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I joined Ayman Asfari and other distinguished guests at the Chatham house screening of the Netflix documentary, White Helmets.  It was a moving tribute to the humanitarian work of the Syrian Civil Defense, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize – 110 of the White Helmets have been killed whilst working as heroic first responders.  There is a strong case to provide the 250,000 people in Aleppo, who are being bombed daily by helicopters and aircraft, with the means to defend themselves from air attack – or history may well regard the victims of Aleppo as abandoned by the very people who encouraged them to rebel.

The planned EU training of the Libyan Coast Guard announced in May and due to start before October has been delayed. In January 2012, we realised the scale of the problem and offered a host of training courses to the Libyan Armed Forces.  I interviewed dozens of officers before selecting the students for the first UK course.  Jordan and Turkey also helped.  It is disappointing that this appears to be another sound initiative which has collapsed.  See page 279 of Belfast to Benghazi:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/belfast-to-benghazi/rupert-wieloch/9781861515667

 

I was delighted to be asked to speak at the Royal United Services Institute in Whitehall about conflict resolution lessons drawn from my book, Belfast to Benghazi. The eclectic audience included MoD, Home Office and officials from European and Arab nations – questions lasted 45 minutes.  The event was partially filmed by Al Jazeera.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/belfast-to-benghazi/rupert-wieloch/9781861515667

I was asked by Sky News to balance the inconsistent criticisms in the Foreign Affairs Committee report on Libya.  Reading the evidence submitted by highly regarded experts, I would not have drawn the same revisionist conclusions about the time before the democratic elections in July 2012.  From my privileged perspective, the inside account is told in Belfast to Benghazi.

 

On the 15th anniversary of the largest loss of British lives to an act of terrorism, we remember those who died, lost friends and relatives, or were affected by the attack.  Chapter 4 of Belfast to Benghazi describes for the first time the inside story of the UK military response, Operation Veritas, including the successful British deployments to Afghanistan in 2002.  I am grateful to Hatchards in Piccadilly, London for displaying my book in their Post WWII bookshelf.

 

The US Institute of Peace has published a report examining the prison system, with permission of the Libyan Ministry of Justice.  The report confirms what I found in 2012, that prison directors are trying to improve the well-being of staff and inmates, but they struggle with scant resources, dilapidated facilities and multiple security threats.  For discussion of detention centres in Belfast to Benghazi, see pages 258 (Zintan), 262 (Bel Haj in Abu Salim), 272 (Kufra), 277 (MSF in Misrata) and 281 (British journalists in Tripoli).

The International Organisation for Migration has chartered another flight to return home 241 of the Nigerians held in detention centres in Libya.  This humanitarian repatriation programme, funded by Switzerland and Netherlands, ensures humane, dignified and safe return for stranded migrants.  But there is still much to do to avoid adding to the 3165 Mediterranean migrant fatalities.  See page 241 of Belfast to Benghazi for the beginning of the migrant crisis in Libya.

 

 

The Danish Government has agreed to lead the operation to remove the final 850 tons of chemical weapons from Libya. But credit should be given to the UN for the ground work leading to the removal and destruction of all the chemical and nuclear weapons material in Libya.  See page 283 of Belfast to Benghazi.

 

On 18 August 2011, the tide turned in Libya, when the Zintan Brigade captured the Zawiyah oil refinery with assistance from NATO and Arab forces.  Five years on ZZ Top, as this area was known, continues to be critical with IS and migrants increasing insecurity along the North East coast of Tripolitania.  See chapter 6 of Belfast to Benghazi.

 

At the beginning of August 2011, Jane’s Defence Weekly headlined “UK, US acknowledge stalemate in Libya”.  Five years on, nothing seems to have changed with the US air strikes on Sirte this week.  There is much to play for.  We need to respect Libyan culture and avoid alienating important leaders such as Grand Mufti Sadek Al-Ghariani and General Khalifa Hafter.