Mary Fitzgerald
@MaryFitzger
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Researching Libya & wider Mediterranean | Scholar @MiddleEastInst | Associate Fellow ICSR & ISPI
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Joined January 2010
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Thrilled to get a hard copy of our just published Libya book. Grateful to editors
@CollombierV
&
@W_Lacher
for bringing together a team of Libyan & foreign researchers to shed light on under-researched aspects of the past 12 years based on extensive field work inside the country
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This rare photograph of
#Libya
's famed colonial resistance hero Omar Mukhtar is circulating on Libyan social media, with many saying it is the clearest known image of him.
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Harrowing images from Tripoli.
30+ reported dead, many others wounded, in airstrike on military college. Part of intensified air strikes by Haftar’s side in recent days. Yday Haftar declared ‘jihad & a call to arms’ for the war he started April 4, exactly 9 months ago today.
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An entire country's pain captured in one father's face. Syrian refugee family arrives at Kos. Pic by
@DanielEtterFoto
http://t.co/wMEUy5sUMQ
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There’s a reason this beautifully written letter to the editor in today’s
@IrishTimes
is going viral. Make sure you read till the end.
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There are few other things I’d rather do on a free Saturday afternoon during a packed Libya trip than a dash to Leptis Magna.
Almost empty today. The Mediterranean waves the only sound.
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Cuba's Fidel Castro has died aged 90. Close to Gaddafi, he visited
#Libya
several times & opposed Nato-led intervention in 2011
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Lahore
Brussels
Iskanderia (Iraq)
Istanbul
Maiduguri (Nigeria)
Peshawar
Ankara
Grand Bassam (Ivory Coast)
A month of blood
A pummelled world
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“The rules of war exist to help preserve humanity in its darkest moments, & they desperately need to be followed today. They are, & should remain, our compass to ensure that we put humanity first.”
Ireland’s FM saying what too many of his European counterparts have failed to say
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Horrific news from Benghazi where lawyer Hanan al-Barassi has been shot dead on the street.
She was a vocal critic of Haftar’s forces, often posting videos where she complained about the status quo in eastern Libya. Here she is in a recent video.
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Very glad this story is out in the wider world.
In Libya Derna is known as a town of poets and one of them - Mustafa Al-Trabelsi - warned of its terrible vulnerability to floods in a poem & cultural event days before the disaster.
He died in the deluge.
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Muhammad Ali, who has just died, seen here praying in memory of resistance hero Omar Mukhtar on a trip to
#Libya
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Repulsive tweet from the man who was French ambassador to the US until 2019 (and was French ambassador to the UN at the time of Libya intervention in 2011).
Hope he apologises (and acknowledges the many lady diplomats out there, including at the Security Council table)
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Everyone has more time to read at the moment so in that spirit, I will spend this week tweeting some of my favourite books on
#Libya
from my own library. This 👇 is not my library but the rather meagre Libya section at Daunt in London, one of my favourite bookshops anywhere.
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The Palestinian flag raised alongside the Libyan flag on Tripoli's landmark Martyrs Square.
Libya is home to a number of people with Palestinian roots, some due to intermarriage.
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Lion of the Desert, the 1981 biopic of Libyan colonial resistance hero Omar Mukhtar, is now showing on Netflix.
Funded by Gaddafi, the movie - in which Anthony Quinn plays Mukhtar - was censored for years in Italy.
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@bfcarlson
A Spanish friend’s father asked Borges about this exchange when they met some years later. He says Borges told him the English language was unparalleled for its "plasticity" but he added that it "lacked beauty".
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A very symbolic handover in so many ways.
Outgoing Libyan foreign minister Mohamed Siala with his successor Najla El Mangoush who is making history as the country’s first woman foreign minister.
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'I wish you had found water.
Water makes men work.
Oil makes men dream'
Libya's King Idris after oil was discovered there in the 1950s
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A year ago today Benghazi MP Siham Sergewa was abducted from her home by armed men after she gave a TV interview criticizing the Tripoli war sparked by Haftar’s offensive. Tripoli war now over but Sergewa is still missing. Notable silence from some who usually advocate for women.
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Libyans on social media quipping that Trump's fist pumping during his inauguration ceremony reminding them of Gaddafi's trademark gesture
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The coffee in
#Libya
is also vastly superior, you can get a perfect espresso even in little hole-in-the-wall places in Tripoli. Libyans take their coffee very seriously.
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The great Egyptian feminist Nawal El Saadawi has died at the age of 90.
I first read her work at uni & later had fascinating conversations with her in pre-2011 Cairo.
An inspiration to women across the world even if some of her stances post-2011 dismayed many of her fans.
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The son of famed Libyan colonial resistance hero Omar Mukhtar has died aged 97. Meeting him in Benghazi in first weeks of 2011 uprising was a personal highlight. He told me his father would be 'on the streets protesting with the youth' if he was alive. I took this pic that day
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Abdulrazaq Jilkaf, who was the only companion of
#Libya
's famed colonial resistance hero Omar Mukhtar still living, has died. Said to be 110
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Also reports of airstrike on Mitiga airport, the only airport civilians can use in the city. It’s been shut several times since April 4 due to repeated targeting by Haftar & his allies.
Harrowing images from Tripoli.
30+ reported dead, many others wounded, in airstrike on military college. Part of intensified air strikes by Haftar’s side in recent days. Yday Haftar declared ‘jihad & a call to arms’ for the war he started April 4, exactly 9 months ago today.
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ἀεὶ Λιβύη φέρει τι καινόν
#Libya
always brings forth something new
Aristotle, Historia Animalium
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Libyan media outlets are publishing stunning photographs of Cyrene, a Unesco World Heritage site in eastern Libya, under snow this week.
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Beautiful: this clip captures the moment a murmuration (such a great word) of starlings took on the shape of a giant bird over Lough Ennell in Ireland.
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Two striking images circulating on Libyan social media. Years of conflict have left so many young men maimed. In some ministries, officials are thinking about what this means for Libyan society long term & how infrastructure etc will have to adapt accordingly. A wounded nation...
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More than 50 days of war in Tripoli.
More than 500 dead.
More than 80,000 displaced.
A man waits to hear news about his wife & two children who are being treated in Tajoura hospital after an airstrike hit their house.
Image by
@andreliohn
for
@MSF
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@LadyVelvet_HFQ
@NOC_Libya
Could you please explain why a LinkedIn profile under your name and with your photograph and CV (as editor and owner of Velvet magazine) includes a reference to the National Oil Corporation of Libya and says you have been a board member there since January 2019?
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The final list for Libya’s first ever presidential election: 98 candidates in a country with a population of less than 7m.
Lineup includes:
- Two women
- One Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
- One Saif al-Islam Gaddafi lookalike
- One professional comedian (yes, really)
- Much chutzpah
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Patrick Kielty, the host of Ireland’s top chat show, signs off with heartfelt words on Israel & Palestine, drawing on our own story of a long conflict.
Kielty’s father was killed by loyalist paramilitaries during the Northern Ireland conflict
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On today’s anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, thinking of the women I accompanied to Potočari in 2009 where they buried the recently identified remains of their menfolk killed that day. One of the saddest assignments of my career.
Already then, signs denialism on the rise.
Genocide denial gains ground 25 years after Srebrenica massacre
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Despite everything it seems Tripolitanians have not lost their sense of humour. At a demonstration this evening against Haftar’s continuing offensive on the city, these youth had a novel way of protesting his French backing
#giletsjauneslibyastyle
#Libya
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‘Secular’ is one of the most analytically useless words when it comes to Libya and I cringe when I see it in a piece.
No key armed or political actor - incl Haftar - would self-describe as secular to a domestic audience.
Until that changes, best avoid using the word.
#Libya101
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After a decade in various forms of detention, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi surfaces in Sebha, southern Libya, to submit his candidacy papers for presidential elections scheduled for next month.
This is the first live footage of Saif al-Islam since 2011.
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I was unaware till this week that Tunisia’s MoD has its own olive oil, produced - according to the label - on “organic military farms”
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Imagine a Europe remapped to show the women who made a mark on the continent past & present?
On
#EuropeDay2021
I’m delighted to share a project I initiated & developed with
@FriendsofEurope
reinventing the Brussels metro map to tell a new story.
#CapitalofEuropeWomenofEurope
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Ballerinas of Benghazi (Photos from the Bright Side of Benghazi FB page via Joy Preschool & Nader Elmhashash)
#Libya
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“The French have realised Haftar has become a liability & not an asset any more,” says a veteran western diplomat. “I believe they are embarrassed because once again they made a mistake. Faced with this mistake, they have to justify it & they blame Turkey”
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What a photo. Turkey & Russia begin negotiations on
#Libya
in Moscow today. Video clips show broad smiles and friendly handshakes as the Turkish and Russian delegations enter the room. Few - particularly in Europe - saw this coming.
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When you open up Libyan twitter to find Libyans on all sides of the ongoing war transfixed or amused by footage of hundreds of camels being driven through downtown Tripoli (apparently they were evacuated from the port after Haftar’s attack). One wag quipped: ‘Libyan Camelot’
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Libya’s new foreign minister, Najla El Mangoush. She’s a lawyer from Benghazi who cooperated with the NTC during the 2011 uprising. She later studied conflict resolution, with a focus on restorative justice. Worked with USIP among other orgs.
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Libyan photographer Sasi Harib’s portraits are always so striking.
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When
@PartsUnknownCNN
asked me to write something food-related on
#Libya
as part of a
@Bourdain
tribute, I didn't hesitate to choose Tripoli's breakfast of champions at Haj Fathi's (bazeen, shakshouka, terfas & tuna with harissa also get a mention)
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Benghazi friend shared this great pic of Umm Kalthoum meeting her fans in the city in 1967. Some serious hairdos...
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My old neighbourhood in downtown Tripoli as seen from the former Royal Palace.
It’s my favourite part of the city, rich in history, walkable and with the old medina and corniche nearby.
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Great to be back in Tripoli.
Friday morning stroll around my old neighbourhood. Sorry to see that the original Hajj Fathi - a Tripoli institution that had been serving up breakfast since the early 1970s - is now closed due to property ownership issues (Gaddafi era legacy).
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Two decades ago Ireland didn't even have divorce. Now it's set to become first country in world to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote
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Some Libyans quipping that Trump's press conferences and public statements bring back memories of Gaddafi
#Libya
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If you’ve seen photos of the anti-war rallies in Tripoli and wondered why many are holding aloft what look like croissants, this piece I wrote for
@PartsUnknownCNN
last year will help you understand the symbolism of what Tripolitanians call baryoosh
#Libya
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Meeting Haftar in his eastern Libya base soon after he launched his op in 2014. The pics followed a testy interview. His aide took the out of focus pic on left. Tellingly, aide didn’t want to annoy Haftar by taking another one (because Haftar had blinked). I took pic on the right
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An example of why some parts of eastern Libya remind me of Ireland. People who have never visited Libya often imagine it as a desert land but that’s only part of the story.
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Libyans paying tribute to famed resistance fighter Omar Mukhtar hanged by the Italian occupiers on this day in 1931
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Interesting to see which western embassies have issued individual statements on the killing of lawyer Hanan al-Barassi in Benghazi in addition to supporting joint UN/EU statements.
Notable that 🇫🇷, given it generally likes to project on HR & freedom of expression, has not yet.
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Looking for a quick guide to
#Libya
's key political & armed factions? Read my mapping with
@mattiatoaldo
for
@ecfr
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On this day in 1951,
#Libya
’s King Idris declared the country’s independence from a balcony in Benghazi. Sixty-eight years later Libya is at war with itself aided & abetted by an array of external meddlers.
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Haftar’s spox gets schooled by Libyan Amazigh after he tweets - on his English lang account which targets foreign media - a clip of anti-Haftar forces speaking in Tamazight, claiming they‘re Turks.
Many Amazigh opposed to Haftar since 2014, mostly due to his Arab nationalism.
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Looking forward to working with
@IntissarFakir
& her team in the North Africa Program.
MEI is proud to welcome
@MaryFitzger
as a Non-Resident Scholar in our North Africa Program. Fitzgerald is a researcher and consultant focusing on the Euro-Mediterranean region, particularly Libya.
To view her full bio, visit the link below:
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“Haftar’s style of rule—kleptocratic, authoritarian, extractive—has made for poor stewardship of eastern Libya’s infrastructure and natural environment, leaving other communities vulnerable to climate-induced extreme weather events as well.”
by
@FWehrey
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Seeing some Libyans wish Haiti a happy Independence Day today.
Libyans celebrated their own on Dec 24, with many recalling that Haiti’s vote at the UN was key to Libya becoming an independent state in 1951. Several Libyan cities have a street named after Haiti for this reason.
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Never a good idea for the ambassador of a former colonial power posted to former colony to hark back with rose-tinted view of that colonial past, as responses from Libyans to this tweet demonstrate. The images are from 1937, a year Mussolini visited
#Libya
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Never gets old.
John Hume - one of the key architects of the Northern Ireland peace process - on his father’s advice: “You can’t eat a flag”
Flag as metaphor for narrow categorisations including but not limited to nationalism.
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Can we retire the word ‘strongman’ already? I cringe whenever I see it in media reports or worse, a research paper. Problematic in so many ways. Gendered. Obscures mores than it illuminates. Feeds the vanity of whomever it refers to, particularly in cases of a would-be strongman
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Twenty years ago today dissident republicans bombed Omagh, killing 29 people in the worst single atrocity of the Northern Ireland conflict despite the signing of a deal to end that conflict just months before. This is John O'Donnell's poem about a day that is impossible to forget
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European paradox: the EU loves to champion & support Tunisia as a model but so many EU member states - 🇫🇷 in particular - are beholden to the UAE, which - in the words of someone close to Abu Dhabi - ‘doesn’t want another Tunisia’ in neighboring Libya. We know what that means...
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Vivid reporting on the fighting in Tripoli from Sky News’
@AlexCrawfordSky
, well known to Libyans for her coverage of the 2011 uprising. Big contrast to the highly partisan coverage of Sky News Arabia which has been pro-Haftar’s camp since 2014
#Libya
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So often while observing the flood of misinformation & disinformation washing around
#Libya
and feeding its conflict & multiple crises, I have wondered how much more difficult the peace process in my own country (Ireland) would have been if social media had existed at that time.
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This is a beautiful recent Vogue tribute to Libyan-Canadian artist Arwa Abouon who passed away last year.
In particular, it highlights the role of family in her art (her parents feature in the below work):
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On
#InternationalWomensDay
, a tribute to Libya’s Girl Guides/Scouts. Spend time with them and it’s impossible not to be struck by their enthusiasm for the role they can play in their country. Vintage pic (L) Benghazi in the 60s, other pics from my last visit to Tripoli Dec 2019
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Biden & his pick for SoS Antony Blinken are famously close but interesting that they differed on Libya in 2011.
From WaPo in 2013: “Blinken surprised some in the Situation Room by breaking with Biden to support military action in Libya, officials said.”
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An unexpected and precious gift received last night. Fascinating British military snapshot of
#Libya
in 1947. The chapter on economy is interesting because this was before oil was discovered. The role of olive cultivation is noted.
#LibyasOtherOilEconomy
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Just learned of Nobel Peace Laureate John Hume’s passing. Impossible to overstate his contribution to the cause of civil rights in Northern Ireland and the end of three decades of conflict there in 1998.
His belief in non-violence was unwavering.
A giant of Irish history.
John Hume obituary: The leader who helped bring peace to Northern Ireland.
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On this day in 1998 the agreement that brought an end to 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland was signed.
Two decades on the agreement's preamble never fails to give this former Belfast resident chills.
#GFA20
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Large demonstration outside the Libyan embassy in Paris protesting reported 'slave auctions' in
#Libya
. Similar demos outside Libyan embassies elsewhere today
Paris - Forte mobilisation devant l’ambassade de Libye contre l’Esclavage après la diffusion d’images montrant la vente aux enchères de migrants.
La foule criant : « Libérez nos frères ».
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Russian reporter boasts he is 1st foreign journalist to embed with Haftar’s LNA in Tripoli offensive then deletes tweet perhaps because he revealed more than he should have. Russian media have had more access to Haftar’s eastern stronghold than any other non-Arab media for years
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The final years of the Gaddafi regime saw leading architects (including Zaha Hadid and Norman Foster) take on major projects in Libya that were never realised.
The story of the planned Museum of Conflict (architect’s image below) in Tripoli is particularly ironic.
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#Libya
’s Boy Scouts and Girl Guides marked their 65th anniversary this week. The movement is very popular among Libyans. Photographs by Amir Abu Sen
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Deep-dive on a long overlooked dynamic in
#Libya
: the rise of Saudi-inspired Madkhali-Salafis in the country’s security, religious & social spheres. Madkhali-Salafis are a key component of armed factions including Haftar’s LNA.
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Took a break from research work to write this piece on the joys of shakshuka in Tripoli, Tunis, Tel Aviv (and Marseille) for
@IrishTimes
magazine.
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With
#Libya
back in the headlines, I just told a broadcast producer there is no excuse for ‘manels’ - all male discussions - on what is happening there when so many great women - Libyan & Libyanist - have been working on Libya for yrs. I forwarded a list, happy to share in DM.
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Used books sale in Misrata
#Libya
w/ wares displayed in empty ammunition cases. Organisers say they want to show 'real weapon is education'
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Ramadan kareem to all those observing.
In contrast with recent years, Ramadan begins in relative peace in Libya this year.
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What a tale of shared
#Libya
histories...I received this from a Libyan contact. If anyone can help trace the merchant's family, plz msg me
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@LadyVelvet_HFQ
@NOC_Libya
While waiting for a response, I note that the reference to the NOC board membership has just - in the last minutes - been removed from the LinkedIn profile that bears your name.
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Deep in Libya’s olive belt in the town of Gharyan.
Locals say most of the olive trees here date back many centuries (some others elsewhere in Libya were planted during Italian colonial era).
The peppery ‘Libico’ oil from this family farm won international accolades last year.
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Rare dispatch from Benghazi, the city where Haftar’s face is everywhere but he is seldom seen in person. Rare because journalists’ access to the city is very restricted, & rare because the reporting digs deep beyond the propaganda. A must-read by
@ddknyt
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German philosopher Habermas - whose work has been key to thinking on the EU as a project - reverses his decision to accept UAE's 225k euro Sheikh Zayed award, saying he was unaware of the "very close connection...with the existing political system there"
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Could
@JulianAssange_
please stop repeating the factually inaccurate claim of 40,000 killed in
#Libya
in 2011? Death toll was circa 10,000
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The other black gold that fuels
#Libya
. Tripoli may be in a state of war since Haftar launched his offensive on April 4 but nothing comes between Libyans and their nus-nus (espresso with a splash of milk).
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Ireland is a rare voice in the EU this week in the way its government has condemned without reservation or qualification Hamas’ attack on Israel, acknowledged 🇮🇱 right to self-defence but also accused 🇮🇱 of subjecting Gaza to collective punishment/violating IHL in its response.
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Beirut is one of those cities that occupy a particular place in the world’s imagination.
Its name resonates for those of us who know and love it and those who have never been.
Thinking of my Beiruti friends and their beloved city on this devastating night.
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Local elections in 7 Libyan municipalities today. Given
@realDonaldTrump
WH says he & Haftar have “shared vision” for a democratic Libya he should know Haftar has said
#Libya
is not ready for democracy & has replaced elected mayors with ‘military governors’ in areas he controls
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Striking portrait of a young Amazigh woman in Yefren, a town in
#Libya
's Nafusa mountains. By Libyan photographer Nada Harib
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