Mediterranean Archivi - Pagina 144 di 248

The secret strategies of Isis and Boko Haram in Libya: highway of Jihad in Africa

22 Maggio 2016 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

The new alliance of Boko Haram with Isis could further disrupt the fate of Libya. The terror groups have paved themselves a new path of jihadism to cinch control of the volatile North African region and its migration routes. The UN quickly held a meeting on 13 May in which Security Council members discussed the plight of the displaced in Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.

The context of Central Africa is marked by barbarism systematically carried out by terror groups which have destabilised the peace and internal balance of this region. Boko Haram uses terror and brutality as its weapons; in 2014 this terrorist organisation kidnapped over 250 school girls. Acording to Peter Pham, the director of the Africa Centre Atlantic Council, Boko Haram is responsible for the deaths of 10,000 Nigerians. To strengthen its footing, in 2015 Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, formed an alliance with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Caliphate. Their alliance then came to strengthen Isis presence in Libya.

There is indeed a different theory that supports the new co-operation between Abubakar Shekau and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, namely the need to remain on the political scene after the many losses suffered by Boko Haram in the course of several armed clashes. The French President, François Hollande, reported that Boko Haram has been significantly weakened in recent times. However, Hollande commented: “This terrorist group nevertheless remains a threat.” The words of French President were spoken in Abuja, during a summit wanted by the Nigerian leader, Muhammadu Buhari.

The allegiance is an opportunity for Boko Haram to increase its visibility among the terror organisations. The Caliphate also enjoys benefits of this alliance with the Nigerian terrorist group since the latter has high liquidity for the taxation of territories under its control. Nigeria on its own is ill-equipped to handle Boko Haram; so Hollande and Buhari have signed a defence and security agreement to help Nigeria build up new regional forces, improving infrastructure and displaced citizens.

Finally there is the issue of migrants: Nigeria and Libya are the two extreme points of a route that cuts Africa vertically from the central regions to the Mediterranean coast. Isis’ control of Libya has allowed the arrival of jihadists and militias into Gaddafi’s former kingdom. Their presence has worsened the refugee crisis as countries across the region have insufficient infrastructure to accommodate to the displaced. If there isn’t regional cooperation between leaders, this can only escalate the terrorist groups’ power base.

Peter Pham commented: “The alliance Boko Haram-Isis is a real threat because the risk of the establishment of a highway of Jihad is very strong.” He further explained: “What is happening is something that was already in the mind of al-Qaeda. And all that could be actualized again with the new support of groups such as the Somali Shabaab”.

At Abuja leaders discussed just this: a strategic plan to stop the advance and the strengthening of terrorist organisations. Operation “Barkhane”, consisting of 3,000 French soldiers, were sent to defend the borders of the Sahel States. But this response to the growing terror threat is only putting a band-aid on the problem as disagreements amongst African leaders may compromise the entire mission.

theinternationalpostmagazine.com

US, Britain, France all carrying out covert military operations against Islamic State inside Libya

22 Maggio 2016 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

With IS just 200 miles from the shores of Europe, international powers have grown increasingly concerned about the group’s close proximity, which has led to mounting reports of covert military operations taking place on Libyan territory.

Kobler, the UN envoy, previously told MEE that the priority in Libya was not international military assistance, but rather forming a united army that could re-establish order and take on IS.

However, the GNA has failed to establish its authority fully, and a rival parliament in the Libya’s east – the House of Representatives – continues to operate in defiance of international pressure.

Despite the lack of a functioning unity government, American, British, Jordanian and French special forces have all been reported to be carrying out military operations against IS in Libya.

On 12 May, the Washington Post quoted unnamed American officials who confirmed two teams of under 25 troops had been deployed to the cities of Misrata and Benghazi to “identify potential allies among local armed factions and gather intelligence on threats”.

In March, MEE revealed that British and Jordanian special forces were working together in covert operations against IS, while in February Reuters reported that elite French troops were advising Libyan troops in the east about how to take on IS.

Over the weekend, Britain’s Daily Mail reported that “up to 50” British troops may be deployed to Libya this week, after the British Royal Air Force carried out a cyber attack against the IS stronghold of Sirte.

Meanwhile, after reports in March suggested Italy might send up to 5,000 troops into Libya, the country’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told Italian daily Corriere della Serra ahead of the summit that Nepalese troops would be sent to support the UN Support Mission in Libya instead of Italians.

International forces are likely to struggle in finding a reliable local partner as long as domestic political divisions continue to plague Libya.

The GNA has failed to get the endorsement of veteran army strongman Khalifa Haftar, who has launched a war against militias that he says is aimed at ridding the country of Islamists, but which his opponents claim is a power grab aimed at returning Libya to authoritarianism.

A rival Tripoli-based government – the self-declared Government of National Salvation – has also not recognised the GNA unequivocally, with its prime minister telling his cabinet to continue work in April despite a statement issued under the administration’s name declaring support for the GNA.

However, the unity government has garnered support from key institutions including the central bank and the NOC.

Libya’s divisions have deepened in recent days, with the GNA and Haftar forces each announcing separate plans to fight IS and “liberate” Sirte.

“This is a mistake. It must be prevented… we can no longer accept this division,” said Nicola Latorre, chairman of the defence committee of the Italian senate and an IS expert.

He said Haftar’s bid to take on IS alone would undermine the UN-backed government, adding that the Vienna talks could help unite ranks and possibly lead to the creation of an international contact group on Libya.

middleeasteye.net

Libya: Former Minister of Labour, Mohamed Swalm, killed in ISIS clashes

21 Maggio 2016 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

Mohamed Swalm, Libya’s former Minister of Labour was killed during a battle against ISIS forces near the region of Wadi Allowd on Saturday.

Swalm was appointed Minister of Labour and Retraining from November 2012 to March 2014 in the cabinet of former Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.

Zeidan was was elected by the General National Congress (GNC) in October 2012 as Libya’s first post-war Prime Minister after the 2011 ousting of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Colonel Mohamed Azadina, an official from the Government of National Accord’s operations room, said that Libyan forces have moved forward from Al Jufra where they came into clashes with ISIS forces near the Al-Baghla Gate.

“There have been losses and injuries in these clashes, reinforcements are coming into the areas of these clashes,” said Azadina in a statement on the operation room’s Facebook page.

On Wednesday, 32 soldiers were killed and 50 were injured in clashes with ISIS forces as the Libyan military advanced toward the extremist group’s stronghold in the coastal city of Sirte.

Seven soldiers were killed in a car bomb attack in Buairat el-Hassun, 60 kilometres west of Sirte, and 25 soldiers were killed further west in Abu Grein.

Hours after the deadly attack, the GNA called on the international community to lift the arms embargo and provide it with arms without delay so that its military is properly equipped to battle ISIS.

According to the operation room’s Facebook page, those wounded in Wednesday’s clashes were transported to neighbouring countries to receive medical treatment for their injuries.

Eleven soldiers were sent to Turkey and 29 soldiers were sent to Tunisia to receive treatment, and those in critical condition were airlifted to Malta or Turkey for medical aid.

The hospital in Misrata is suffering from a shortage of medicine and medical supplies, according to a statement by The Libyan Organization for Peace, Care and Relief (LOPCR) to the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

ISIS militants overran the Abu Grein checkpoint on May 5, which marks their most recent attempts at advancing into territory controlled by the unity government. The surprise suicide attacks prompted the GNA to establish its military campaign, called “Albunyan Almarsos” or Operation Strong Foundation, in Misrata against the terrorist group’s stronghold in Sirte.

libyangazette.net

Car bomb, Islamic State clashes kill 32 Libya unity government forces

21 Maggio 2016 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

The unity government has called for warplanes to bomb IS after world powers showed readiness to arm the newly formed authority

Thirty-two fighters loyal to Libya’s unity government were killed in clashes with the Islamic State (IS) group and in a car bombing on Wednesday near the IS stronghold of Sirte, the military said.

“The toll of today’s martyrs reached 32, and 50 others were wounded,” the operations room set up by the new Government of National Unity (GNA) said on its Facebook page and Twitter account late on Wednesday, updating an earlier toll of 18 dead.

Of the earlier toll, seven died in a car bomb attack in Buairat el-Hassun, 60 kilometres west of Sirte and the others were killed in an IS foray in Abu Grein, further west, that the GNA recaptured on Tuesday.

The GNA on Tuesday called for warplanes to bomb IS after world powers showed readiness to arm it.

On Monday, the United States, Italy and Libya’s allies and neighbours agreed in Vienna to arm the GNA to confront the threat from IS.

Clashes on Tuesday claimed the lives of seven members of the GNA forces and wounded 15.

IS overran Abu Grein on 5 May as part of a series of forays into territory controlled by the UN-backed government, including a deadly attack a week later on a checkpoint at Saddada, 50 kilometres to the west.

The latest fighting comes as IS seeks to expand westwards out of Sirte, slain leader Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown on the Mediterranean coast, which the group has controlled since last June.

Europe fears the militant group could use Sirte’s port and airport as a springboard to attack the continent.

The international community, particularly European powers, are also concerned about a stream of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Libya’s unsecured coast.

middleeasteye.net

NATO to broaden its role in the Mediterranean to stop smugglers

21 Maggio 2016 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

NATO agreed to work with the European Union in their efforts to stop human smugglers from trafficking migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said “When it comes to the Mediterranean, that’s of course something which we are now discussing with the European Union. It was an issue I discussed with the European Union defence ministers a couple of weeks ago and we are looking into how NATO can provide support for the EU efforts and also do more in the Mediterranean.”

NATO plans on aiding the EU in Operation Sophia, the anti-migrant smuggling military operation, by providing ships, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

“We will do this in close coordination with the European Union and I also discussed with the Italian Defence Minister setting up a coordination mechanism so we coordinate our efforts in the Mediterranean,” said Stoltenberg.

Operation Sophia, also known as EUNAVFOR Med, was established in May 2015 as a response to the surge of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Libya. The death of 800 migrants after their boat capsized off the Libyan coast in April 2015 promoted the EU to mandate the operation to stop human smuggling and trafficking networks in the Mediterranean.

Europe wants NATO involved to help prevent large flows of migrants who are expected to cross the Mediterranean from Libya as the weather improves and the seas get calmer.

The EU conducts Operation Sophia in international waters near Libya, but their vessels are far out to destroy boats used by people smugglers, catch traffickers or stop migrants trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea from Libya

The EU and NATO both said that if requested by the Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord they could operate closer to Libyan shores to help stop human smugglers.

“We will only act if we are asked by the Libyan government to act. So it’s based on a request from the Libyan government if they’re going to do anything in Libya,” said Stoltenberg.

NATO helped the EU control the number of individuals crossing from the Aegean Sea, which was a major route for migrants crossing from Turkey to Greece, by providing intelligence and patrol ships to help the EU’s border agency.

NATO’s involvement has dramatically decreased the number of migrants risking their lives to reach Europe in unsafe boats and is part of a wider deal between the EU and Turkey in which Turkey takes in migrants fleeing Syria in return for aid.

Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj has pledged to put a stop to the large number of migrants and illegal people-smuggling taking place in Libya, ensuring that only through the establishment of a stable and secure Libya will the issue of people-smuggling be put to an end.

libyangazette.net

Hezbollah maintains Lebanese support despite heavy Syria toll

21 Maggio 2016 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

After losing as many as 1,500 of fighters in Syria and now pledging to boost numbers, can Hezbollah keep that support?

Inside a half-built basement topped with three Hezbollah flags, mourners clad in black surround tombs of fighters laid to rest in four distinct lines.

The martyrs’ mausoleum in the southern suburbs of Beirut houses more than a hundred Lebanese Hezbollah fighters who fell fighting in Syria, where the group has been supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since 2012. It is one of countless burial places for the movement’s fallen that lie scattered all over the country.

Most of those laid to rest here died in their early 20s, the photos on their tombstones betraying their callow faces, but a few were even younger. The youngest was just 17 when he died fighting one of the plethora of opposition groups in neighbouring Syria.

Since Hezbollah entered the fray next door, anywhere between 900 and more than 1,500 of its fighters are believed to have been killed, with many more injured.

The group’s exposure in Syria was brought home last week when Hezbollah’s top military commander, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in contested circumstances in a secretive command facility near Damascus airport.

Despite these losses, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Friday that the group will boost its support for Syria’s government in the wake of Badreddine’s death.

“More commanders than before will go to Syria. We will be present in different ways, and we will continue the fight,” he said in a televised speech.

Baddredine now lies buried in the mausoleum, where his coffin has been placed next to the tomb of his predecessor Imad Mughnieh, who was killed in Syria in 2008 also under hotly contested circumstances.

Last Friday, thousands of people took to the streets of Beirut for Badreddine’s funeral to express their grief over his killing, but Lebanon’s Shia community is no stranger to sacrifice and loss.

“We are here to remember our martyrs and to show unity,” a young man who came to honour Badreddine as well as a fallen relative told Middle East Eye.

An older mausoleum rests next to the new one, housing bodies of hundreds of fighters who died fighting the Israelis, whether during the lengthy Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in 2000 or in the sting of subsequent skirmishes and wars that have rocked the region since.

As the casualties continue to mount and with news that the group bolster support for the Assad government, questions about whether Hezbollah risks alienating its traditional support base have been growing.

A very heavy toll

The Syrian conflict is purportedly the deadliest conflict in which Hezbollah has been involved since it was set up in the 1980s to fight the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Despite the lack of official statistics, reports of mass casualties have been trickling out for years. Anyone visiting cemeteries in Shia-majority areas, such as Beirut’s southern suburbs or the Bekaa valley from where Hezbollah draws its support, can’t help but stumble on new graves adorned with Hezbollah flags and pictures of the dead dressed in military suits.

“The rate of fatalities they are experiencing now is greater than ever before,” Nicholas Blanford, a journalist living in Lebanon for more than two decades and who has closely followed Hezbollah’s path, told Middle East Eye.

However, while one might assume the casualties are breeding resentment, Blanford argued that the funerals have become a carefully crafted ritual that is exploited to rally Hezbollah’s support base.

“When they do have the funerals, it is an occasion to honour the martyrs, to honour the family of the martyr, to pay tribute to his role as a martyr, as a fighter for Hezbollah and for the cause,” he said.

The signs of this coordinated propaganda machine are clearly visible throughout many Shia-dominated neighbourhoods.

Entering Dahieh, the name of the large Shia suburbs of Beirut, one cannot escape the visual presence of the movement. The party has already set up a big banner with Badreddine’s face on the Hadi Nasrallah Avenue, one of the area’s main roads, named after the son of the movement’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, who died in combat against Israel in 1997.

This is not the only billboard hanging from poles, buildings or glued to the walls in the large avenues and narrow streets where Hezbollah placards compete with those of the other major Shia political party, Amal, for prominence. Posters portraying religious messages, banners lamenting the situation in Palestine, and signs recalling friendships between Iranian and Lebanese leaders are all clearly visible.

“It has always been important for Hezbollah, and not just in the current crisis, to always sustain the support of the community,” said Blanford. “Because if they lose the support of the community, it doesn’t matter how much money they can get from Iran or how many new weapons systems … they would be finished.”

Middle East Eye asked Hezbollah to comment for this article, but the group had not responded by the time it was published.

Speeches by Hezbollah’s leader Nasrallah, who, in addition to announcing the increase in the group’s Syria deployments, said recently that Syria is engulfed in a war because of its support for resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon and regularly repeats vehement anti-US and anti-Israeli rhetoric, are all aimed at rallying support.

This propaganda, however, is just an extension of a wider strategy developed by the group over the past few decades – the powerful combination of which has allowed Hezbollah to morph from just another armed militia to a “state within a state,” as the party is usually called by its foes.

Hezbollah has done this by vowing to oppose Israeli aggression on the one hand while providing basic services to usually less well-off Shia neighbourhoods and working to relieve everyday hardships, like poverty.

“This [Hezbollah] state [is] comprised of a network of different institutions that [provides] a wide range of services to the Shia constituency,” said Ziad Majed, a Lebanese political researcher, in a recent paper on the role of Hezbollah within the Shia community.

“The network [includes] schools, hospitals and dispensaries; consumer, housing and construction cooperatives; sports and cultural clubs; and youth, women, and scouting groups. This network of sports and activities [is] of course in addition to the structures of the party itself, including the military, political, security, and media branches.”

Bilal Khamj, the media coordinator of Ghobeiry for Everybody, a political list that fielded candidates against Hezbollah in Shia areas in the recent municipal elections, told MEE that Hezbollah was exploiting its power to make the population dependent.

“This is a very deprived area and because they [Hezbollah] are strong and well organised, they trade services for support,” he said.

He said that Hezbollah has created a deeply entrenched system of patronage where they offer impoverished residents money for medical treatment or schooling but demand loyalty in return.

“In exchange [for their money], you have to pay with [your] support,” he said. “If you are not with the resistance [Hezbollah], they consider you to be against them.”

Recent reports claimed that dissatisfied fighters who said they were “fed up” of fighting in Syria soon found themselves and their families cut off from the social benefits that Hezbollah had been dishing out.

Khamj said that he and his group are determined to fight their hegemony and “defend our position against the control of Hezbollah and Amal”. But thus far, Ghobeiry for Everybody has failed to win out against its larger rival, as its patronage network, at least for now, continues to hold out against resentment over Syria.

There is a culture of secrecy in Hezbollah-dominated communities, and it can be difficult to get people to speak critically on the record, but analysts and residents alike seem to suggest that Hezbollah’s support has not petered out despite problems in Syria.

Ali, who spoke to MEE on condition that his real name not be used, splits his time between his family’s cafe in one of the overcrowded popular areas of the southern suburbs and a medical centre run by Hezbollah.

He said that he and his friend often talk about Hezbollah. “We can criticise Hezbollah for minor things such as how they run this area or over disagreements on what their officials say in TV,” he said. “But we agree on important issues such as countering the takfiri threat.”

Ali lives a few metres from the epicentre of one of the suicide attacks claimed by the Islamic State group that killed dozens and was carried out in retaliation for Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria. In total, there have been seven attacks in Beirut southern suburbs since the start of the Syrian war. Dozens have been killed.

Blanford said that while some people felt “fed up with the overwhelming presence of Hezbollah,” the attacks ultimately “scared the community” into rallying around the group.

Hezbollah has also worked to rally support and minimise divisions by joining forces with Amal, the other main Shia group, and the Christian party Free Patriotic Movement. During the recent municipal elections, the two groups ran side-by-side.

With internal support in Lebanon more or less secured for now, Blanford said that Syria’s military campaign is “sustainable for now”.

“It has a psychological impact, but in terms of manpower it is sustainable,” as long as money keeps flowing in to support the array of social benefits Hezbollah gives out.

“They [Hezbollah] have been receiving less funding from Iran [which is stretched in Syria] and now they will suffer from new American sanctions,” said Blanford.

But if they can get through this, it’s likely they will be able to maintain their support, he said.

middleeasteye.net

Libya: no cooperation with Serraj administration until militias disbanded says Hafter

21 Maggio 2016 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

General Khalifa Hafter, the head of the Libyan armed forces appointed by the House of Representatives, says that he will not work with the Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Faiez Serraj until the militias on which it relies at present are disbanded.

“It’s unthinkable to work with these armed factions,” he said in an interview with French news channel iTélé.

He also claimed that his forces were not far from destroying those of the so-called Islamic State (IS/Daesh) based in Sirte, although it would still take a little more time.

“We have mustered our forces, which were scattered, to confront these terrorist groups trying to take control of the army, police and security apparatus. Today we are not far to eliminate these terrorist groups.”

However, it would happen lot faster, he said, if the international community supported him and lifted the arms embargo on Libya.

“If the international community supports us, and I ask it to do so by lifting the embargo on weapons, then we could eliminate Daesh in Libya definitively and quickly.”

In Vienna this week, an international conference which included all five UN Security Council veto members specifically ruled out allowing weapons to go to Hafter’s forces. They agreed to allow a partial lifting of the embargo on a case by case basis, but arms would be allowed to go only to forces under the control of the GNA.

IS, Hafter said in the short interview, was in fact not quite the threat that some see. “The Islamic state has no capacity to cope with the Libyan armed forces,” he claimed.

Referring to the GNA, it was not just a matter of the militias supporting it, he said. “We have no relationship with Serraj at the moment because the Council has not been recognised by the House of Representatives».

libyaherald.com

US military could deploy to Libya ‘any day’

21 Maggio 2016 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

After a week of rumblings that the US was preparing to arm and deploy Special Forces to Libya, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, said on Thursday that a military deployment to Libya could happen “any day.”

Speaking to journalists after returning from a NATO meeting in Brussels, as The Washington Post notes, Dunford outlined a “period of intense dialogue” between the US and Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord, who seek to rid the country of a recent but pronounced ISIS presence.

The terrorist group ISIS has been gaining ground in Libya even as their so-called caliphate shrinks in Iraq and Syria as a US-led coalition and various regional forces attack the group from every angle.

For ISIS, branching out into Libya provides it a potential “back-up capital” in case the terrorist group is driven out of its main base in Syria.

“There’s a lot of activity going on underneath the surface,” said Dunford. “We’re just not ready to deploy capabilities yet because there hasn’t been an agreement. And frankly, any day that could happen.”

“There will be a long-term mission in Libya,” said Dunford.

In fact, US Special Forces have been on the ground in an advisory role since late last year.

But by backing the fledgling GNA, the US makes a risky political move. Despite being supported by the UN, neither the Libyan House of Representatives nor the General National Congress in Tripoli have fully accepted the GNA.

Additionally, US arms sent to Libya could eventually end up in the hands of the very terrorists they were meant to fight, as has happened in Syria and Iraq.

Currently, the UN has embargoed the shipment of weapons to Libya as they wrestle with an increasingly prominent ISIS presence, but the UN Security Council and more than 15 other nations recently said that they would approve exemptions to the embargo to back the GNA.

Should, or more likely when, the US deploys to Libya, it will likely be Special Forces that advise and assist local forces in reclaiming their country from ISIS, much like the Special Forces in Iraq and Syria.

Additionally, US arms sent to Libya could eventually end up in the hands of the very terrorists they were meant to fight, as has happened in Syria and Iraq.

businessinsider.com

Hamas in joint training exercises with Daesh

17 Maggio 2016 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

Israel has accused Hamas of allowing Daesh fighters to enter the Gaza Strip for joint training.

The accusation was made last week by Major-General Yoav Mordehai, the Israeli government’s coordinator for Palestinian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza, in an interview he gave to a Saudi website. According to General Mordehai, the Daesh members were allowed in through tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border and brought with them wounded comrades for medical treatment.

Hamas, which has been trying to mend its ties with the Egyptian government, has denied the accusations and maintains that it is operating “only inside occupied Palestine”. However, Israeli intelligence claims to have evidence of widespread logistical cooperation between Hamas and Willayat Sinai, the Daesh-affiliate fighting against Egyptian troops in Sinai, which was formerly known as Ansar Bait al-Makdas.

Hamas is anxious to hide any connection with Daesh as it needs the goodwill of the Egyptians to open the Rafah border-crossing. But while its political wing have been conducting talks in Cairo, in the hopes of appeasing President Abdel Fattah a-Sisi, its military wing has continued to cooperate with Daesh.

Both Hamas in Gaza and Daesh in Sinai rely on arms being smuggled from Libya by Bedouin tribes. They have little choice but to share these smuggling routes.

At the same time, within Gaza, Hamas police are trying to stamp down on Salafist groups, which share a radical jihadist ideology with Daesh, and are trying to challenge Hamas rule. “Hamas is playing a double-game” said an Israeli intelligence officer. “While showing how they operate against Daesh inside Gaza, outside, in Sinai they are working closely together”.

thejc.com

Asylum vote in the German Bundestag: the Maghreb states are safe countries of origin

17 Maggio 2016 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

In future the Maghreb states, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, will be classed as safe countries of origin. The German Bundestag has passed legislation to this end; it must still be approved by the second chamber, the Bundesrat. The new Act should cut the time required to process asylum requests.

The new regulation is to introduce a legal presumption that applications for asylum lodged by citizens of the three North African states are unfounded. The application will be rejected unless the asylum-seeker can prove that he or she has genuine grounds for being granted asylum. The classification of the Maghreb states as safe countries of origin will make it possible to decide more swiftly on applications received from citizens of these states.

A clear signal to potential migrants

The procedure will send a clear signal to individuals who are already in Germany and to those who are considering migration, who have no prospects of being granted protected status. Their asylum procedures will be rapid. Once an application is rejected, the asylum-seeker must return to their country of origin. Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière introduced the bill into the German Bundestag. During the debate the Minister said on Friday (13 May 2016). “Helping also means being able to say no.”

As a general rule, asylum requests lodged by Algeria, Moroccan and Tunisian citizens have no prospects of success. The aim of the law is to make it possible to process these requests more quickly. The length of time these applicants spend in Germany ought to be significantly reduced as a result.

Taking into account the human rights situation

The Federal Interior Minister confirmed that individuals would still be afforded protection if they were threatened by persecution. “The arguments relating to the human rights situation have been taken into account and will continue to be taken into account.” He pointed out, however, that “an abstract threat posed by the existence of the death penalty or by the fact that homosexuality is a punishable offence do not give grounds for granting asylum or protection under the Refugee Convention. That is a fundamental principle of our asylum law and we intend to retain this principle.”

“The large number of problems facing other countries cannot be resolved by German asylum law. The problems that indubitably exist in the Maghreb states will not be resolved by asylum law but within these countries themselves, reasserted Thomas de Maizière.

Individual review
When a country is classed as a safe country of origin there is a legal presumption that an applicant from that country is not persecuted. This presumption can, however, be overturned by an applicant within the framework of the asylum procedure. Every request will still be reviewed individually. Every asylum procedure involves a face to face hearing with the applicant. Asylum-seekers can present their situation in their home country and, have the chance to provide evidence that they are entitled to protected status in Germany.

At the first reading of the bill on 14 April 2016 the Federal Interior Minister reasserted, “We make a distinction in asylum procedures between war zones like Syria and stable countries like the Maghreb states. Over the last year we have registered about 26,000 asylum-seekers from these states in Germany. The rate of recognition was 0 per cent for Tunisians, less than 1 per cent for Algerians and about 2.3 per cent for Moroccans. In the first quarter of 2016, the rates will, in some case, be even lower. We are now translating into law a trend that has long been everyday reality: requests for asylum from citizens of Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria generally have no prospects of success.”

bundesregierung.de