Libya: Playing on religion

Alongside its strategy of employing brute military force, the regime has also been making efforts through other channels to resolve the situation. Colonel Mu'ammar Qadhafi is still trying to reach out to some of the eastern tribes, offering them incentives in a bid to neutralise them.

The regime is also playing on the religious sensibilities of the Libyans. It has made appeals to a number of influential Saudi Islamic scholars, including Sheikh Salman Al-Awda and Sheikh Aaidh ibn Abdullah al-Qarni, asking them to impress upon Libyans that it is Islamically unacceptable to rise up against one's rulers.

This was presumably a bid to capitalise on the popularity that Saif al-Islam gained by inviting figures such as these to Libya last year in sup¬port of his de-radicalisation initiative with the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. However, while these scholars may have been willing to play ball where the de-radicalisation programme was concerned, they have unsurprisingly proved com¬pletely unwilling to back the regime in this way.

The last rather desperate tactic on this front was to wheel Sa'adi Qadhafi out on state television. Dressed in a long white jalaba and sporting a beard, surrounded by religious books and quot¬ing from the Qu'ran, Sa'adi explained to Libyans that they should not rise up against the state.

This is not quite as bizarre as it appears. Although Sa'adi is known these days primarily for his love of football and his penchant for parties and Hollywood actresses, he went through a religious phase in the 1990s, so much so that Qadhafi senior was reportedly worried about him. Therefore his being the one to try to tap into religious sensibilities was not so surprising. Such attempts, however, are unlikely to have cut much ice with the opposition.

For more news and expert analysis about Libya, please see Libya Focus and Libya Politics & Security.

© 2011 Menas Associates

Abu Selim inmates and former civil servants challenge Libyan government over compensation

The tidying up of the Abu Selim prison massacre affair has been delayed once again by the inefficiencies and possibly corrupt nature of those charged with implementing the compensation payments.

A long list of categories of payments to be made to the ex-prisoners or their families has been constructed. This made payments available to former members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and to 300 people who had been wrongfully detained without trial, and some who successfully appealed against their sentences but were, nevertheless, kept in jail.

According to reports from Libya, payments have been disputed and have been eroded by those handling the cash pay-outs. The weekly protests in Benghazi against the poor treatment of former inmates and current prisoners in Abu Selim prison have persisted, despite discouragement from the authorities.

It is reported in the courts that a significant number of former Abu Selim inmates are challenging the government over the inefficiencies and peculation that accompanied the hand-out of compensation payments.

More critical for the regime in the short term, the pay-out to redundant civil service employees has still not been made; their normal wages have also been stopped and many are in some difficulties to manage their budgets.

Some outraged and now redundant members of the civil service began a protest in al-Jamahiriya Street, but were diverted to present their objections for their ill treatment by the government to the al-Aziziya area, close by Colonel Qadhafi's own residence. Here they proceeded to demand to see the Leader. They were eventually dispersed after promises by the Leader that his aides would deal with the matter immediately.

Such shows of dissidence have been missing from the Libyan political scene for many years and it will be interesting to see how the matter develops, especially as this show of defiance took place in Tripoli.

For more news and expert analysis about Libya, please see Libya Focus and Libya Politics & Security.

© 2010 Menas Associates