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UN envoy in Libya to reopen negotiations between parties over central bank governor

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The United Nations mission in Libya will start supporting negotiations between factions in Tripoli on Wednesday to settle the central bank crisis, which has reduced oil output and threatens to end four years of relative peace.

Libya’s two legislative chambers, the House of Representatives in Benghazi and the High Council of State in Tripoli have agreed to appoint a central bank governor jointly, potentially defusing a conflict over control of the country’s oil money.

Libya’s central bank is the only legal repository for oil earnings, and it pays state salaries throughout the country.

The negotiations between the two groups were expected to end on Monday with an agreement to select a person for governor and a board of directors within 30 days, which had already been extended by five days last week.

In agreeing to begin negotiations with both legislative chambers and the Presidential Council, the U.N. mission stated that “time is of the essence in reaching a consensual solution to the crisis and mitigating its adverse effects”.

The Presidential Council, based in Tripoli, had rarely participated directly in Libyan politics until its leader, Mohammed al-Menfi, moved in August to replace senior central bank Governor Sadiq al-Kabir, prompting eastern forces to order a halt to oil flows across Libyan oilfields in protest.

Libya has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-backed rebellion, and in 2014, it divided between eastern and western factions. Major combat ceased with a ceasefire in 2020 and attempts to reunify, but differences still exist.

The House of Representatives parliament and the High State Council were both recognised internationally in a 2015 political accord, despite supporting opposing parties throughout much of Libya’s conflict.

Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

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After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.

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Musings From Abroad

Russia vetoes Sudan conflict Security Council move

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A draft resolution from the UN Security Council urging Sudan’s warring parties to immediately end hostilities and guarantee the delivery of humanitarian supplies was vetoed by Russia on Monday.

China and every other member of the 15-member council supported the British-Serra Leonean-drafted motion.

In a decision described as “mean, nasty, and cynical” by British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, Russia was the only member to vote against, sending a message to the warring parties that they may act without consequence.

The world’s greatest relocation crisis began in April 2023 when the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces engaged in a power battle ahead of a scheduled transfer to civilian administration.

The conflict’s participants were urged by the draft resolution to “immediately cease hostilities and engage, in good faith, in dialogue to agree steps to de-escalate the conflict to urgently agree a national ceasefire.”

In addition, it urged them to hold talks to reach agreements on humanitarian pauses and arrangements, guarantee the safe movement of people, and provide sufficient humanitarian relief, among other things.

The United Kingdom was accused by Russia of trying to interfere in Sudanese affairs.

“We agree with all Security Council colleagues that the conflict in Sudan requires a swift resolution. It is also clear that the only way to achieve this is for the warring parties to agree to a ceasefire,” Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told the meeting.

He claimed Lammy’s critique was an “excellent demonstration of British neo-colonialism” and accused those who supported the proposed resolution of using “double standards” by allowing Israel to continue violating international humanitarian law in Gaza.

“One country stood in the way of the council speaking with one voice. One country is the blocker. One country is the enemy of peace. This Russian veto is a disgrace, and it shows to the world yet again, Russia’s true colours,” Lammy told the meeting.

“I ask the Russian representative, in all conscience – sitting there on his phone – how many more Sudanese have to be killed? How many more women have to be raped? How many more children have to go without food before Russia will act?”

Nearly 25 million people, or half of Sudan’s population, require help, according to the U.N., since 11 million people have abandoned their homes and starvation has spread to displacement camps. Of those, almost 3 million have departed for other nations.

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