14 hours ago
Sumud caravan to Gaza suspends operations after Cairo, LNA block movement
After days of intimidation by eastern Libyan authorities and the arrest of at least 13 participants, the Sumud caravan, which had set off from Tunisia last week in an attempt to break the siege in Gaza, announced Monday that it would forego the remainder of its journey, organizers told Mada Masr.
'We were supposed to reach the Rafah border crossing today, but that didn't happen because the authorities in eastern Libya refused to allow us to pass. They made it conditional on getting official approval from the Egyptian authorities — approval that Egypt never gave. The Libyan side told us: If you don't get a permit from Egypt, we can't allow you to proceed toward the border,' an organizer of the caravan said.
An eastern Libyan government official, an Egyptian official and an Egyptian researcher close to sovereign bodies in Cairo said that Cairo requested authorities in eastern Libya block the delegation from continuing through Libya. Egypt, the eastern Libyan government official told Mada Masr, was keen to avoid potential embarrassment amid growing pressure to allow the activists to reach Rafah and push for aid delivery and an end to the siege on food and medicine in Gaza.
The caravan, dubbed the Sumud Delegation, left Tunisia last week with around 14 buses and 100 vehicles. Even though the 1,500 people — whose numbers would swell as more people from Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Sudan joined their ranks — were not carrying aid, organizers presented the delegation as a 'symbolic act.'
Their departure from Tunisia into western Libya at the beginning of last week went smoothly at first, a member of the caravan told Mada Masr.
'As we moved from city to city, people went out to greet us in the streets, waving Palestinian flags, sprinkling rose water on our vehicles, ululating with joy. It was a spontaneous, genuine scene. In every city we stopped, there was food waiting, sweets, invitations to stay the night and offers to help,' the member said.
But all of that came to a halt on Thursday evening, when the caravan reached the outskirts of the city of Sirte, the effective dividing line between east and west Libya, which is governed respectively by the Libyan National Army under Khalifa Haftar and the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity.
'It felt like we had fallen into a void,' a second member of the caravan told Mada Masr, describing arriving at the entrance to the city. 'We thought we were simply moving between Libyan cities, but, at that moment, it felt like we had crossed into a different country.'
Over the next several days, the caravan faced intimidation from eastern authorities under the sway of Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar. Plainclothes security officers infiltrated the caravan, one participant said, 'sitting near our tents, watching our movement, asking questions about everything.'
Eastern authorities split the group into three separate convoys. They then imposed a total communications blackout and prevented movement and access to supplies, confining participants in a state of both security isolation and humanitarian chaos. Those who left were not allowed to rejoin the main group, which remained stranded for three days awaiting permission to continue east toward the Egyptian border.
'At night, in the thick darkness, there was no electricity, no toilets, barely enough water — only the dim light of phone screens,' the first participant said. 'Even aid deliveries were barred until the second night, only allowed in after interventions by the Red Crescent and donors from Misrata. The aid was meticulously searched by the same men in plain clothes, scattered among us.'
In the ensuing days, a number of participants were arrested, including activist and blogger Abdel Razzaq Hammad. The Libyan National Human Rights Commission called on eastern authorities to release those detained, holding relevant authorities fully responsible for their safety and fate.
The two participants described personal belongings being stolen, participants being searched or detained without legal warrants, and the assault on the convoy's spokesperson, who was beaten and dragged away wrapped in a blanket, only to be released after an officer intervened.
By Saturday morning, the caravan decided to retreat from Sirte, heading back to the west, 200 kilometers outside Misrata.
There, organizers tried to negotiate with eastern authorities and find alternatives.
'Our hearts are broken. We can no longer bear the images coming out of Gaza. If no one else will move, then let us. Don't stop us from trying to stop the genocide of women and children, to stop lives being taken away while we stand helpless,' the first participant said at the time.
The situation escalated after pro-eastern Libya figures and media outlets circulated video clips of a supposed participant saying that 'Sirte was part of the organization' and began smearing the convoy as co-opted by the Muslim Brotherhood.
According to an eastern government official, however, the decision to block the convoy's progress was not down to any offense or suspicion of Islamist activity. Instead, Egyptian officials had communicated with authorities in eastern Libya, urging them not to permit the convoy through due to lack of permits and approvals, and to spare Egypt embarrassment, according to the Libyan source.
A source at a research center affiliated with sovereign bodies in Egypt and an Egyptian official acknowledged the pressure from Cairo.
'When the caravan was coming closer to the Egyptian western borders, the state requested the Libyan authorities intervene to avoid a border situation,' the Egyptian official said.
Egypt has in recent days arrested and intimidated international activists who converged in Cairo to partake in the Global March to Gaza. The march organizers directed all participants to leave Egypt on Monday and suspended plans to head to Rafah.
In its announcement of the end of the convoy, the organizers of the Sumud Delegation said that 13 participants continued to be held in custody and called for their immediate release.
