The time of parallel security services is over, there is no place in Libya except for regular institutions of the army and police: Aldabaiba
The meeting included the Acting Minister of Interior, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence, and the Director of the Military Intelligence Department, Commander of the 444th Brigade.
The Tripoli government reported that the attendees gave a detailed briefing on the stages of implementing the plan to secure Tripoli (following state-recognised militia clashes with regular forces).
The Prime Minister began the meeting by stressing that all military camps and installations in the country should be subject exclusively to the Ministry of Defence and the Libyan Army, stressing that there is no legitimacy for any armed entity (militia) outside this framework, and that institutional discipline is the rule from which no one is exempt.
Aldabaiba stressed that the time of the parallel security services (militias) is over, and that there is no place in Libya except for regular institutions of the army and police, pointing out that what has been achieved on this road is a real and pivotal achievement, which contributed to restoring confidence in the state, despite awareness that work still requires a solid will and continuous firmness.
The Tripoli Prime Minister also directed the Acting Minister of Interior to activate the plan to secure institutions and regions exclusively through the Ministry of Interior, reflecting the return of the security authority to its legitimate umbrella.
The meeting also discussed the work plan of the committee formed to follow up on the conditions of prisons, where Aldabaiba stressed the need to end any extrajudicial detention, and that any attack on the rights of citizens or residents through illegal detention is a violation of the prestige of the state and will be faced decisively.
Aldabaiba concluded the meeting by stressing that the government will strike with an iron fist anyone who obstructs state-building or prevents the army and police from being able to perform their duties, in the battle to restore the homeland from chaos to the rule of law.
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Tripoli PM Aldabaiba appoints Mustafa Al-Wahishi as the new head of the Internal Security Agency
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Libya Herald
5 hours ago
- Libya Herald
UNSMIL congratulates citizens of 26 municipalities for successful conduct of local elections – calls for holding of suspended elections
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) today congratulated the citizens of 26 Libyan municipalities for the successful conduct of Municipal Council Elections today with a reported high preliminary turnout of 71%. UNSMIL said, according to reports, today's elections were held in an orderly and peaceful manner. The Mission commended the High National Elections Commission (HNEC), electoral staff for professionalism and sound technical performance, and security providers for their dedication in ensuring that citizens were able to exercise their political right to vote and participate in shaping their local governance. While the counting of votes is being finalised and electoral materials are transported to HNEC offices, UNSMIL appealed for all actors to preserve calm and address all potential grievances through legal channels. UNSMIL also welcomed HNEC's decision to resume the voting process in seven municipalities of Zawiya region on 23 August, following the destruction of electoral materials by arson attacks yesterday, and stresses the importance of ensuring that voters in all affected municipalities are provided with the opportunity to cast their ballots without further delay. UNSMIL reiterated its call for the swift resumption of elections in 16 municipalities where the process was suspended on the eve of polling, as well as in those municipalities suspended in July, to ensure that citizens can enjoy their right to elect their municipal council representatives in all areas of the country, through a peaceful, inclusive, and transparent process. UNSMIL said it remains strongly committed to supporting Libyan-led efforts to advance peace, stability, and democratic governance throughout the country.
Spectator
16 hours ago
- Spectator
Mounting Russian deaths will not deter Putin
In June, a grim milestone passed. The Ministry of Defence said that one million Russians had been killed or wounded in Ukraine. The Guardian reported that fatalities alone are 'five times higher than the combined death toll from all Soviet and Russian wars' after 1945. Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, stated that Russia had already lost '100,000 soldiers – dead – not injured' this year. Yet the unmentionable odour of death offends the Russian night. In Moscow, the milestone passed without official remark. The soaring butcher's bill has not, as some naively still hope, been matched by large-scale public unrest. Although, like the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Putin's war in Ukraine is an open wound slowly bleeding the country white, there is no comparable anti-war movement, mass protests, or anguished appeals from the mothers of soldiers. The wars in Ukraine and Afghanistan differ in their nature. Russia's modern digital dictatorship is not the Soviet Union of the 1980s 'collapsing under the weight of its own internal contradictions'. The Kremlin has effectively managed the impact of unprecedented losses by carrots and sticks or, as Russians put it, by gingerbread and whips. A fundamental difference with previous conflicts in Afghanistan and Chechnya is that Russia's war in Ukraine is being fought by volunteers, largely motivated by the prospect of life-changing amounts of money, and not by conscripts sent to fight against their will. In some regions, the gingerbread of signing on bonuses for new recruits now exceeds a year's salary. Generational wealth is promised for the families of the dead in return for their silence. This 'torrent of money' has transformed poorer regions, even if growing economic difficulties have seen bonuses being trimmed. The sugar rush of wartime spending on defence equipment has also increased real wages for many Russians, increasing living standards sharply. The Kremlin learned that its partial mobilisation of 300,000 mainly poor men in 2022 was a shocking and deeply unpopular experiment not to be repeated. With these troops now mostly dead, and the war presented as 'special' and faraway, Russians are much less interested in the fate of those who went to fight for the money. Conscripts are not sent to the front. Recruitment is spread across Russia's regions to prevent potent pockets of protest. To sweeten support for the conflict, the Kremlin relentlessly hammers a jingoistic narrative that Russia had no alternative to war, that it is fighting the collective West, and that Putin's 'special military operation' continues the Soviet struggle against Nazism. For example, volunteer recruitment went up after Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region prompted a patriotic response. Relatives are encouraged to view the death of their relatives as a noble blood sacrifice for this national cause, and not – as they really are – casualties of Putin's elderly rubbish. To further the ideological struggle and develop the next generation of recruits, the state seeks to recapture Russia's young by deepening 'patriotic' education programmes, re-writing history, re-using military symbols from the past, and re-forming Soviet-style youth movements. As one Russian expert told me, from the start the Kremlin has been acutely aware of Bonapartism: a charismatic general converting military success into political power. Officers at the front have been sacked for questioning the wisdom of launching costly assaults in order to move Putin's drinks cabinet ten centimetres closer to Kyiv. As noted by one Russian sociologist, no senior military officer has been used as a propaganda figure nor attained any kind of personal popularity in society; 'state propaganda praises only private soldiers who have taken part in the war, preferably those who have died in the process'. This being Russia, the whip has been wielded enthusiastically. Early anti-war protests were quickly squished and opponents to the war driven into exile, imprisoned, or pressed into military service. The climate of fear is fuelled by public prosecutions severe sentences. For example, Olga Komleva, a journalist and associate of the late Alexey Navalny, himself killed by the state in prison, was recently sentenced to 12 years for her anti-war activities. Civil society, already a weakened force in Russia, has been further cowed by being declared as agents of foreign powers. The Committees of Soldiers' Mothers were beaten into submission many years ago and are not the force they were in the 1980s. In their place, the Kremlin has created loyal simulacra that slavishly support the government line. Veterans' organisations, including those originally formed to support those who fought in Afghanistan, have been co-opted for the cause. As a result of these carrots and sticks, Russians remain generally indifferent to the war but with – from the Kremlin's perspective – a sufficient minority of genuine supporters. The public are more concerned about their own financial situation, criminalisation of society, and the potential impact of returning veterans than about the number of dead. Self-interest and fear have nixed the anti-war movement. The number of new recruits being sent to Ukraine still exceed battlefield losses. Three years into the war, it is unwise to hope for a deus ex machina of large-scale public unrest, or strain to discern ironic points of light of potential anti-war opposition inside Russia. As Oleg Orlov, a veteran campaigner for civil liberties put it: 'The opposition is completely crushed, the remnants of any freedoms are liquidated, [and] the words 'liberalism' and 'democracy' are dangerous to pronounce publicly without adding a curse word'. Instead, the war should be brought home to Russians by cranking up economic pressure on the country, its foreign enablers and collaborators while assisting Ukraine to strike military targets within its borders.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
The 19-year-old 'fogey' who hasn't voted in a general election or had a serious girlfriend, but he's running a £400million budget as Britain's youngest council leader
Councillor George Finch seems to have been rearranging the furniture in his new office by himself. 'I thought this worked better,' he says, explaining the new placement of desk, chairs and boardroom table. President Trump might have brought in interior designers when he moved back into the Oval Office, but there is nothing blingtastic about the Warwickshire equivalent. Nor is the new leader of Warwickshire County Council about to blow the budget on gilded adornments for the walls or turn Shire Hall into a skateboard park, which must have been a fear. There are plans for a Union flag to be given prime position in this room, but it sounds like it will be propped against the wall rather than attached to it. 'I can't put anything else on the walls because this is a listed building so there are all sorts of rules,' he explains, with a slight roll of the eye. 'You can't even put a pin up.' Then there is the carpet, best described as municipal green. 'I have to say, I don't love the carpet,' he admits, giving me a tour of his new fiefdom. 'It's giving library vibes. But I'm really not crying about it. I think it's good quality carpet so if it does the job, that's what matters. It doesn't matter about the colour or the age, as long as it does its job.' What a sensible soul George Finch seems, yet it's little wonder his appointment earlier in the summer caused abject horror in some quarters. Because George – the new wunderkind of the Reform party; his boss Nigel Farage's great hope for the future – is 19 and believed to be the youngest council leader in Britain. 'People are comparing me to William Pitt the Younger (who was PM at the age of 24) and Alexander the Great,' he says. 'I'm not saying that – I'm just George – but people do seem obsessed by the age thing.' It's a bit early to be talking about whether we are in the company of a future prime minister, but it's fair to say George's ascent has been extraordinary. This is a kid who hasn't yet voted in a general election (he wasn't old enough at the last one). He still lives with his parents, can't yet drive and tells me (and it's the only time he's tongue-tied) that he hasn't yet had a serious girlfriend. 'I mean I have had a girlfriend at school, but not…no. I've got a job to do. I've put a lot aside for this'. This time last year he was getting his A-level results and heading off to university to study politics and international relations. Local politics was more of a sideline – he'd been a youth councillor before winning the seat of Bedworth Central this year – but last month when his Reform party colleague Rob Howard stepped down as leader, citing ill health, George stepped up. It's a bit early to be talking about whether we are in the company of a future prime minister, but it's fair to say George's ascent has been extraordinary A vote last month confirmed his appointment. It's all been a whirlwind and technically he's still on his summer holiday from university. But can he resume his studies and still get to grips with potholes? He's not entirely sure, but is veering towards 'probably deferring or suspending my studies. 'I've spoken to the university, asked their advice, but they don't know what to do, which is hilarious'. As the mother of 19-year-old twins, I feel it's my civic duty to tell him that my mind is blown by his appointment. My twins are a couple of weeks older than him and have also just completed their first year at university. They are bright, capable and will hopefully go on to great things but very recent life experience (this week's, in fact) has taught me that they aren't yet ready to be left in charge of a non-stick frying pan. How on earth can George's mother sleep at night knowing he's in control of a £400 million budget? It turns out George is quite experienced in having women old enough to be his mother voicing such concerns out loud. 'Some of it is quite funny but one woman said to me recently, 'My son can't even run a bath', which had me thinking, 'But that's down to you. That reflects badly on you. Why would you say that?' For the record, I can run a bath.' But you're not qualified for this? Even your mum (he says she is 'very proud and wholly supportive that I'm doing something for my community') can't argue you are. 'No person is,' he says. 'No one is qualified to be a politician. You don't need to be. It's about whether you have the confidence of the people and of the group, and of the council, and I have all those things.' Maybe your university studies – or what there has been of them – will help? He raises an eyebrow. 'I don't think what I learned about the philosophy of politics will be remotely helpful. 'What has the philosophy of politics got to do with dealing with people's potholes or tax rates? Nothing.' If you can run a council on confidence, enthusiasm and common sense, then Warwickshire will be fine. George is like no 19-year-old I have ever met. He bounds out to meet me like an exuberant labrador, all warm handshakes and floppy fringe. At school he was a rugby lad but 'did my cruciate in, so my knee is buggered' which put paid to a sporting career – but he did learn much about teamwork. His demeanour and ease in talking to elders ('I can talk to anyone, me') might suggest a private school background. Wrong. He went to a state school, reluctantly got a student loan for that university course ('we're being sold a dud, thinking it's OK to be knee-deep in debt') and comes from a family that would traditionally have been Labour voters. 'Everyone in Bedworth would have been Labour. My dad wasn't into politics but he'd have been a Labour voter, sure, just because they were the party for the working classes,' he says. His dad Stuart worked in construction until contracting sepsis 'and having to give up his job'. His mum Amy was a hairdresser but went back to college to study to be a special needs assistant. The fact that his younger sister – he has an older one too – has health complications perhaps made him grow up faster than he would have, he agrees. Harriet, 14, has special educational needs and lives with FND, functional neurological disorder. 'It means she can lose function in her arms and legs. It happened yesterday. She lost function in both legs,' he says. This is a family that knows about local services, about sitting in an A&E department for days at a time, spending hours on the phone, lost in the system. 'My mum and dad would be in A&E on a monthly basis,' he says. 'It's been a heartache trying to get support for my sister from… institutions. The NHS haven't helped and as you become older you get more attuned to these things. 'She shouldn't be in A&E at all. What she needs is a rehabilitation plan. I can tell you about these things.' This is also a teenager who knows how to lift a phone to make a doctor's appointment and who learned early how to send an email which made him sound older. 'Even before I was a councillor I was doing the research, learning how to formulate emails, how to fill in an HCP [healthcare proxy] form. There is no proper support for families. My parents did the bulk of it but I was there helping to advocate,' he says. It's easy to join the dots to see how he became involved in local politics but how does a child from a Labour-supporting family come to join the Reform party? If he does become PM in the future they will write university dissertations about this, but George pinpoints the shift to Brexit, 'when people, including my parents, became concerned about accountability and about who was running our country'. He had a brief flirtation with the Tories but ultimately became disillusioned that anyone was going to make Britain great again. Into the void stepped Lee Anderson, the one-time Conservative MP who had defected to Reform. 'I went to a talk he gave, paid my entry fee, went with my mate – we were suited and booted – and I was blown away by him,' says George. 'I spoke to him afterwards about the wave of wokeism washing over our education establishment and he said, 'Come and join us'. I did, the very next day.' No wonder Nigel Farage and co have embraced him, and armed him for the battles ahead. He set out his stall early, stepping into an extraordinary debacle when he accused the local police force of covering up the fact that the suspect in a child rape case locally was an asylum seeker. He seems blasé about the fact that he risked contempt of court wading into this one. Evidence of naïveté? He says it's more about 'expecting transparency'. Going to war with 'the blob' – aka bureaucrats – holds no fear either. One of the first things he did as council leader was to confront Monica Fogarty, his chief executive, over flying the LGBTQ rainbow flag over council offices during Pride Month. He wrote to demand it come down. She refused. The flag is now down (but only because Pride Month ended) and he seems be claiming victory. 'It's very simple. A non-elected bureaucrat telling an elected leader, with constitutional powers, what to do? Is that democratic? It is not,' he say. But who has the power to fly a flag in any council? These powers aren't yours, are they? 'Constitutionally, they are mine. We are expecting to put a flag policy in place in September, so hopefully that will draw the line under it,' says George. By then – if he can get support – there will only be three flags permitted to fly at Warwickshire council offices, as per Reform guidelines. 'That will be the Union flag, the St George's flag and the county flag,' he says. There is something a little sad about talking to someone so young about how 'the country has gone to hell in a handcart'. I have the sort of conversation with him that it's more usual to have with someone from my parents' generation. He says he has always been 'an old head on young shoulders', a bit of a history nerd, obsessed with world wars and 'interested in things like how Henry VIII ruled with his ministers'. He became aware – then furious – about how his elders were directing him to learn about other things. 'You see it everywhere. I looked at studying history at university but I couldn't just do the history I wanted to study. One of the courses I was looking at was about how people were LGBT during the Tudor period. What? That's a non-subject.' He cites a moment when some of his co-students at Leicester University were arrested after a Free Palestine demonstration. 'A few of them got arrested after vandalising property and the lecturer stood up and said we must get the university to write a letter to the police to get them freed. What? They'd just done criminal damage. 'Another girl was arranging a protest. I was thinking 'I just want to learn'.' His growing political awareness put him in direct conflict with many of his peers ('but not all. It's a myth that all students are to the Left'). What surprises me is that he doesn't seem remotely bothered about how he comes across to the younger generation. He isn't worried that his peers may think his association with Reform makes him 'racist or sexist or any of those things, because I know it's absolutely not true'. There is much of the old fogey about him. No, he doesn't watch Love Island ('why would I bother?')and is horrified that I might describe him as a member of Generation TikTok. What music does he listen to? 'Ah, well, you are going to say 'Really?' now, but I do listen to old stuff – Billy Joel, David Bowie, Queen, Elton John. You know, proper music with a bit of meaning to it. 'Nowadays, it's a load of gibber-jab. You can't even understand it. It goes too fast. BOOM BOOM. What's the point of all that?' Oh. Out the window goes my opportunity to talk to him about techno mixes and K-pop. 'I don't even know what that is,' he admits. You're not a Swiftie, I persevere? His face is blank. George, you are 19. How can you not know about Taylor Swift? 'Oh yeah, everyone knows Taylor Swift. I just don't know these abbreviations.' I ask what posters he had – maybe still has – on his bedroom wall at home. 'I was never really one for posters because why would you ruin the wallpaper?' When he did move out, briefly, into university halls of residence there was one, though. 'I did put up a picture of Ronald Reagan.' He's a hero? 'That's the kind of Conservatism we need.' Is there room for a Nigel Farage poster on his wall? 'He's changed the course of history. One single man, and he's done that. Look at what he is doing now.' He is, of course, convinced that Reform will form the next government. 'Labour are toast. You can see the panic in Keir Starmer's eyes. It must be soul-destroying because the Conservatives didn't realise they were toast until late in the day.' Will he be a part of any future government, though? There is talk within the party of how he could stand at the next election but – ever the politician – he insists that 'once we get the education system sorted and go back to traditional values' he could go back to Plan A which was to be a history teacher. Surely he has his eye on Number 10? He refers me back to potholes, his immediate concern. 'We have 107 of them in Warwickshire,' he points out.
