BY İRFAN KAYA ÜLGER - HURIYE YILDIRIM ÇINAR

African countries, which already have fragile economies, are negatively affected by the Libyan crisis. After 2011, the large investments made by the Moammar Gadhafi regime in many African countries were terminated. As a result, many Africans have been deprived of potential sources of income and employment.

The seizure of Libya's assets in some African countries has also been a factor that strains relations in the region from time to time. Apart from this, Libya was an important immigration region before the civil war, where many people from African countries such as Nigeria, Niger, Sudan and Somalia found jobs for high wages and sent money to their country.

With the developments after the Arab Spring, many migrants became unemployed and started new searches to find a livelihood.

Another factor of the Libyan issue affecting the African economy is the energy dimension. After the oil fields were closed by putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar forces, daily oil production, which was 1.2 million barrels, decreased to 262,000 barrels a day. All these factors, along with the effects of the coronavirus have compounded the economic problems of the continent.

The developments in Libya have the potential to impact African countries in terms of security. The absence of peace and stability since 2011 caused Libya – which has porous borders – to be defined as a major threat to regional security.

In particular, southwestern Libya is known as a region where many radical and terrorist groups are deployed and engaged in arms and smuggling activities due to the country's security deficit and political stalemates.

Terrorist and criminal organizations here can easily cross into Europe, the Middle East or sub-Saharan African countries, as they do not have border controls. For example, it is known that many terrorist factors that came to Libya through the Middle East and then moved to northern Mali have increased the security problems in Mali.

Apart from this, global terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida and Daesh are going to have new formations in the region through Libya. The Daesh-linked structure known as the "Desert Army," which carried out actions in Chad, Niger, Algeria and Libya regions, was deployed in southern Libya and increased the number of weapons and members.

Another issue that worries sub-Saharan African countries in terms of security is migration due to conflict. The masses of people escaping from the conflicts in Libya are going to countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Chad.

In this case, the situation of these countries, which are already struggling with many political, military and economic problems, may worsen.

Another aspect of the Libyan crisis that threatens African security is its potential to increase existing ethnic conflicts. The countries involved in the Libyan issue use these tribal and ethnic groups to further their own interests and increase their effectiveness in the region.

This situation may cause new crises and conflicts by intensifying ethnic polarization in North Africa and sub-Sahara in the near future.

France and Egypt's attempts to reduce the impact of Turkey are an example. While France is trying to reestablish its former colonies in Africa such as Chad and Mali, Egypt is trying to gain the support of the tribal and tribal chiefs in the region.

In fact, Cairo emphasized the neutralization of the Fayez Sarraj administration and Turkish power in Libya by hosting the leaders of the Libyan High Tribal Council on July 20. It was even mentioned that Egypt could carry out a military intervention for this purpose. Some tribal leaders in Libya welcomed Egypt's possible military intervention, while others looked at the attitude of the Cairo government with concern.

North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa are areas of political tribal strength. In Libya, Haftar is mostly active in the rural side of eastern regions and the influence of the tribes in these regions is evident. From this general framework, it can be understood why Egypt sought support through tribes on the Libya issue.

Turkey has also recently hosted the leaders of the Tuareg ethnicity which has a dense population in North and West Africa. While Tuareg's support is important in the region, Turkey should pay attention to the potential linkages between extremist groups and criminal organizations and the local leaders.

Media agencies and think tanks that are supported by Egypt and some Western actors spread disinformation falsely accusing Turkey of supporting terrorist organizations and radicals.

This negative image of Turkey, which has been created, may profoundly affect the country’s interests in the Eastern Mediterranean and relations with the regional countries.

At this point, Turkish political leaders and assigned diplomacy officers should stay away from rhetoric and actions that could lead to speculation.

Turkey's moves in Africa

North Africa, the Sahel and sub-Saharan African countries should be included carefully in Turkey's strategies for the Eastern Mediterranean and Libyan issue. Because these regional countries are influenced heavily by developments and exposed to intense lobbying against Turkey. Being aware of this situation, Turkey's policies toward Africa have gained new momentum in the last couple of years.

Turkey has increased its diplomatic representation in Africa in recent years. The bilateral trade with the regional countries has increased substantially. Significant military and defense agreements that were signed between Turkey and African countries worry other global actors such as France, China and Russia who want to stay effective in the region.

Turkey built a military base in Somalia spending $50 million, signaling that its military presence on the continent will not remain limited by international peace operations.

Following this base and military training activities in Mogadishu, the naval jurisdiction and military cooperation agreement signed with the Sarraj government in accordance with international law and the sending of troops to Libya enabled the second Turkish military deployment in the continent.

The international media mentioned that Turkey aims to increase to three the number of countries in Africa where there is a Turkish military presence with the military agreement that was signed with the Niger government in July 2020.

After Niger, Turkey is attempting to develop political and military ties with Chad. French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing the former French colony to support Haftar forces.

Although it is thought that this support will be provided due to Chad's President Idriss Deby's closeness to France, Haftar's presence among the Libyan forces that occupied the African country in the 1980s have caused a rift between the two presidents. Turkey should assess Chad's status strategically remaining cautious about its active support for France in the Libyan crisis.

Another factor that ensures the Turkish military presence in Africa is SADAT International Defense Consultancy Company which is private security company. Considering the fact that other forces that want to be active in the continent are involved in the region with their own private military companies, Turkey's move should be understood in the context of realpolitik.

However, taking into account that the names of these military private companies are occasionally used in black propaganda against their states, SADAT's activities in the region should be carefully controlled.

Thus, SADAT may be an important institution that can strengthen Turkey's hand in the Libya crisis, and the relations with African countries will become stronger in the future.

Turkey's defense industry, which has become stronger in recent years, is very important in terms of Turkey's military moves in Africa.

The export of Turkish weapons to the region is also included in the agreements in defense and military fields signed with the continental countries. This important factor that improves bilateral relations between Turkey and African countries in the military field – if used correctly – may provide a great advantage to Turkey and the Sarraj government in the Libya crisis.

While Turkey performs these moves in the military field in Africa, Egypt as a major competitor to Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean and Libya issues is also working on creating effective military strategies in the continent.

As it is known, there are two major security threats for the Cairo government, the instability and terrorist threat from Libya and the conflict with Ethiopia in the scope of the construction of the Great Renaissance Dam.

In order to eliminate these two threats, Egypt has been making military preparations close to the Libya-Egypt border while it sent troops to the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) military base in Eritrea to tackle the second threat.

While Eritrea, experiencing border crises with Ethiopia, welcomes Cairo's move, this is followed as an alarming development by other countries in the region. According to some experts, Turkey should use the Ethiopia card against Egypt who has been considered as a major rival in the Eastern Mediterranean and Libya.

However, another vital issue to be considered in this regard is that while supporting Ethiopia against the Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi regime for the interests in the Eastern Mediterranean, relations with Egypt and Sudan are at risk in the long term.

As a result, Turkey has to continue its struggle with regional and global actors in the Eastern Mediterranean and Libya, in different parts of the African continent too.

Turkey may have advantageous positions against rival actors in this issue, due to factors such as the absence of colonial past in Africa and the regional relations which were developed on the basis of the win-win principle.

Turkey’s strategy for Africa will both strengthen the hands of Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean and Libyan issues and also reflect positively on future relations with the countries of the continent. For this reason, it is important to emphasize that Turkey is a pro-peace actor that could contribute to the elimination of security threats that may emerge from the Libya crisis./ DS

*Head of the Department of International Relations, Kocaeli University

*Ph.D. candidate in International Relations at Kocaeli Universtiy, expert on African studies

Amnesty International says Nigeria’s security forces have fired on two large gatherings of peaceful protesters, killing 12 people who were calling for an end to police brutality.

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Amnesty International said in a report Wednesday that Nigeria's security forces fired upon two large gatherings of peaceful protesters Tuesday night, killing 12 people calling for an end to police brutality.

At least 56 people have died during two weeks of widespread demonstrations against police violence, including 38 on Tuesday, the group said. The Nigerian government did not immediately comment about Amnesty International's allegations.

The #EndSARS protests began amid calls for Nigeria's government to close the police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, known as SARS, but has become a much wider demand for better governance in Nigeria.

Despite the growing violence, the Nigerian protesters defied a curfew and faced off with security forces Wednesday as gunfire rang out and fires burned in Lagos, a day after shots were fired into a crowd of demonstrators singing the country’s national anthem.

The security forces opened fire without warning on the protesters Tuesday night at the Lekki toll plaza, Amnesty said in its report, citing eyewitnesses, video footage and hospital reports.

“Opening fire on peaceful protesters is a blatant violation of people’s rights to life, dignity, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Soldiers clearly had one intention - to kill without consequences,” said Osai Ojigho, country director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

Amnesty said it has received reports that shortly before the shootings, CCTV security cameras at the Lekki toll gates, where protesters had been camped for two weeks, were removed by government officials and electricity was cut to prevent evidence emerging of the violence.

Some of those killed and injured at the toll plaza and in Alausa, another Lagos neighborhood, were taken away by the military, Amnesty alleged in the report.

“These shootings clearly amount to extrajudicial executions. There must be an immediate investigation and suspected perpetrators must be held accountable through fair trials,” said Ojigho.

Amnesty's report backs up posts and images on social media that have shown widespread violence against protesters.

Amid global outrage, Nigeria’s military denied responsibility for the Lekki shootings, posting a tweet that labeled several reports as fake news.

More gunfire rang out across Lagos on Wednesday and into the night, including at the Lekki toll plaza, where young demonstrators rallied again despite an order for everyone to stay off the streets. At the sound of the shots, some protesters were seen on a live broadcast by The Associated Press running away, though it wasn’t clear if the crowd was fired upon.

Police also fired tear gas at bands of demonstrators and smoke was seen billowing from several areas in the city’s center. Two private TV stations were forced off the air at least temporarily when their offices were burned by unidentified attackers.

“People are aggrieved over the deaths. They are aggrieved by police violence and they are going out on the streets to show their anger,” said Lagos resident Michael Oladapo Abiodun, who said he has supported protesters on social media.

Demonstrations and gunfire were also reported in several other Nigerian cities, including the capital city, Abuja.

In response to the #EndSARS movement, the government announced it would disband the unit, which Amnesty International says has been responsible for many cases of torture and killings. But that has failed to satisfy demonstrators, who are now demanding more widespread reforms to end human rights abuses committed by security forces of all stripes and pervasive government corruption.

Though Nigeria has massive oil wealth, and is one of Africa’s largest economies, many of its more than 200 million people face high levels of poverty and lack basic services — because of rampant graft, according to rights groups.

The protests drew increased international attention after videos were posted on social media in which gunfire could be heard echoing over protesters as they sang the national anthem at the Lekki toll plaza in the darkness Tuesday night.

It’s not clear in the videos who was firing, but many agree with the Amnesty report that Nigeria’s military is responsible. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said “there is little doubt that this was a case of excessive use of force, resulting in unlawful killings with live ammunition, by Nigerian armed forces.”

Lagos governor Obajide Sanwo-Olu has ordered an investigation into the military's actions at Lekki plaza. He said that 25 people were injured and one person had died from blunt trauma to the head.

President Muhammadu Buhari — who has said little about the protests engulfing his country — did not mention the Lekki shootings in a statement Wednesday but issued a call for calm and vowed police reforms.

Buhari’s statement said the dissolution of the SARS unit “is the first step in a set of reform policies that will deliver a police system accountable to the Nigerian people.”

Nigeria’s spiraling crisis has drawn international attention, and denunciations of the violence by foreign dignitaries and celebrities, including U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden and Beyoncé.

Anti-riot police are being deployed across Nigeria and security has been strengthened around correctional facilities, the inspector-general of police announced. On Tuesday, authorities said nearly 2,000 inmates had broken out of jail after crowds attacked two correctional facilities a day earlier.

WASHINGTON — Lawyers appointed by a federal judge to identify migrant families who were separated by the Trump administration say they have yet to track down the parents of 545 children, and that approximately two-thirds of those parents were deported to Central America without their children, according to a filing from the ACLU on Tuesday.

The Trump administration instituted a "zero tolerance" policy in 2018 that separated migrant children and parents at the southern U.S. border. The administration later confirmed that it had actually begun separating families in 2017 along some portions of the border under a pilot program. The ACLU and other pro-bono law firms were tasked with finding the members of families separated during that pilot program.

Unlike the 2,800 families separated under zero tolerance in 2018, most of whom remained in custody when zero tolerance was ended by executive order, many of the more than 1,000 parents separated from their children under the pilot program had already been deported before a federal judge in California ordered they be found.

“It is critical to find out as much as possible about who was responsible for this horrific practice while not losing sight of the fact that hundreds of families have still not been found and remain separated," said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. "There is so much more work to be done to find these families."

"People ask when we will find all of these families and, sadly, I can’t give an answer. I just don’t know. But we will not stop looking until we have found every one of the families, no matter how long it takes. The tragic reality is that hundreds of parents were deported to Central America without their children, who remain here with foster families or distant relatives.”

The ACLU and other organizations that are part of a court-appointed "steering committee" learned that more than 1,000 families were separated in 2017 based on data provided by the Department of Homeland Security. Of those, it has been able to contact the parents of more than 550 children and believes about 25 of them may have a chance of being able to come back to the U.S. for reunification.

Gelernt said some of the families contacted have elected to keep their children in the U.S. with a family member or sponsor "due to fear of what will happen to their child if they return" to their home countries.

The group Justice in Motion is physically searching for the separated parents in Mexico and Central America. “While we have already located many deported parents, there are hundreds more who we are still trying to reach,” said the group in a statement. “It’s an arduous and time-consuming process on a good day. During the pandemic, our team of human rights defenders is taking special measures to protect their own security and safety, as well as that of the parents and their communities.”

A separate court order directed that the Trump administration reunite families separated under zero tolerance in 2018.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Concerns are growing that an oil tanker carrying millions of gallons of oil could spill its load into the sea between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, causing an ecological catastrophe.

The Venezuelan-flagged Nabarima has lain in the Gulf of Paria since last January when U.S. sanctions on Venezuela made it illegal for companies that operate in the U.S. to trade with the country's state-owned oil company.

Trinidad and Tobago’s energy and foreign ministers both told to the Miami Herald newspaper that a team would visit vessel on Tuesday. Trinidadian officials were not immediately available for comment.

The Nabarima is carrying 1.3 million barrels of crude oil, according to Venezuelan politicians and green activist groups. With up to 80 million gallons of oil, a spill from the vessel could cause an ecological disaster: In the Exxon Valdex spill of 1989, one of the worst oil spills recorded, 11 million gallons were released covering an area twice the size of Rhode Island.

Venezuela has previously said the vessel is safe, but environment activists and politicians say new pictures show it is tilting at an increased rate.

Trinidadian environmental group Fishermen and Friends of the Sea, which represents 50,000 people in the local fishing industry, has called for a national emergency. The group visited the ship by boat on Friday and posted a video showing Nabarima tilting and suspended by anchor chains.

Gary Aboud, the group's corporate secretary, said in the video: "If something goes on, if we have bad weather, there are a number of circumstances that could causes the vessel to flood, and then we have no recourse."

The Nabarima is jointly owned by the Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Eni, the Italian oil giant.

PDVSA could not be immediately reached for comment. NBC News approached Eni for comment.

Lawmakers from the Venezuelan National Assembly, who tend to be critical of President Nicolás Maduro, called on the country's government to urgently unload oil from Nabarima to avoid a disaster and said the risk had "increased alarmingly."

“As a result of the weight and tides the ship is perceived to be more inclined (listing) than what was reported last August,” said María Gabriela Hernández Del Castillo, president of the assembly's Environment Commission, in a press release.

The U.S. Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago raised its concerns over the vessel in a statement Friday, warning that a spill "could negatively impact not only the Venezuelan people but also those in nearby countries."

NBC News has approached the Trinidad and Tobago government for comment.

Venezuela has previously denied any problems with Nabarima. In September, the offshore executive director for Venezuela's state oil company, Pedro Figuera, said on Twitter that the Nabarima "complied with environmental and operational standards."

He later dismissed reports that the ship was unsafe as "lies" and said it met the required standards "despite the alleged information from pseudo experts on social networks."

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed another trove of ancient coffins in a vast necropolis south of Cairo, authorities said Monday.

The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said in a statement that archaeologists found the collection of colorful, sealed sarcophagi buried more than 2,500 years ago at the Saqqara necropolis.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said more than 80 coffins were found.

Archaeologists also found colorful, gilded wooden statues, the ministry said. Details of the new discovery will be announced in a news conference at the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser, it said.

Egypt has sought to publicize its archaeological finds in an effort to revive its key tourism sector, which was badly hit by the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising. The sector was also dealt a further blow this year by the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly and Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khalid el-Anany toured the area and inspected the new discovery, which came just over two weeks after the ministry revealed 59 sealed sarcophagi, with mummies inside most of them, in the same area of Saqqara.

The Saqqara site is part of the necropolis at Egypt’s ancient capital of Memphis that includes the famed Giza Pyramids, as well as smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh. The ruins of Memphis were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1970s.

The plateau hosts at least 11 pyramids, including the Step Pyramid, along with hundreds of tombs of ancient officials and other sites that range from the 1st Dynasty (2920-2770 B.C.) to the Coptic period (395-642).

MERSIN, Turkey

Drug police seized 220 kilograms (485 pounds) of cocaine during a drug bust Tuesday on a cargo ship from Brazil in the southern Turkish city of Mersin.

The street value of the seizure is worth billions of Turkish liras.

Mersin prosecutor said counter-narcotic teams conducted a search of the ship from Brazil and found a container loaded with paper, where the cocaine was concealed.

Two suspected drug traffickers were arrested./aa

GAROWE, Somalia

At least two people were killed Tuesday, and three others were wounded, when a bomb blast targeted the nation’s immigration and naturalization chief in Mogadishu, according to officials.

Police captain Abdifatah Hassan confirmed the deaths to Anadolu Agency.

The attack occurred near the busy KM4 intersection in the capital.

Government spokesman Ismail Mukhtar Oronjo told the Turkish news agency the attack targeted Mohamed Aden Kofi, head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

"A roadside bomb blast targeted the immigration chief. He survived the attack but three security guards were wounded,” he said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but Somali-based al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group, al-Shabaab, have carried out attacks in Somalia./aa