Fariha al-Berkawi was a Libyan representative in the General National Congress who was assassinated on 17 July 2014. [1]
Berkawi had been the representative for Derna District in the General National Congress. She was a member of the non-Islamist National Forces Alliance and a member of the budget committee. [2]
Berkawi was shot by a gunman on 17 July 2014 at a gas station in Derna, [2] [3] [4] [5] three weeks after Salwa Bughaighis' assassination. Berkawi had strongly condemned Bughaighis' death. [6]
Berkawi was married. Her husband had been a longtime political prisoner under Muammar Gaddafi. [2] [3]
Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Libya borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad to the south, Niger to the southwest, Algeria to the west, and Tunisia to the northwest. Libya comprises three historical regions: Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica. With an area of almost 1.8 million km2 (700,000 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest country in Africa and the Arab world, and the 16th-largest in the world. Libya claims 32,000 square kilometers of southeastern Algeria, south of the Libyan town of Ghat. The country's official religion is Islam, with 96.6% of the Libyan population being Sunni Muslims. The official language of Libya is Arabic, with vernacular Libyan Arabic being spoken most widely. The majority of Libya's population is Arab. The largest city and capital, Tripoli, is located in northwestern Libya and contains over a million of Libya's seven million people.
The politics of Libya has been in an uncertain state since the collapse of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in 2011 and a recent civil war and various jihadists and tribal elements controlling parts of the country. On 10 March 2021, the interim Government of National Unity (GNU), unifying the Second Al-Thani Cabinet and the Government of National Accord was formed, only to face new opposition in Government of National Stability, until Libyan Political Dialogue Forum assured the ongoing ceasefire.
Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Omar Haftar is a Libyan politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA). On 2 March 2015, he was appointed commander of the armed forces loyal to the elected legislative body, the Libyan House of Representatives.
Parliamentary elections were held in Libya on 25 June 2014 for the House of Representatives. Whilst all candidates ran as independents, the elections saw nationalist and liberal factions win the majority of seats, with Islamist groups being reduced to only around 30 seats. Election turnout was very low at 18%.
The Justice and Construction Party (JCP) or Justice and Development Party is a political party in Libya associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. It was officially founded on 3 March 2012 in Tripoli.
The General National Congress or General National Council was the legislative authority of Libya for two years following the end of the First Libyan Civil War. It was elected by popular vote on 7 July 2012, and took power from the National Transitional Council on 8 August.
Ansar al-Sharia in Libya was an Al-Qaeda-aligned Salafi Jihadist militia group that advocated the implementation of Sharia law across Libya. Ansar al-Sharia came into being in 2011, during the Libyan Civil War. Until January 2015, it was led by its "Amir", Muhammad al-Zahawi. As part of its strategy, the organization targeted specific Libyan and American civilians for death and took part in the 2012 Benghazi attack. The group was designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The Libyan civil war (2014–2020), also more commonly known as the Second Libyan Civil War, was a multilateral civil war which was fought in Libya between a number of armed groups, but mainly the House of Representatives (HoR) and the Government of National Accord, for six years from 2014 to 2020.
Salwa Bugaighis was a Libyan human rights and political activist. She was assassinated in Benghazi, Libya on 25 June 2014.
The Libyan House of Representatives is the legislature of Libya resulting from the 2014 Libyan parliamentary election, which had an 18% turnout. On 4 August 2014, in the course of the progressing August 2014 Islamist coup in the capital Tripoli in the context of the Libyan Civil War, the House of Representatives relocated itself to Tobruk in the far east of Libya. Several HoR sessions were held in Tripoli in May 2019 while Tripoli was under armed attack, electing an Interim Speaker for 45 days. Between 2014 and 2021, the House of Representatives supported the Tobruk-based government led by Abdullah al-Thani before supporting the incumbent Government of National Unity led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh. In September 2021, the House of Representatives passed a no-confidence motion against the interim GNU government and later appointed a rival Government of National Stability (GNS).
The National Salvation Government was a government body formed by politicians from the General National Congress's blocs that lost the June 2014 elections in Libya. The NSG was led by Khalifa al-Ghawil. The term Libya Dawn Coalition was used to refer to the armed groups and the wider political movement supporting the NSG. The NSG was one of the major sides in the Second Libyan Civil War from its formation August 2014 until its dissolution in April 2016.
In October 2014, the self-declared Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took control of numerous government buildings, security vehicles and local landmarks in the Eastern Libyan coastal city of Derna. Although some media outlets reported the control as being absolute, rival groups like the al-Qaeda-affiliated Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade continued to control parts of the city. Clashes erupted between ISIL and an alliance of Islamist groups in June 2015, with ISIL retreating from Derna to outlying suburbs the following month. However, clashes continued between the Islamist alliance and the Tobruk-based government forces.
The Libyan Crisis is the current humanitarian crisis and political-military instability occurring in Libya, beginning with the Arab Spring protests of 2011, which led to two civil wars, foreign military intervention, and the ousting and death of Muammar Gaddafi. The first civil war's aftermath and proliferation of armed groups led to violence and instability across the country, which erupted into renewed civil war in 2014. The second war lasted until October 23, 2020, when all parties agreed to a permanent ceasefire and negotiations.
The Islamic State – Libya Province is a militant Islamist group active in Libya under three branches: Fezzan Province in the desert south, Cyrenaica Province in the east, and Tripolitania Province in the west. The branches were formed on 13 November 2014, following pledges of allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by militants in Libya.
Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj is a Libyan politician who served as the Chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya and Head of Government of the Government of National Accord from 2016 to 2021, which was formed on 17 December 2015 under the Libyan Political Agreement. He has been a member of the Parliament of Tripoli.
The Government of National Accord was an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, a United Nations–led initiative, signed on 17 December 2015. The agreement was unanimously endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, which welcomed the formation of a Presidency Council for Libya and recognized the Government of National Accord as the sole legitimate executive authority in Libya. On 31 December 2015, Chairman of the Libyan House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh Issa declared his support for the Libyan Political Agreement. The General National Congress has criticized the GNA on multiple fronts as biased in favor of its rival parliament the House of Representatives.
This is a detailed timeline of the Libyan civil war (2014–2020) which lasted from 2014 to 2020.
The Battle of Derna was a military campaign by the Libyan National Army to recapture the city of Derna from the Shura Council of Mujahideen in Derna, which lasted from 7 May 2018 until 12 February 2019. The majority of military operations concluded by 28 June 2018, with the Libyan National Army declaring control of the entire city on that day, despite continued clashes in the old city. During the early stages of the battle, the Shura Council was dissolved and replaced with the Derna Protection Force, which continued operations after the LNA declared victory in June 2018, before surrendering themselves at the end of the battle.
The siege of Derna was a military campaign by the Libyan National Army (LNA) to capture the city of Derna, which began after the end of the Derna campaign (2014–16). After besieging the city for 21 months, the LNA assaulted the city on 7 May 2018, beginning the 2018–2019 battle of Derna and ultimately capturing the city on 12 February 2019.
Abdulrazek al-Nadoori is a Libyan military officer. Since 2014 he has been the Chief of the General Staff in Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army, loyal to the Tobruk-based House of Representatives. He also served as the military governor of eastern Libya, from Bin Jawad to Derna.