Waiting for ‘Brexit’: Another deadline, likely another delay
Trade deal has potential of saving many jobs Libya says human trafficker sanctioned by UN arrested
CAIRO, Oct 15, (AP): Libyan security forces said they have arrested one of the country’s most wanted human traffickers in the capital, Tripoli, more than two years after the United Nations’ Security Council imposed sanctions against him.
The arrest of Abdel-Rahman Milad, who also commanded a Coast Guard unit in the western town of Zawiya, was announced in a statement late Wednesday by the Interior Ministry of the U.Nsupported government in Tripoli.
The ministry said Milad, better known as Bija, is wanted on charges of human trafficking and smuggling of fuel.
rance’s Embassy in Libya welcomed the arrest as a key development in fighting human trafficking in the war-torn nation.
Libya has been plagued by corruption and turmoil since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. It is split into two administrations. The one in the west, including Tripoli, is ruled by the UN-supported government, while the east-based government is supported by powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter.
Oil-rich Libya has emerged as a major conduit for people from Africa and the Middle East fleeing wars and poverty and hoping to reach Europe.
In June 2018, the Security Council imposed sanctions on Milad and five other leaders of criminal networks engaged in trafficking of people and migrants from Libya. At the time, Milad was described as the head of the Coast Guard unit in Zawiya “that is consistently linked with violence against migrants and other human smugglers.”
UN experts monitoring sanctions claimed Milad and other Coast Guard members “are directly involved in the sinking of migrant boats using firearms.” Milad denied any links to human smuggling and said traffickers wear uniforms similar to those of his men.
The timing of his arrest raises questions, given that he moved freely in western Libya over the past two years and fought alongside Tripoli-allied militias to repel a yearlong attack on the capital by Hifter’s forces. Milad appeared in a video footage in June threatening to uncover alleged corruption of ruling bodies in Tripoli.
His arrest could threaten the western Libya militia alliance and give their rivals – Hifter’s forces – a window to rally support. This could also explain why Tripoli authorities have not dared arrest Milad or other militia leaders in the past years.
Later, hundreds of Milad’s supporters rallied against his arrest in Zawiya and elsewhere in western Libya, accusing Interior Minister Fathi Bashaga of cracking down on certain armed group in Tripoli while sparing others, such as militias from the city of Misrat, from where the minister is from.
A spokesman for Libya’s Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to phone calls and messages seeking comment.
Jalel Harchaoui, a research fellow specializing in Libyan affairs at the Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations, said Bashaga has an interest in showing strength to his multiple audiences, including the international one.
“Bija had become somewhat a celebrity outside Libya over recent years,” he said, adding that there is a tendency to focus on individuals, blaming them for the migrant situation in Libya, rather than a structurally dysfunctional system involving many foreign governments and international players.
BRUSSELS, Oct 15, (AP): It is yet another deadline day in the tortuous, fouryear trek called Brexit but – Spoiler Alert! – most likely nothing will happen.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had set the first day of the European Union summit on Thursday as the deadline to get a trade and security deal to replace its EU membership that expired on Jan 31. A transition period is set to end on Jan 1, forcing negotiators to work fast if any deal still is to get legislative approval and legal vetting in the little time left.
EU leaders opening their two-day summit have left the talks to the bloc’s negotiating team, but with the need for haste they are aiming to reinject momentum into negotiations that have been sluggish on the most important issues.
“It is for the UK now to commit itself and there are far too many areas where things don’t progress as they should,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Beyond the call for speed, the leaders are also set to flaunt their unity, something Britain has failed to dent during years of talks on the withdrawal conditions and now on a bare trade deal with the new non-member. It is indicative that Johnson’s call that Oct 15 would be the deadline has made little impact.
Johnson’s office said after a video call with EU leaders Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen that the prime minister “looked forward to hearing the outcome of the European (Summit) and would reflect before setting out the UK’s next steps.”
Few doubt that Johnson will lean toward continuing the talks for a few more weeks. The negotiations remain in a deep rut over differences on the issues of state aid, common standards of regulation and fishing rights.
“Britain has already imposed so many deadlines that came and went,” said Rutte, arguing it was time to concentrate on content instead. During the Brexit divorce talks several deadlines were imposed as a final chance to get a deal, only to see both sides grudgingly negotiate further afterward.
All acknowledge that little progress was made recently on the key issues. Johnson’s office said that the prime minister in his talks with the two EU leaders “expressed his disappointment that more progress had not been made over the past two weeks.”
A trade deal has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of jobs and would avoid worsening the economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
“With COVID-19 having such a devastating impact on society and on the economies in the United Kingdom and across Europe, obviously I think leaders will not want to hit citizens with a shock in terms of what a no-deal would represent, a significant additional shock to our respective societies and economies,” Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said.
Overall, the EU says Britain is trying to retain the advantages of EU membership without the commitment to play by the bloc’s rules. Britain says it is baffled it can’t get a quick deal with generous free trade concessions like Canada got a few years ago.
But EU nations like France want the access of UK companies to the EU market to be very strict because of the nation’s sheer proximity and the similarity in goods and service that are traded.
They want to make sure British firms won’t be able to undercut their continental rivals with weaker environmental and social regulation and excessive state subsidies.
France is viewed, especially by Britain, as one of the nations most unwilling to compromise, especially on the issue of French boats’ access to British fishing waters. “Under any circumstance, our fishermen should not be sacrificed for Brexit,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. The fisheries issue was supposed to be settled in July to give the industry time to adapt, but that was another deadline which fell by the wayside.
Since last month, the member states have also become ardent in demanding legal guarantees on governance of any deal after Johnson introduced legislation in September that breaches the Brexit withdrawal agreement he himself signed with the EU only last year.
It left trust in the Johnson government shattered, and the European Parliament, which must approve any deal, has vowed not to approve any trade deal if the UK government doesn’t withdraw this legislation. Britain says it will keep the legislation, with the option to use it if necessary.