Mary FitzgeraldVerified account

@MaryFitzger

Researching Libya with eye on wider EuroMed. Tweets mostly about the Libya beyond headlines. Libyaphile. Mediterraneanist. Migrant. maryinlibya@gmail.com

  
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Joined January 2010
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  1. Pinned Tweet
    22 Sep 2017

    ἀεὶ Λιβύη φέρει τι καινόν always brings forth something new Aristotle, Historia Animalium

    26 replies 44 retweets 272 likes
  2. 3 hours ago

    To clarify, these are Syrians living in eastern Libya where Haftar holds sway.

    2 replies 4 retweets 13 likes
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  3. 3 hours ago

    Haftar supporters in have been saying he’s their Sisi since 2014 (I remember seeing portraits of Sisi at pro-Haftar demos early on) but this is the first time I see them draw an Assad parallel. This week UN Libya envoy noted a number of flights between Syria & Benghazi

    4 replies 26 retweets 42 likes
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  4. 22 hours ago

    Turkey dials down its rhetoric on Libya, VP Oktay says it may not send forces if conflict eases. “Ankara hoped the Turkish bill would send a deterrent message to the warring parties”

    2 replies 10 retweets 12 likes
  5. 23 hours ago

    Embroidered slippers Gaddafi apparently gifted to IRA leader Joe Cahill when he visited Libya to discuss arms shipments (Gaddafi arranged several for the IRA). The shoes are included in a collection of artefacts related to the Northern Ireland conflict.

    1 reply 9 retweets 23 likes
  6. Retweeted
    Jan 1

    آمل بسنة أفضل لشعوب للعدل ظمأى، ولبلدان للإستقرار عطشى، ولأجيال جديدة تطمح لمستقبل أكثر يقينا، ولمنطقة على القلب عزيزة تبحث جاهدة عن طريق ثالثة بين الاستبداد والفوضى.

    229 replies 61 retweets 600 likes
  7. Jan 1

    Libyan cartoonist Suhaib Tantoush’s take on entering the new decade, referencing those displaced by war.

    "ننزح" نحو 2020.
    24 retweets 56 likes
  8. Jan 1

    You go to a New Year’s Eve party in France only to be reminded Libya is always there somewhere. Benghazi’s own Ahmed Fakroun.

    4 replies 7 retweets 32 likes
  9. 31 Dec 2019

    On the last day of a year - & decade - of turmoil for , sharing this photo by Andre Liohn from summer (when the war was just a few months old) that has been impossible to forget. A man waits to hear news of his wife & children in hospital after an airstrike hit their home.

    2 replies 23 retweets 41 likes
  10. 31 Dec 2019

    Emergency meeting of Arab League on Libya - requested by Egypt - underway. Haftar’s regional allies pushing for de-recognition of the UN-backed GNA in Tripoli which has been under attack by Haftar & those same allies since April. Turkish military support for GNA prompted meeting.

    10 replies 55 retweets 63 likes
  11. 31 Dec 2019

    Salame raises the question of Arabic-speaking groups ‘probably from Syria’ which would be deployed on the GNA side. In the same breath, he mentions the arrival of several planes from Syria to Benghazi airport in Haftar’s stronghold of eastern Libya.

    1 reply 6 retweets 11 likes
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  12. 31 Dec 2019

    One particularly telling detail that will be familiar to all those who work on Libya: most Libyan interviewees did not want to be named for fear of risking their own safety.

    5 retweets 10 likes
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  13. 31 Dec 2019

    “In a country without a functioning govt, huge sums of European money have been diverted to intertwined networks of militiamen, traffickers & coast guard members who exploit migrants” Excellent deep-dive on a subject many in Europe are either unaware of or would prefer to ignore.

    The EU has sent hundreds of millions to Libya to deal with a migration crisis. That money is making militias rich, an investigation has found.
    3 replies 62 retweets 80 likes
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  14. 30 Dec 2019

    Asked if he can envisage a Turkish-Russian entente in Libya, Salame replies it’s a possibility but ‘there will be countries that can never accept this’ (mentions Egypt, Algeria, Europe). Also adds that he can’t see how the Libyans could resolve such a development.

    1 reply 1 retweet 6 likes
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  15. 30 Dec 2019

    Salame lists dangers of current conflict, adding that a new risk is that states who directly support Libyan parties to the war demand in return to have military bases in Libya which ‘is not good news for southern Europe’. In fact UAE has had a military base in east Libya for yrs.

    1 reply 1 retweet 4 likes
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  16. 30 Dec 2019

    Long interview with UN envoy by who has covered Libya for years. Very despondent on the escalation of the war on Tripoli & the risks of its growing internationalization. Some excerpts to follow in tweets below:

    2 replies 16 retweets 19 likes
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  17. Retweeted
    30 Dec 2019

    Turkey's Erdogan is seeking a one-year mandate to send troops to Libya, where the UN-recognized government is battling forces led by eastern commander Khalifa Haftar

    9 replies 28 retweets 47 likes
  18. Retweeted
    29 Dec 2019

    "All of this is happening in part because the United States has failed to exercise its influence with the combatants and their outside allies. Instead, the Trump administration has sent mixed signals."

    7 replies 34 retweets 64 likes
  19. 30 Dec 2019

    Amid all the war news, I loved learning that one of the bestsellers of 2019 at Tripoli’s venerable Fergiani bookshop was their own Arabic translation of English traveler Rosita Forbes 1921 memoir of her journey to Kufra in southern Libya. All its Penguin pink glory below right.

    4 replies 2 retweets 42 likes
  20. 29 Dec 2019

    “It’s beautiful,” said a Libyan father, as he gazed at the Sicilian coast. “My country could be beautiful but it needs 10, 15 years.” on the Libyans fleeing the war by taking the smugglers’ boat to Europe. They sing Bella Ciao en route.

    7 replies 43 retweets 72 likes
  21. 29 Dec 2019

    Sudanese mercenary commanders talk to the Guardian about how Haftar has recruited ‘thousands’ of them to help fight his battles and also seize facilities in Libya’s oil crescent. A dynamic long documented in UN reports

    5 replies 121 retweets 108 likes
  22. 29 Dec 2019

    The image is the work of Libyan artist and originally appeared on in 2017. The fact it is being shared on Libyan social media so much in recent weeks shows how much it has resonated as the war continues.

    2 retweets 11 likes
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  23. Retweeted
    29 Dec 2019

    A women in her garden has been killed today following an alleged LNA strike near Mitiga airport. This war continues to bring more harm to civilians and infrastructure in our nation.

    This media may contain sensitive material. Learn more
    6 replies 33 retweets 42 likes
  24. Retweeted
    28 Dec 2019

    expects a significant influx of refugees & migrants as soon as the situation in war-torn deteriorates further.The government's contingency plan,reviewed several times since 2014, consists of setting up a camp near the city of Remada for 25 or 50k people

    Guerre en Libye : Plus de 25 000 réfugiés attendus en Tunisie
    1 reply 14 retweets 20 likes
  25. 29 Dec 2019

    Sharing this image that has been circulating on Libyan social media because while the pro-war voices grow ever shriller, there are also those who call for peace even if the conflict started by Haftar’s April offensive is now taking on new levels of complexity.

    7 replies 46 retweets 95 likes
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  26. 29 Dec 2019

    “Too late, Europe,” reads the damning headline to this analysis of the gathering war in Libya with a multitude of foreign actors piling on.

    La Libia, la guerra, e i figuranti italiani che giocano a fare i divi a Tripoli. Un’analisi per di questa settimana.
    4 replies 42 retweets 72 likes
  27. 29 Dec 2019

    Airstrikes were the leading cause of civilian casualties in Libya this year, according to this UN statement which names “General Haftar’s forces” as the perpetrator of the aerial attacks mentioned below.

    The Special Representative of Secretary-General (SRSG) in Libya, , strongly condemns repeated airstrikes targeting civilian installations in western , including Al-Zawiya, Tajoura and Abu Salim. …
    5 replies 49 retweets 43 likes
  28. Retweeted
    28 Dec 2019

    The first video of Turkish-backed Syrian rebels now deployed as mercenaries in emerges. They are in front of Tekbali camp in Salaheddin (which has been retaken from 's ). 's civil war has now morphed, perhaps irreversibly.

    92 replies 233 retweets 261 likes
  29. 28 Dec 2019

    Plans underway for EU’s new foreign policy chief to visit Tripoli early January, his first overseas trip since replacing Federica Mogherini. Ironic given European disunity on - particularly since Haftar launched the war in April - has fueled the situation.

    6 replies 10 retweets 16 likes
  30. 28 Dec 2019

    The first interview Haftar gave to a Western media outlet when he began his 2014 ops was with me. Time & again I recall his testiness when I mentioned all those Libyans who saw through the public narrative & wondered what his endgame & ultimate goals were

    3 replies 15 retweets 31 likes
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  31. 28 Dec 2019

    Looking back on the past decade, it’s clear that Haftar - whether one loves him or loathes him - has been a singular figure in post-Gaddafi in terms of his ambitions, actions & his external support. What’s not clear is how this story - or the war he started in April- ends.

    3 replies 14 retweets 29 likes
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  32. 28 Dec 2019

    “All of the 32 people brought on board were Libyans. They said they set sail from Tripoli hours before, and were escaping the war.”

    My report on yesterday morning's rescue.
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    3 replies 20 retweets 29 likes
  33. 28 Dec 2019

    The full text: Given all the attempts by interested parties to rewrite & reframe how Libya got here since April 3, I recommend this May briefing & the SRSG’s briefings to the UNSC since for anyone looking for the broad facts of the matter.

    2 retweets 12 likes
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  34. 28 Dec 2019

    From the same briefing: “Without the international & regional stakeholders recognizing that Libya is not a prize for the strongest but a country of 6.5 m people who deserve peace and the right to collectively determine their own path forward, the future of Libya will be bleak”

    2 replies 6 retweets 18 likes
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  35. Retweeted
    27 Dec 2019

    Grateful that someone so eloquently described how it feels to be a Libyan from Tripoli watching the current conflict. The anxiety, exhaustion, disillusionment and constant guilt of knowing what family, friends and neighbours are going through daily...

    Personally, this war has proven increasingly difficult for me to "cover". I lost count of how many of my friends got displaced. A neighbour died due to shelling, 2 of my aunts were displaced today & I've had daily convos…
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    9 retweets 24 likes
  36. 28 Dec 2019

    “I am no Cassandra, but the violence on the outskirts of Tripoli is just the start of a long & bloody war on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, imperiling the security of Libya’s immediate neighbors & the wider Mediterranean region” UN envoy to UNSC in May.

    4 replies 15 retweets 49 likes
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  37. 28 Dec 2019

    Three weeks after Haftar began his April 4 offensive on Tripoli, triggering the war that spirals today.

    Among Libyans who support Haftar’s offensive there is a belief that this war will ‘clean the slate’ & lead Libya to sunlit uplands. Not much thought about what the wreckage might look like. Every war has unintended consequences as knows from its own experience since 2011
    3 replies 6 retweets 18 likes
  38. Retweeted
    24 Dec 2019

    في مثل هذا اليوم 24 ديسمبر 1951 : إعلان استقلال ليبيا ⴰⵎⵉⵏ ⴰⵙⵙⵓ 24 ⴷⵉⵙⵎⴱⵔ 1951: ⵍⵉⴱⵢⴰ ⵜⵅⵡⴰ ⴰⵏⵏⴳⵎⴹ ⴰⵏⵏⵙ On this day 24 December 1951: Libya gained independence

    6 replies 121 retweets 355 likes
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  39. 23 Dec 2019

    "المحافظة على الاستقلال اصعب من نيله" 'Maintaining independence is harder than achieving it' 's King Idris (overthrown in the 1969 military coup that brought Gaddafi to power. A coup another young military officer named Khalifa Haftar also participated in)

    On this day in 1951, ’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.
    5 replies 25 retweets 78 likes
  40. 23 Dec 2019

    On this day in 1951, ’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.

    10 replies 82 retweets 182 likes
  41. 23 Dec 2019

    As for those insisting ‘the war’ started years ago, worth noting ‘the war’ means different things to different Libyans so that argument can go in several directions. Anti-Haftar side insists they’ve been trying to counter what they believe is his dream of military rule since 2014

    3 replies 8 retweets 18 likes
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