How much do you cost, Angelina Jolie?

Angelina Jolie in Misurata, October 13, 2011, came to support the insurgents. At the same time, Misurata militants and NATO were besieging the cities of Sirte and Bani Walid and continuing lynching of blacks throughout the all territory of Libya. How could she not know about it? My answer - yes, she knew!

by Konstantin Scheglikov

There is a wisdom, it is the same and understandable by all cultures and people – a person’s character is fully revealed at the time of turmoil and war. Many people have opened their cruel, cold, ruthless, prudent soul. One of those who opened to the world her true soul is an actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador, Angelina Jolie.

It looks like her image of a straight, honest, responsive woman has been created during a very long time apparently for these wars against the Arab countries, to use it as a battering ram and hit the public opinion with her appeals to intervene in the affairs of Syria, ignoring the views of other countries and the Syrians themselves. Prior to that she managed to support the rebels from Misurata, those who have the most kills and mocks of black Libyans. Even the false international organizations that sought the destruction of the State of the Libyan Jamahiriya, had to acknowledge that there were crimes based on race committed in Libya and they have been done by those who were defended by NATO’s bombs and missiles, wich destroyed hundreds of thousands of citizens of Libya.

Remember, Angelina Jolie after the fall of Tripoli during the siege of the cities of Sirte and Bani Walid, on October,13th, 2011 came to Misurata to support the insurgents. Prior to this, in early April 2011, she visited a refugee camp on the border of Libya and Tunisia, to draw attention to the affairs of refugees. Some people had noticed an interesting characteristic of the Jolie’s behavior : “The U.S. bombed Cambodia, then many years later Angelina arrived in this country and adopted a Cambodian boy. Then the U.S. bombed Afghanistan and Iraq. Jolie has visited each of these countries as a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations. Now the U.S. was bombing Libya and Angelina was right there. It is already becoming a sign. If Angelina Jolie is going to your country with a charity, it means that Americans have thrown bombs on your city. Sort of belated “messenger of the Apocalypse. “
Angelina Jolie does not look like a stupid and brainless doll. She has to be aware of whom she is supporting, what and why she is doing. A few weeks ago, she has presented her own film about the war in Bosnia, full of false and propaganda so the nature of which was even felt in Germany, a country whose soldiers are still killing Serbs on their own land but in Germany it is called a “peacekeeping mission”. I wonder what she expected, showing Serbs as monsters and Bosnian Muslims as angels without wings?

Although I guess this movie was filmed not for the Europeans but for the Muslims of the Middle East. This unfunny attempt to buy the Muslims of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, so they continue killing their brothers in Libya and Syria. The reasons might be different, but the most important thing is that the true face of Angelina Jolie has become clear. Now she is calling to intervene in the affairs of Syria, echoing the half-witted U.S. senator John McCain. I advise Angelina Jolie to finish her way, producing the film about “civilized and friendly” Nazis of Third Reich, whom “venomous and narrow-minded” Slavs of the USSR did not let to build a world order. I hope that now in any country of the world, this person will be greeted with rotten eggs. This is minimum of despising that she deserves, while supporting the militants engaged in racial cleansing in Libya and NATO which was bombing Libya and now is preparing to bomb Syria. Apparently NATO prepares some provocation in Europe, in the spirit of 9/11, to blame Syria after and to bomb the country with impunity. Lady named Angelina Jolie has played her role, calling essentially bombing Syria and killing the Syrians. I wonder how many of such persons Hollywood has grown? Who else will open his true essence?

How much do you cost, Angelina Jolie?

Marcel Cartier feat. Akala & Nana D – Get Your Hands Off Africa (prod. by Agent of Change)

Lyrics + Download

[Marcel verse 1]

Those who do not move do not feel their chains
But the African people are aware of the pain
Aware of the game, invader deception
Black presidents who are White Man extensions
People from Cape to Cairo rebel
Cos fake independence and ongoing hell
Colonial ties still keep ‘em chained
The richest continent’s getting robbed again
The IMF and World Bank criminal schemes
What about reparations? To me it seems
That every metropole from Amsterdam
To Paris and Brussels was built with the hands
Of African labour, a slave relation
Developing Europe at the expense of their nation
But Africans rebelled from the first conquest
Took back independence at last accomplished

[Nana D chorus]

You’d better get your hands off… AFRICA!
You’d better get your hands off… AFRICA!

[Marcel verse 2]

Look at Africom, the African Command
That’s the US and her puppets shaking each others’ hands
They went in for Libya, going for Uganda
When will we learn we can’t be sleeping any longer?
Still salivating over claiming Zimbabwe
The worst man alive to them is Robert Mugabe
But land should belong to the African masses
Not a small group of white settler bastards
My fellow Europeans wanna whine and groan
About losing what we stole, that is not our home
That is not our land, need to choose the side
Of the future of humanity, the old has expired
If you ever want peace then you better want justice
Most of the continent is far from accustomed
Sarkozy, Cameron and Africa’s son
Better know that their war can never ever be won

[Nana D chorus]

You’d better get your hands off… AFRICA!
You’d better get your hands off… AFRICA!

[Akala verse]

The mother continent where we all originate
Eugenics ain’t dead so it’s cool to eliminate humanity’s darker shade
Genocidal AIDS, ancient civilisations
Not a continent of slaves
In every step of the way the elites have helped pave the way
For all the madness that we’re seeing today
But that in no way excuses the centuries of rape
But if we’re gonna solve it it’s an issue we have to face
Because every brother ain’t a brother just because of their colour
Look at the hand that killed Patrice and Thomas and others
While millions murdered in the Congo it don’t make the news
But if a footballer’s wife should buy a pair of shoes
I’m supposed to give a fuck, apparently
I do not! The world’s a reflection of your block
And if you think a world that can profit from African death
And be totally cool
Thinks that you’re better cos you live here
You’re a fucking fool

[Nana D chorus]

You’d better get your hands off… AFRICA!
You’d better get your hands off… AFRICA!
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Follow Marcel Cartier on Twitter
Follow Akala on Twitter
Follow Agent Of Change on Twitter
Follow Nana D on Twitter
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West breaks up with Iran – Sukant Chandan on RT

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Britain has ordered the closure of the Iranian embassy in London and the expulsion of its staff, after the UK decided to evacuate its own diplomats from the Islamic state’s capital. Norway has also closed its embassy in Tehran, with Germany and France recalling their ambassadors from the country. The moves come after militant students stormed the UK compound in Tehran. Hundreds of hard-line protesters massed outside the buildings before pelting the gates and windows with petrol bombs, burning British flags and an embassy vehicle. The attack came after Iran decided to reduce diplomatic relations with the UK following its decision to impose further sanctions on Tehran. To get some analysis and opinion on the situation RT’s joined by Middle East expert and journalist Sukant Chandan.

What is Anti-Imperialism?

WHAT IS ANTI-IMPERIALISM ?

This year we have witnessed something that should be very worrying to all those that consider themselves anti-war, anti-imperialist and anti-racist. The British state has been at the head of a colonial war in North Africa, and there has been practically zero meaningful opposition to that war within Britain. In February 2003, two million people marched in London against war in Iraq. Only eight years later, all it takes is some reasonably sophisticated propaganda from the press and suddenly nobody is motivated to take a stand against wholesale destruction, widespread massacres and racist lynchings.

The western empire is pushing its agenda of complete domination of Africa and the Middle East, by destabilising and attempting to overthrow all resistant, independence-minded states and groups (in particular Libya, Syria, Iran, Algeria, Hezbollah, Hamas). Dressing this up as a movement for democracy, they have thrown most people off the scent. We need to fully understand imperialist strategy and tactics, and develop our own strategy and tactics to oppose them.

Thanks to Carlos Martinez for organising this great event in the first place. Thanks to Harry Fear for the live-streaming and recording of this great event.

Talks by Marcel Cartier, Daniel Renwick, Francisco Dominguez, and Obiang Nsang. Chaired by Suzella Palmer

Marcel Cartier (Bronx-based rapper and activist, talking about organising against the US empire from within the belly of the beast)

Francisco Dominguez (Chair of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, talking about opposing imperialism from a Latin American perspective)

Obiang Nsang (All-African People’s Revolutionary Party, talking about opposing imperialism from a Pan-African perspective)

Daniel Renwick (Youth worker, writer and activist, talking about the anti-war movement in Britain)

London — November 28, 2011 18:30-21:11

You can read the poem Obiang Nsang performed at the beginning of this event here

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The Ongoing Imperialist Events – Lizzie Phelan

Face to Face with Lizzie Phelan an Independent Journalist who started covering the Libyan assault eight months ago, Superb Analysis – Beyond Libya.
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Oil & blood feuds in liberated Libya – Sukant Chandan on RT [15.11.2011]


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While Libya’s interim government is quick to hand out contracts for the country’s energy resources, questions have been raised over its ability to restore order. There’ve been clashes between gunmen from different tribal areas, resulting in at least 13 deaths. For more on this, RT talks to a spokesman for British Civilians For Peace in Libya, Sukant Chandan, from London.

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Libya – The Manufacturing of Consent [FULL EVENT]


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A political and cultural event that focuses on the role of mainstream media which is fundamental to western plans for war against the countries of the Global South, most recently Libya. This event will be discussing what are our challenges in fighting against media that prepares audiences to accept wars of aggression.

Speakers:

Libyan resident of Sirte, returned from there recently

Merlin Emmanuel – founder of ‘Campaign for Justice’, nephew of Smiley culture and author (of the soon to be released book, ‘Generation X’)

Lizzie Phelan – independent journalist, who reported from Tripoli until the NATO takeover of the city

Sukant Chandan – political analyst and filmmaker, currently producing a doc-film ‘NATO war on Libya’

Chair: Iman Hussein

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Sukant Chandan, Lizzie Phelan, Iman Hussein, Libyan from Sirte, Merlin Emanuel

FIDEL CASTRO – “Genocidal Cynicism: The Destiny of Humankind in the Hands of Irresponsible Politicians”

by Fidel Castro Ruz, 2011 – November 12 & 13

PART ONE

No sane person, especially someone who has had access to the elementary knowledge acquired in primary school, would agree that our species, especially those who are children, teenagers or youth, should be deprived of the right to live, today, tomorrow and forever. Never have human beings, throughout their eventful history, as persons endowed with intelligence, ever heard of an experience like that.

I feel the duty to convey to those taking the trouble to read these Reflections the opinion that all of us, with no exception, are obliged to create awareness about the risks that humankind are running in an inexorable manner, towards a final and total catastrophe as the consequence of irresponsible decisions made by politicians whose fate, rather than talent or merit, has placed the destiny of humankind in their hands.

Whether they are citizens of their country or not, whether they are followers of some religious belief or unbelievers, no human being in their right mind would agree that their children or closest kin should perish precipitously or as victims of atrocious and torturous misery.

On the heels of the repugnant crimes that are being increasingly committed by NATO under the aegis of the United States and the wealthiest countries in Europe, the gaze of the world focused on the G-20 meeting where the profound economic crisis affecting every nation today should have been analyzed. International opinion, especially in Europe, was awaiting an answer for the profound economic crisis that, with its serious social and even climatic implications, is threatening every inhabitant on the planet. At that meeting, it was being decided whether the Euro would be able to be kept as the common currency for most of Europe and even whether some of the countries would be able to remain in the community.

There was no answer or solution of any kind for the most serious problems of the world economy despite the efforts of China, Russia, Indonesia, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina and other emerging economies, anxious to cooperate with the rest of the world in the search for solutions for the serious economic problems affecting them.

What was unusual was that just when NATO concluded the Libyan operation – after the air attack that injured the constitutional head of that country, destroyed the vehicle carrying him and leaving him at the mercy of the empire’s mercenaries who murdered him and exhibited his body as a war trophy, violating Muslim customs and traditions – the IAEA, a UN body and an institution that ought to stand for world peace, released the political, money-driven and sectarian report putting the world on the brink of war with the use of nuclear weapons that the Yankee empire, in alliance with Great Britain and Israel, has been meticulously preparing against Iran.

After the veni, vidi, vici of the famous Roman emperor more than two thousand years ago, translated to “I came, I saw and he died” broadcast for public opinion by an important television network as soon as the death of Gaddafi had been learned of, there are more than enough words to describe US policy.

Now what is important is the need to create clear awareness in the peoples about the abyss towards which humankind is being led. Twice our Revolution lived through dramatic dangers: in October of 1962, the most critical of all where humankind was on the brink of nuclear holocaust; and in mid-1987 when our forces were facing racist South African troops armed with nuclear weapons that the Israelis had helped them create.

The Shah of Iran also collaborated, along with Israel, with the racist and fascist South African regime.

What is the UN? An organization driven by the United States before the end of World War II. That nation, whose territory was considerably far away from the theatre of war, had incredibly increased its wealth; it accumulated 80% of the world’s gold and under the leadership of Roosevelt, a sincere anti-fascist, it promoted the development of the nuclear weapon that Truman, his successor, a mediocre oligarch, did not hesitate in using against the defenceless cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The world’s gold monopoly in United States’ power and the prestige of Roosevelt handed the US the Bretton Woods agreement, assigning it the role of issuing the dollar as the only currency to be used for decades in world trade, with no limiting factor other that it’s being backed by the gold metal.

At the end of that war, the US was also the only country possessing the nuclear weapon, a privilege it did not hesitate in transmitting to its allies and members in the Security Council: Great Britain and France, the two most important colonial powers in the world at that time.

Truman had not even informed the USSR one single word about the atomic weapon before using it. China, at that time governed by Nationalist General Chiang Kai-shek, a pro-Yankee oligarch, could not be excluded from that Security Council.

The USSR, seriously stricken by the war, destruction and the loss of more than 20 million of its sons and daughters in the Nazi invasion, dedicated considerable economic, scientific and human resources to bring its nuclear capacity up to par with that of the United States. Four years later, in 1949, it tested its first nuclear weapon: the H-bomb in 1953; and in 1955 its first megaton bomb. France had its first nuclear weapon in 1960.

There were only three countries that had the nuclear bomb in 1957 when the UN, under the aegis of the Yankees, created the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA). Does anybody think that US instrument did anything to warn the world about the terrible dangers to which it would expose human society when Israel, unconditional US and NATO ally, located in the very heartland of the world’s most important oil and gas reserves, would become a dangerous and aggressive nuclear power?

Its forces, cooperating with colonial British and French troops, attacked Port Said when Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, French property; this forced the Soviet premier to send an ultimatum demanding the ceasing of that aggression that the European allies of the US had no alternative other than to attack.

To be continued tomorrow.

PART TWO

In order to give an idea of the potential of the USSR in its efforts to maintain parity with the United States in this sphere, we only need to point out that when its disintegration occurred in 1991, in Byelorussia there were 81 nuclear warheads, in Kazakhstan 1400 and in the Ukraine approximately 5000; all these went over to the Russian Federation, the only state capable of sustaining its immense cost, in order to maintain independence.

By virtue of the START and SORT treaties on the reduction of offensive weapons signed by the two great nuclear powers, the number of these was reduced to several thousand.

In 2010, a new treaty of this kind was signed by the two powers.

Since then the greatest efforts have been dedicated to improving direction, scope and precision and to the deception of adversary defence. Huge amounts of money have been invested in the military sphere.

Very few persons in the world, other than a handful of thinkers and scientists, notice and warn about the fact that the explosion of 100 nuclear strategic weapons would suffice to put an end to human life on the planet. The great majority would have an end that would be as inexorable as it would be horrible, resulting from the Nuclear Winter that would be generated.

The number of countries possessing nuclear weapons at this time has gone up to eight; five of them are members of the Security Council: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China. India and Pakistan acquired the nature of countries possessing nuclear weapons in 1974 and 1998 respectively. The seven aforementioned countries acknowledge this nature.

By contrast, Israel has never acknowledged its nature as a nuclear country. Nevertheless, it is calculated that it possesses between 200 and 500 weapons of this type, without taking the hint when the world becomes concerned by the extremely serious problems that the outbreak of a war in the region producing a large part of the energy moving industry and agriculture on the planet would bring.

Thanks to possessing weapons of mass destruction, Israel has been able to play its role as the instrument of imperialism and colonialism in that Middle Eastern region.

We are not dealing with the legitimate right of the Israeli people to live and work in peace and freedom; we are dealing precisely with the rights for freedom and peace of the other peoples in the region.

While Israel was speedily creating a nuclear arsenal, in 1981 it attacked and destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak. It did exactly the same thing to the Syrian reactor at Dayr az-Zawr in 2007, an occurrence of which world opinion was oddly not informed. The UN and the IAEA were perfectly well aware of that event. Such actions had the support of the United States and the Atlantic Alliance.

There is nothing odd about the fact that the most senior Israeli authorities are now proclaiming their intention of doing the same thing with Iran. That country, immensely wealthy in oil and gas, had been the victim of the conspiracies of Great Britain and the United States, whose oil companies were pillaging their resources. Their armed forces were equipped with the most modern weaponry of the US war industry.

Shah Reza Pahlevi also hoped to be supplied with nuclear weapons. Nobody was attacking his research centers. The Israeli war was waged against the Arab Muslims. Not against those in Iran, because they had become a NATO bastion that was aiming at the heart of the USSR.

The masses in that nation, deeply religious, under the leadership of the Ayatollah Khomeini, challenging the power of those weapons, ousted the Shah from his throne and disarmed one of the best equipped armies in the world without a shot being fired.

Due to their capacity for struggle, the number of inhabitants and the size of the country, an aggression against Iran bears no similarity with the war adventures of Israel in Iraq and Syria. A bloody war would inevitably break out. We can have no doubts about that.

Israel has a large number of nuclear weapons and the capacity of having them reach any point in Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. I am wondering: does the IAEA have the moral right to sanction and smother a country if it intends to do what Israel has done in the heart of the Middle East, for its own defence?

I really think that no country in the world should possess nuclear weapons and that energy should be put at the service of the human species. Without that spirit of cooperation, humankind marches inexorably towards its own destruction. Among the citizens of Israel themselves, a hard-working and intelligent people without a doubt, many do not agree with that absurd, irrational policy that is also taking them down the road to total destruction.

What is being said these days in the world on the economic situation?

International news agencies inform that President Barack Obama of the United States and his Chinese peer Hu Jintao presented differing trade agendas, underlining the growing tensions between the two major world economies.

Reuters states that Obama used his speech to threaten China with economic sanctions unless it starts to play according to the rules. Undoubtedly, such rules are US interests.

The news agency states that Obama is embarked on the re-election battle for next year and his Republican opposition is accusing him of not being severe enough with China.

News printed on Thursday and Friday shows the realities we are living much better.

The best informed US agency AP reports that the supreme Iranian leader warned the United States and Israel that Iran’s answer would be energetic if its arch-enemies were to launch a military attack on Iran.

The German news agency informed that China had stated that, as always, it believed dialogue and cooperation were the only way of active rapprochement to solve the problem.

Russia was also opposed to punitive measures against Iran. Germany rejected the military option but revealed itself to be for strong sanctions against Iran.

The United Kingdom and France advocate strong and energetic sanctions.

The Russian Federation assured that it would do everything possible to avoid a military operation against Iran and it criticized the IAEA report.

Konstantin Kosachov, head of the Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, stated that a military operation against Iran could bring very serious consequences and Russia would have to put all its weight into smoothing feelings over. According to EFE, he criticized statements by the US, France and Israel about the possible use of force and that the launching of a military operation against Iran is getting closer day by day.

Edward Spannaus, editor of the US magazine EIR, stated that the attack against Iran would end up as World War III.

The US Defence Secretary himself, after a trip to Israel a few days ago, acknowledged that he was not able to get any commitment from the Israeli government on prior consultation with the US on an attack against Iran. Those are the extremes we have reached.

The US under-secretary for political and military affairs harshly revealed the empire’s sinister aims.

On Saturday, Andrew Shapiro, Under-Secretary for Political and Military Affairs of the United States stated that Israel and the United States shall embark on more important joint manoeuvres that are of greater transcendence in the history of the allies.

At the Washington Institute for Middle Eastern Policy, Shapiro announced that more than 5,000 US and Israeli armed forces troops will take part in the manoeuvres simulating the defence of Israel’s ballistic missiles.

He added that Israeli technology was becoming essential to improve US national security and to protect US troops.

Shapiro emphasized the support of the Obama government for Israel, in spite of comments on Friday by a senior US official who expressed his concern about Israel not warning the US before starting military action against Iranian nuclear installations.

He said that US relations with Israeli security are broader, more profound and more intense than ever before.

According to him, the US supports Israel because it is in US national interest to do so. It is the solid Israeli military force that is deterring possible aggressors and helps to promote peace and stability.

Today, on November 13, Susan Rice, US ambassador to the UN, told the BBC that the possibility of military intervention in Iran was not only still on the table but that it was a real option that is growing because of Iranian conduct.

She insisted that the US administration is reaching the conclusion that it will be necessary to end the current regime in Iran in order to prevent it from creating a nuclear arsenal. Rice acknowledged that she was convinced that the change in regime is going to be the USA’s only option there.

We do not need to add a single word.

Fidel Castro Ruz

Sources : PART 1PART 2

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Son of former senior Libyan official who faces assassination speaks to Lizzie Phelan

Independent journalist Lizzie Phelan who has been covering the Libyan crisis since it began speaks to Hamid Dorda, the son of Dr Abuzed Dorda.

Once Libyan Prime Minister, Permanent Representative to the UN and head of intelligence, Dr Abuzed Dorda’s life is now in grave danger. In contravention of international law and with human rights organisations and the UN itself turning a blind eye, Dr Dorda has suffered torture, inhumane and severe mistreatment and numerous attempts on his life since NTC forces detained him on September 11. His health is deteriorating and he remains untreated since October 25 for internal bleeding and broken bones. His family are being refused the right to visit him.

Dr Dorda enjoyed a large base of popular support, being seen as one of the least incorruptible figures in libyan politics and society. If he is assassinated or left to die from his injuries, it will be a considerable blow for the already bleak prospects of a stable and just political future in Libya.

….

An NGO sent me the following appeal.

Below is the name of the woman that must be harassed if anything is to be done to help Dorda and hopefully find Zidan.

Annika Norlin

anorlin@icrc.org

Head of Sector Africa
Central Tracing Agency and Protection Division
International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC
Geneva, Switzerland
Tel. +41-22-7302119
The ICRC – working to protect and assist people affected by armed conflict and other situations of violence. Find out more: http://www.icrc.org

Email her constantly/ demand that she reply with verified information, because that is her job at the ICRC. Mari has been staying on top of her constantly but a few thousand more people-pressure must surely help.
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Libyan Central Bank ready to accept IMF “aid money” to rebuild what NATO destroyed

Personal comments: So after Gaddafi set up an african development bank to prevent other african countries from having to beg the IMF or World Bank for “aid money” (which comes along with high interest rates, structural adjustment programs, privatizations etc) the self appointed new libyan government is now ready to accept a so called IMF roadmap. There were unconfirmed reports about the western powers wanting Libya to pay the bills for the destruction of their country. If true or not, this is now an other clear indication that this war on Libya has been planned a long time ago, way before the so called “arab spring” started. The following article says that “the groundwork had already been laid by IMF and World Bank over the previous 2-3 years”.

By Jessica Donati and Ali Shuaib

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s acute cash crisis is set to get worse and its banking system requires a complete overhaul that will be guided by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the central bank’s recently appointed governor said.

Saddek Omar Elkaber told Reuters in an interview that just $1.5 billion out of around $170 billion of Libyan assets abroad had been unfrozen, and with the first delivery of the war-torn country’s new banknotes still nearly two months away, the liquidity crisis was far from over.

“The first shipment will arrive at the end of December… We are going to have to manage the liquidity problem until then,” Elkaber said earlier this week.

Elkaber, previously deputy CEO at the Arab Banking Corporation in London, replaced Gassem Azzoz as head of the central bank a month ago, officials of the governing National Transitional Council said.

Reform of Libya’s banking system should be guided by a roadmap assembled by international bodies including the IMF, the new governor said, but for now the central bank’s priority was coping with the banknote shortage.

Wage increases, medication and reconstruction are putting a further strain on the very limited cash supply, and queues outside banks have grown longer this week ahead of the greater Eid festival of sacrifice, when families traditionally buy a sheep for slaughter at a cost of around 500 Libyan dinars.

A lack of cash as well as a shortage of animals has caused prices to rise by several hundred dinar, compounding the problem.

Despite a UN resolution scrapping sanctions following the death of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi, the process of unfreezing Libyan assets is lengthy because the money is spread out across many countries with different regulations.

“The promises have been made for the media,” Elkaber said.

A NEW BANKING MODEL

He said he hoped the influence of international organizations would help shape a new Libyan model of banking, and the groundwork had already been laid by IMF and World Bank over the previous 2-3 years.

“The IMF and WB have a roadmap and I would like to go ahead with the facelift. We need a strong central bank,” he said.

A primary obstacle would be overcoming a shortage of labour because the national workforce lacked the skills required for the banking sector – as in most sectors across the economy. These included English and other foreign languages, which were removed from the school curriculum under Gaddafi’s rule.

“Over the past 42 years the old regime tried to break the education system… there are not enough high-skilled workers,” he said.

Elkaber urged foreign skilled workers to return to the country, but conceded that worries about security could remain an impediment for years to come.

The demands of bringing the country’s unruly and heavily armed militia under the control of the transitional government is worrying foreign observers and many foreign workers are adopting a wait-and-see approach until stability is restored.

“The security issue will take some time,” he said adding that it could take five years for the new political system to settle.

For now, working out a basic budget and dealing with emergencies were the bank’s priority. It was too early to comment on exchange rate policy, foreign licenses or specific banking models Elkaber said.

“Our focus is food, medicine and reconstruction in areas like Sirte, Misrata, Zintan and Zawia, but also in smaller towns, and to try to reactivate manufacturing,” he said.

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