Apologists for Extremism in the West

As someone who grew up in fundamentalist Muslim countries, the continuing spread in the West of apologists for sharia law is, to say the least, intriguing. It is, of course, good-hearted to wish people from other cultures to feel welcome. Many of these apologists, however, have no first-hand experience of how it feels actually to live in that part of the world or to be a victim of day-by-day radical Islam. What is painful is that although many of these apologists have never lived under Islamist rules, they often act as if they had.

First, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan correctly said, “There is no moderate Islam; Islam is Islam.”

Libya: a two state solution?

Since the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi, a power vacuum has led Libya down a path of factionalism and war. Isolated from both Tobruk and Tripoli’s rule, extremists and separatists thrive, leaving the future of Libya hanging in the balance.

A game of political cat and mouse between Libya’s Supreme Court in Tripoli and the government in Tobruk, highlights a widening divide that is threatening to tear the country apart.

With war raging between a myriad of militias, and some extremist groups, the latest political rift has further worrying implications for the country.

The West Is Letting Libya Tear Itself Apart

Calling for elections in the absence of stable institutions while competing for diplomatic and economic influence won’t rebuild the country — it will destroy it.

For the ninth time since 2011, rival Libyan factions are slugging it out to control the country’s strategic “oil crescent,” a coastal strip which begins 100 miles south of Benghazi and arcs westward 250 miles toward Sirte. Located at the center of this crescent are the oil terminals of Sidra and Ras Lanuf. These rusting crown jewels of Libya’s oil infrastructure were blockaded by the federalist warlord Ibrahim Jadhran from 2014 to 2016 and attacked twice by the Islamic State.

Mapping Libya Conflict

In Libya there are very few truly national actors. The vast majority are local players, some of whom are relevant at the national level while representing the interests of their region, or in most cases, their city. Many important actors, particularly outside of the largest cities, also have tribal allegiances.

Since the summer of 2014, political power has been split between two rival governments in Tripoli and in Tobruk, with the latter having been recognised by the international community before the creation of the Presidency Council (PC) – the body that acts collectively as head of state and supreme commander of the armed forces – in December 2015. Several types of actor scramble for power in today’s Libya: armed groups; “city-states”, particularly in western and southern Libya; and tribes, which are particularly relevant in eastern and southern Libya.

The Islamic State in Africa: Estimating Fighter Numbers in Cells Across the Continent

Abstract: To date, little work has been undertaken to analyze the Islamic State’s presence in Africa from a comparative perspective. In an effort to begin to understand the broader landscape of the Islamic State’s existence in Africa, this article presents the first overview of the approximate number of fighters in various Islamic State cells in Africa as of July 2018. Leveraging a compilation of best available open-source data along with interviews with subject matter experts, the authors’ best estimates suggest the presence of approximately 6,000 Islamic State fighters in Africa today, spread over a total of nine Islamic State ‘cells.’

Spain: New Gateway to Europe for Mass-Migration

Spain’s socialist government, under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has promised free healthcare to migrants and says it will investigate every asylum claim individually.

“[A] majority of irregular migrants rescued in the Central Mediterranean are most likely not refugees in the sense of the Geneva Convention, given that some 70 % come from countries or regions not suffering from violent conflicts or oppressive regimes.” — From a 2017 report by the European Commission.

“We have created refugee shelters for tens of thousands of people, but there are hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants in our country. This has heavily impaired the security situation. They include terrorists, criminals, and human traffickers who do not care about human rights. It’s horrible.” — Libyan leader Fayez al-Sarraj.

Reports: Foreign Fighters and the Threat of Returnees

On October 24, The Soufan Center and The Global Strategy Network released the collaborative report “Beyond the Caliphate: Foreign Fighters and the Threat of Returnees” on the global threat posed by Islamic State foreign fighters returning from Iraq and Syria. According to the report, at least 5,600 men, women and children from 33 countries have already returned home. Returnees have varying reasons for going home, but all represent a major security concern for countries of origin, residence, and even third-countries. Globally, states have yet to find adequate ways to address the threat of returnees, the report says. Women and children represent a more difficult subset for states.

The Beyond the Caliphate report also draws on a manual, Responses to returnees: Foreign terrorist fighters and their families, issued by the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) in July 2017. The manual outlines practical responses for states to address foreign fighters and their families returning from conflict zones in Iraq and Syria. The following are excerpts from both the reports.

LA RÉGION MENA FACE À LA CRISE DES RÉFUGIÉS

L’année 2016 aurait connu une forte augmentation du nombre de personnes déplacées dans le monde, selon le dernier rapport du Haut Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés. Zoom sur la région MENA.

«L’Afrique du Nord et le Moyen-Orient continuent à faire face à de multiples situations d’urgence complexes, sans précédent. Des urgences qui vont encore être des défis difficiles à surmonter en 2016. Ces régions sont aujourd’hui des lieux de départ, de transit et des destinations d’arrivée pour les migrants et les réfugiés. Beaucoup, lors de leur périlleux voyage, notamment par la mer, sont victimes de trafics et de passage irrégulier.»

LE VOYAGE

C’est se lancer dans un long voyage que de partir de chez soi et migrer. Et finalement arrive-t-on jamais un jour ? Le périple commence toujours loin du pays à rejoindre et prend du temps. Des kilomètres parcourus, des pays traversés et des chemins de vie imprévus.

Le voyage d’un migrant est fait de moments, qui mis bout à bout, font un voyage.

Voici des témoignages, recueillis dans six pays, et qui forment une boucle. Les voix des migrants, des voyageurs, se mêlent, et au final elles ne font qu’une. Elles racontent les voyages, le voyage.

Djibril, damné des frontières

Djibril* aura tenté quatre fois de traverser la Méditerranée pour atteindre l’Europe. Depuis la Gambie jusqu’à la Libye, le parcours migratoire du jeune homme est un cauchemar : il perd toutes ses économies, est abandonné dans le désert et jeté en prison plusieurs fois.

Dans sa cuisine, Djibril, un pinceau à la main, peint une scène représentant des femmes peules, la communauté de sa mère. Concentré sur son oeuvre, cette activité lui permet de s’occuper mais aussi d’oublier les épreuves qu’il a traversées. Cela fait maintenant huit mois qu’il vit à Zarzis, à 550 kilomètres au sud de la capitale tunisienne.

Le jeune homme est originaire de la Casamance, dans le sud du Sénégal. À partir de 1982, la région est le théâtre d’un conflit entre les forces gouvernementales et les indépendantistes du Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance (MFDC). La guerre civile fait plusieurs centaines de victimes, dont le père de Djibril, qui meurt en 1999.