Appeals against Dbeibah, Saif al-Islam's Candidacies Dominate Libya Elections

A woman checks names to receive her electoral card inside a polling station in Tripoli, Libya, on November 8. (AFP)
A woman checks names to receive her electoral card inside a polling station in Tripoli, Libya, on November 8. (AFP)
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Appeals against Dbeibah, Saif al-Islam's Candidacies Dominate Libya Elections

A woman checks names to receive her electoral card inside a polling station in Tripoli, Libya, on November 8. (AFP)
A woman checks names to receive her electoral card inside a polling station in Tripoli, Libya, on November 8. (AFP)

Libya's High National Election Commission extended to Wednesday the deadline for people to receive their voter card for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.

It justified the extension by citing the high turnout to receive their cards. It also acknowledged some of the difficulties some people have faced in showing up in person to receive them.

Over 2 million people have received their cards.

Meanwhile, appeals have been submitted against the candidacy of head of the Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdulhamid Dbeibah. Son of late ruler Moammar al-Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, has also appealed his disqualification from the race.

Activists have cited Dbeibah's dual nationality as sufficient reason to dismiss his candidacy.

Meanwhile, the UN mission to Libya expressed alarm on Friday about an incident at a court where Saif al-Islam's lawyer said armed men stopped him from lodging an appeal against his client's disqualification.

The UN Support Mission in Libya said it was alarmed by the reported attack at the appeal court in Sebha on Thursday, strongly condemned any form of electoral-related violence, and reiterated that the electoral process must be protected.

The US Embassy in Libya said it shared the UN mission's concerns over violence related to the Dec. 24 election, which is part of a peace process meant to end a decade of turmoil but has stirred fears of renewed conflict.

The elections commission disqualified Saif al-Islam and 24 others on Wednesday.

Gaddafi's lawyer, Khaled al-Zaidi, said in a video that armed men had raided the court in the southern city of Sebha, one of only three registration centers, and stopped him entering to lodge his client's appeal.

The Justice Ministry in Tripoli said an armed group had forced everyone to leave the court building.

No faction claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement on its Twitter feed, the US Embassy said: "Attacks against judicial or election facilities or judicial or elections personnel are not only criminal acts, punishable under Libyan law, but also undermine Libyans’ right to participate in the political process."

Saif al-Islam's candidacy was rejected on the basis of a 2015 conviction in absentia by a Tripoli court for war crimes committed during the fighting that ousted his father in 2011.

The court in Sebha was able to review the appeal on Sunday.

Meanwhile, head of the Presidential Council, Mohamed al-Menfi stressed that he was "working hard" to ensure that the elections are a success by providing all guarantees that ensure that they are "transparent and free and reflect the will of the Libyan people".

Menfi met with Jan Kubis, outgoing United Nations envoy, on Sunday.

He quoted the diplomat as saying that the UN supports the presidential and parliamentary elections and the international community is hoping that they will be held and allow the Libyans to restore stability and peace.



With UNRWA Fate Unclear, UN and Israel Argue over Who’s Responsible for Palestinians

Palestinians, including children, hold metal pots and pans as they gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians, including children, hold metal pots and pans as they gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
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With UNRWA Fate Unclear, UN and Israel Argue over Who’s Responsible for Palestinians

Palestinians, including children, hold metal pots and pans as they gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians, including children, hold metal pots and pans as they gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 January 2025. (EPA)

The United Nations and Israel are arguing over who must fill the gap if the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA stops working in the Gaza Strip and West Bank later this month when an Israeli law comes into force.

UNRWA still operates in the Palestinian territories, but it is unclear what awaits the nearly 75-year-old agency when the law banning its operation on Israeli land and contact with Israeli authorities takes effect.

The UN and Israel have been engaged in tit-for-tat letter writing since the law on UNRWA was passed in late October. Shortly after, the UN told Israel it was not the world body's responsibility to replace UNRWA in the Palestinian territory - Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

In a letter to the UN General Assembly and Security Council late on Thursday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said if UNRWA was forced to stop operating then Israel "would be left to ensure that the range of services and assistance which UNRWA has been providing are provided" in accordance with its obligations under international law.

Guterres wrote that while other UN agencies were prepared to continue providing services and assistance to the Palestinians - to the extent they can - that "must not be viewed as releasing Israel from its obligations."

The United Nations views Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as Israeli-occupied territory. International law requires an occupying power to agree to and facilitate relief programs and ensure food, medical care, hygiene and public-health standards.

In a Dec. 18 letter to the world body, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said the new legislation "does not in any way undermine Israel's steadfast commitment to international law." He also rejected UN claims that Israel would be responsible for filling any gap left by UNRWA.

He wrote that Israel does not exercise effective control over Gaza and therefore is not an occupying power, adding that the law of military occupation also does not apply. He said that in the West Bank the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority for civilian affairs "must not be overlooked."

"In Jerusalem, all residents are entitled to government and municipal services under Israeli law," said Danon, adding that included health and education services. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognized abroad.

HEALTH, EDUCATION AT RISK

Israel has long been critical of UNRWA. It says UNRWA staff took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The UN has said nine UNRWA staff may have been involved and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon - killed in September by Israel - was also found to have had an UNRWA job.

The United States has said its ally Israel must ensure the new law does not further impede aid deliveries and critical services, including by UNRWA, in Gaza, which has been engulfed in a humanitarian crisis during the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas group.

But it has also questioned UN contingency planning.

State Department officials met this week with the transition team of incoming US President Donald Trump - who takes office on Jan. 20 - and raised concerns about how the crisis in Gaza could deepen once the UNRWA law is implemented, said a US official.

UNRWA, established by the UN General Assembly, provides aid, health and education services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and neighboring Arab countries - Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Guterres said UNRWA's unique role could not be replaced. UN officials say it is the health, education and social services UNRWA provides in the Palestinian territory that would suffer most as other agencies cannot match its ability to deliver such help.

Danon argued that "replacing UNRWA with relief schemes that will adequately provide essential assistance to Palestinian civilians is not at all impossible," citing the aid operation in Gaza where he said other UN agencies were equipped to provide the necessary response "as they do elsewhere in the world."

Other agencies working in Gaza and the West Bank include the children's organization UNICEF, the World Food Program, the World Health Organization, and the UN Development Program. But top UN officials and the Security Council describe UNRWA as the backbone of the current humanitarian operation in Gaza.

Israel launched an assault on Hamas in Gaza after the fighters killed 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to Palestinian health officials. Much of the enclave has been laid waste and most of the 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times. Food experts warn of a looming famine.