia and witnessed the scenes of heavy fighting. We saw numerous munitions and fire damaged buildings and passed through numerous checkpoints.

Monday11th April We met all day to plan, negotiate and discuss the framework of the mission. Tuesday 12TH April We visited Green Square where we saw gatherings of people in support of the government. We visited Tajora, Fashloon , Souk al-Jomaa, cited in UN resolution 1973. In the evening we visited Sobayha Hospital where we met interviewed, filmed and took testimonies from the hospital director, doctors, nurses, patients and relatives. The leader of the delegation took the opportunity to appear on a late night political programme to promote our mission.

Wednesday 13TH April We travelled to Mezda town and hospital and Gharyan hospital. We interviewed, filmed and took testimonies from the hospital director, nurses, patients, relatives and neighbours of casualties which occurred at the same time as NATO bombing. We filmed bomb damage to the hospital and a number of residential homes. We interviewed and filmed residents of Mezda town. We met with a Libyan-based fact finding commission. We visited Colonel Gaddafi’s Compound and witnessed the site of the 1986 bombing where we also met and witnessed a permanent rally made up of people young and old in support of the government.

Thursday 14th April We travelled to Zawia, We were shown the extensive damage to a variety of government buildings including the Internal Security Building, the police station, the criminal records bureau at the registry office. We recorded a testimony from a professor of law and several local residents. We spent nearly three hours in the central square of Zawia , where we filmed extensive munitions and fire damage to all of the buildings that surround the large central square. We recorded testimonies from a considerable number of local residents, and others who had been displaced to Zawia. We witnessed a demonstration in favour the government on which we witnessed a public petition in favour of the government. We also interviewed and filmed migrant workers. We met with a professor of constitutional law, who outlined the proposed constitution changes to take place in Libya We met with and interviewed Mousa Ibrahim, the Libyan government spokesperson.

Friday 15th April Following reports of bombing casualties we travelled to Azizya . We arrived at a clinic to be told that the casualties had been transferred to other hospitals. Whilst we were there NATO planes were circling above us. Local people appeared in numbers in the street and told us of a bomb site in the locality from a bombing raid several hours earlier which was close to residential property . We travelled with local people to the site to be shown a bomb crater, approx 150m from several residential properties. We were shown structural damage to several of the buildings and filmed and collected bomb shrapnel fragments from across the whole area. We were shown light structural damage to the buildings. We recorded testimonies from local residents.

Saturday 16TH April We travelled to Bin Walid .We visited the college of electronics where we were given a briefing about the tribal composition of the area and local history .We travelled to the central square we were met by a large demonstration of people in support of the government. We filmed and took testimonies from a number of people. We met and interviewed the relatives of the Abd Raoof Khalfafla Anngart. (25 years) who was killed by rebel forces whilst on the national march for peace. We visited a sports complex which had been turned into an ad hoc reception camp for refugees from the east. We interviewed filmed and took testimonies from refugee families. We were given a tour of the emergency aid stores. We met with over 30 Tribal elders and carried out interviews.

Sunday 17TH April We visited 3 schools in Tripoli: a girls and boys secondary school and a primary school. We filmed and interviewed pupils. We witnessed lively pro-government celebrations at all three sites. We filmed some slight structural damage due to local bombing. We met with and held discussions with The Tripoli based fact finding commission NGO into events in Libya. We met with the association of lawyers from Zawia and Tripoli. We received reports and testimonies, and filmed the meeting. We received a delegation of seven tribal elders who reported that 63 fatalities occurred in the Trajoora, Suk Jooma and Fashloun areas and that civilian properties had been attacked from the air. They requested us to investigate their story.

Monday 18TH April We travelled to the three areas cited in UN resolution 1973. We recorded testimonies from residents whose property had been damaged, we were shown the remains of bombs, witnessed structural damage to the building and munitions damage to a terrace wall and garden. We visited two families whose two sons had been killed on the 26th March in the canteen of the military college reportedly from a NATO attack. We saw the death certificates, then went to the hospital were we recorded a testimony from a doctor that there had been many casualties including 7 fatalities, 5 of which were civilians . We visited another family who relayed to us how their son was killed on the way to the mosque from shrapnel from a NATO attack. We recorded testimonies from a number of individuals on the streets of Suk Jooma, Trajoora and Fashloun who confirmed that there had been no fighting in the area between government forces and the people and that they were angry that lies had been told in the media about their communities. The also said that the only casualties had been due to NATO bombing. We met with the deputy foreign minister who outlined the events leading to the crisis in Benghazi and held a general discussion of the peace initiatives being proposed by the government

INTERIM CONCLUSIONS
We have received numerous reports of civilian fatalities and can corroborate civilian casualties and fatalities due to NATO bombing. Despite detailed investigation we could not find any evidence that the three regions of Tripoli cited in UN resolution 1973 had been subjected to government forces bombardment nor that their had been fighting between government troops and the people , we received many testimonies to the contrary . In western Libya we have witnessed substantial support for the government by broad sections of society. There has been a substantial displacement of migrant workers to the Tunisian border and a consequent refugee crisis. There is displacement of a considerable number of people from towns most effected by the conflict . We are fairly confident that Libyan Government peace proposal are substantive and sincerely held and we would urge all involved in that process to further the proposals. By and large life is proceeding normally. Apart from the obvious security restrictions, there are no state of emergency powers or curfews in place. From our initial findings we are concerned that western media outlets are failing in their duty to report on the conflict truthfully.
We conclude that there is a need for an independent international fact finding intervention by a professional, credible and acceptable organisation. We welcome the peace proposals outlined by the African Union, Turkey, BRIC and Latin American countries. BRITISH CIVILIANS FOR PEACE DELEGATION TRIPOLI 10TH -18TH APRIL 2011

Reflections on the Equality Movement’s Libya Discussion

We have an information gap regarding the beginning of the Libyan uprising. For a few days, the east of the country was destabilised. The eastern peoples and tribes believed that a new dawn had emerged and Gaddafi years were over. To many (whether the majority or not still remains unknown) this led to elation. However, this (mass) eruption was momentary, for Gaddafi’s crackdown looked to be ending all potentialities of change. Gaddafi seemed to be on course for a complete reclamation of power. The only thing standing in his way was the “International Community”. The imperial intervention is the only reason the armed conflict perpetuates. It is for this reason that the leaders of the rebels continue to reject the terms of ceasefire – for they know their only hope of power is shot from NATO planes.

The topic of discussion “Imperial Adventure or Humanitarian Intervention?” was inherently misleading, a false dichotomy and allowed the cancerous moral ambiguity to take hold of the room. Three of the panellists disagreed on the actions our government should have taken. Oliver advocated intervention, Ahmed supported it as the forces he is intimately connected with required intervention to continue to hope for change and Richard thought diplomatic routes could have been tried before intervention, which is never right.

Sukant Chandan took the position that needed to be taken; our problem is with the UK government, solely, and we must meet discuss, plan and act on how to stop their imperial aggression from the inside. As Andy Higginbottom, Ethesham Haque, myself and Fiona Edwards echoed from the floor – we must focus our attention on our governments and “get serious about British imperialism”. In case anyone missed it, the forum was the Equality Movement. A place where we collectively come to understand how we are living in the belly of imperialism and educate ourselves about our government’s machinations before we even begin to politicise about others. As this seemed to elude the majority of the room, one can only conclude that the equality movement, as it stands, is a forum for anti-imperialism at a time when the people it speaks to and with are not anti-imperialist. The moral supremacy of those who prescribe to the ideals of the West makes a straw man of the anti-imperialist position, so allow me to restate it.

Gaddafi is opposed on many levels and for many reasons. Libyan society has its own internal dynamics that only Libyans can truly know and overcome – it is not for us (i.e. those in the belly of the beast) to speak of their struggle to justify our own governments action, implicitly or explicitly. As most can see only too clearly – the pointing of the finger towards the third world is a diversion away from the brutality of our world, at this very moment in Bahrain, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq… Moreover and most importantly, the fingerprints of our intelligence services are all over the murder scene that is Libya. Let us unite in opposition against the perpetuators of these crimes.

While one may feel that Sukant Chandan, like Ortega, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Louis Farrakhan, Mumia Abu Jamal and many others have bent the stick too far in supporting Gaddafi, their general attempt to re-humanise the de-humanised is necessary. Anti-imperialist integrity demands relentless focus on the perpetrators of the current global order and the denial of their right to decide who is and is not human. One should never make other country’s leaders accountable to our government and our constructed and decrepit ethics of “human rights”, by proxy.  Cries for “dignity”, “democracy” and “equality” sufficed to find consensus within the room on Friday. However, it was fundamentally problematic as it was predicated not on rational argument – but emotion. Areas of disagreement were contested with screams from the floor. Two of the panelists (Ahmed and then Richard) demanded that Sukant “shut up!”, while Oliver constantly harassed Lowkey to stop him from talking. With such a departure from reasoned discussion, a basic and always banal point was missed.

The CIA employs people in Langley whose sole function in life is to work out ways of maintaining power. The most obvious conclusion, therefore, is that empire’s interests were in both Gaddafi’s basket and the bitter tribes of eastern Libya. This is not to say that the governments determine the cause of history. Rather it is consistent and well known policy to build diplomatic dams to ensure that any radical sentiment can be contained with reforms that conserve the general order and/or make strategic gains. Effective strategies are contingent upon planning and a feasible transitional power structure, such conditions require years of meticulous planning and negotiations.

There is now a mountain of evidence that French, US and British intelligence services were in play from the very beginning. So, we must posit the hidden fist that precipitates the market’s hand. As I have argued elsewhere, morality is never the catalyst for military force and to even humour the possibility is to fall into the realms of ideology. Likewise, as Sukant argued from the platform, imperial intervention is not engaged upon on a whim. The decision to engage in Libya was taken by our government not on the basis of caprice, but strategy. If one refuses to accept this, then it is a legitimate question to ask “how do you consider yourself anti-imperialist?”

If one holds that our government invaded the sovereign territory of Libya on the basis of unverified and unsubstantiated claims of “massacres” to prevent a “greater massacre”, then one accepts that our government is at war for reasons that include morality, compassion and a form of internationalism. Advocates of such a position, are, as far as I am concerned, are liberal.  The fundamental lesson of Iraq has not be learnt – don’t believe the words of leaders and embedded correspondents.

Holding such a position does not entail that the Libyan people are represented by those who seek to negotiate terms with imperialism. Never did Sukant or anyone undermine the legitimate grievances of the Libyan people, who are not all “contras”. The masses should not be forgotten, neglected or spoke past. The reason the anti-imperialist position is taken is not tokenist, foolish support for old leadership, it is because we must understand the liberation of the world’s people requires a true break with 500 years of imperial rule from the North European peoples and their settler colonies. We must also pay homage where it is due, for all Gaddafi’s faults (and, yes, there are many) he did fund, support and facilitate anti-imperialist struggles throughout the world. The Libyan crowd who attended the meeting and heckled Sukant non-stop exposed that they’ve little care for what Gaddafi does internationally, as they have such grievances with him domestically. Such a position is understandable, for a Libyan. Not supposed Internationalists.

The Libyan people stand in an intolerable situation. Once again, collective punishment is being administered by the forces of empire against the mass population for the power of their leadership. As I write this, the people are being bombed with depleted uranium infused rockets by a conglomerate of Western governments and their neo-colonial client states. Libya has tribal conflict grounds enough for civil war – and it is a battle of structural elites one ruled by a variable who the West hate (especially the tories), the others trusted figures who know how to do business. In between all of this are the Libyan masses – who lack proper representation and are stranded between a rock and a hard place.

The rebel’s leadership are strongly neo-liberal and represent sections of Libyan society, bitter at Gaddafi’s stifling of their interests, economic and otherwise. The “Interim Government” has been recognised by the French, Qatari, Italian and Portugese government and have begun a process of privatising the nationalised Central Bank and Oil industries. Just like in Iraq, the destabilisation of the regime is followed by the seizing of the countries assets through a scheme of privitisation. The language is more complex, the procedure more beauracratic, but the will remains colonial, and the architects remain Western.

There was nothing new in the build up to this war – anyone who is a serious about anti-imperialism did not fall into the trap of moral ambiguity. There is not a case of Western interventionism that was engaged in for compassionate reasons. The state cannot operate on such a level, to humour it is deeply naive. Seymour himself recognises this, as he sees the state as a structure composed of the interests of capital – neocons just call it realism. We call it empire and empire works to further its interests continuously.

However, empire’s time is coming to an end; it is freefalling and will have hit the ground before the end of our lifetimes. While hurtling towards the ground, austerity budget in hand, it is prone to lash out and attempt to reclaim its losses. We must not take our eyes off it and make sure the beast dies its long overdue death. The Libyan intervention is the containment of the Arab Spring, an attempt from empire to stifle third world momentum.  It is an ill conceived plan to make strategic gains. It could be a disaster, let us hope it is and that the Libyan people unite to slice the fingers off the imperial forces. Though, one at the moment must admit, the West may have a dream come true if the world remains enchanted. As Gideon Rachman articulated in the Financial Times other day:

“policymakers in Washington…have a dream. In this, the governments of Syria and Iran are toppled and replaced by much more moderate regimes. The Israelis, reassured by the disappearance of their biggest foes, agree to the creation of a viable Palestinian state. Egypt stabilises and becomes a prosperous democracy. Colonel Gaddafi is defeated and the grateful Libyans hail the west as heroes. A new and legitimate Yemeni government takes up the fight against al-Qaeda. The Saudi government embraces reforms that defuse its internal crisis, and keep the oil flowing.”

The invasion was got through on the basis of an information gap, filled by international media and a diasporic Libyan community. Diplomacy was not extended, just arms. Now the imperial airforce controls the skies of another Arab country, bombs its people at will and our radicals want to perpetuate the moral ambiguity that this thrived upon. It is just like Iraq in this respect. Think about the amount of people queueing up to assassinate Saddam, both literally and metaphorically. When the time came to invade, there were thousands of Iraqis ready to sing to the tune of empire to kill their foe. With Libya it is no different. With the destruction of Iraq witnessed by all, one would think the world would have learnt a lesson, especially the world’s self-professed radicals. Instead, they deliver talks substantiated with moral ambiguity. As far as I am concerned, it is not possible at this moment in history to be neutral between forces – it is clear what the terms of this conflict now are and those who take the side of the rebellion, side with the imperialists. This goes some way to explaining why Richard Seymour has “far more in common” with a neo-conservative follower of Irving Kristol than a third-worldist.

No Time for Poetry – by Sukant Chandan

Not many were fighting like when you erupted,

You took cover behind those walls,

The defunct enemy you were confronting.

What’s the point of negotiation when all

We receive is provocation upon provocation

No! This is not going to make us fall!

And now we’re stepping up with the armed tactics,

Stones, slings, petrol bombs and sometimes semi-automatics,

And so feel the wrath of the masses

against your armoury which is hi-tech

But the laws of our humanity

Are stronger than all of your artillery.

Their bullets were bursting around me but I wasn’t even there?

But I saw it on the TV and you know I couldn’t hold back my tears,

My people, many the same age of my years

The new generation facing the same enemy without fear.

No! This is no time for poetry,

The imagery that I see is the people’s fury,

And it seems so ugly because we’ve only grown up to see

On the one hand depictions of artificial serenity

Or the brutality of a Rambo tyrannity

But never the people’s wrath against enemy armoury,

So, No! Yo! This is no time for poetry

Only the nitty gritty of struggle’s reality.

I’m spitting about the Palestinian and the Yemeni,

The Cubans would say Yanqui No! Cuba Si!

I say it’s a strike for our people internationally

So No! Yo! This is not time for poetry.

We see helicopters of death in our skies,

In less than two weeks one hundred of our people died,

Two foot soldiers of the beast deceased,

100 to 2, No, that’s not pretty poetry

In the news 07/09/10 – stories and comment pieces of the day…

Articles spanning the development goals of Africa to the role of Sinn Fein in the attempted ceasefire negotiations between Eta and the Spanish state.

The Progress of Africa (All Africa)

South of the Border – this week in Latin America (Ceasefire Magazine)

Iraq – the forgotten’ Nakba’ (Al-Jazeera English- Lamas Andoni)

The Obama Administration, Iran, and “Middle East Peacemaking” (Monthly Review - Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett)

Moment of Reckoning (Al-Ahram weekly – Khaled Amayreh)

Escalation in Yemen (Wired magazine)

Lieberman: This generation will not see peace (Haaretz)

Gerry Adams: Eta’s ceasefire is a political shift (Guardian)

Brief History of Eta (Guardian)

UN Report Slams Australia’s Interventions in the Northern Territories (Green Left Review)