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As chaos reigns, Libya insists West must follow through after intervention
By Mick Krever, CNN
Saying “the Libyans will not make it alone,” Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdelaziz appealed to America and the international community on Thursday to follow through on its intervention that helped topple dictator Moammar Gadhafi from power in 2011, and help rebuild a failing Libyan state.
“We have one side of the coin to get rid of the dictatorial regime,” he told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen, in for Christiane Amanpour. “The other side is to build a state. If you are going to build a state, it means you have to provide the required assistance in a timely manner.”
Libya has sunk to even more chaotic depths of late, as militias – some of whom helped oust Gadhafi – battle across the country.
Fighting in the capital, Tripoli, has gotten so bad that the U.S. Embassy has evacuated its personnel and the country’s fledging new parliament has been forced to meet on the opposite end of the country, in the eastern city of Tobruk – about as far away from Tripoli as you can get while remaining in Libya.
“We are not a charity case,” Abdelaziz said. “And I have to make it very clear: It is the obligation of the international community, on the neighboring countries – either north of the Mediterranean, south of the Mediterranean – to take the case of Libya very seriously.”
The West’s role in a world in turmoil
From Russia and Ukraine, to Israel and Gaza, to Libya and South Sudan – are the crises in these countries the direct result of a world without strong western leadership?
“I certainly think there is public apathy, both in America and in Europe, for further military entanglements, particularly in the Middle East,” Con Coughlin, defense editor at The Daily Telegraph told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen, in for Christiane Amanpour, on Wednesday.
America has ‘moral responsibility’ to intervene in Iraq, says Iraqi Kurdish foreign minister
By Mick Krever and Ken Olshansky, CNN
The foreign minister of Iraqi Kurdistan on Wednesday issued a desperate plea for American and Western intervention to halt the advance of ISIS extremists.
“We are left alone in the front to fight the terrorists of ISIS,” Falah Mustafa Bakir told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen, in for Christiane Amanpour.
“I believe the United States has a moral responsibility to support us, because this is a fight against terrorism, and we have proven to be pro-democracy, pro-West, and pro-secularism.”
While much of the world's attention has recently been focused on Gaza, ISIS has been sweeping across northern Iraq.
Man saved JFK's life with a coconut
In August 1943, John F. Kennedy and his Navy crewmen were stranded on a Pacific island, after their PT was sunk.
They came across two islanders, Eroni Kumana and Biuka Gasa, who were among the allied scouts who helped keep watch on the Japanese.
Because they didn't speak English, Kennedy carved a message on a coconut, and the scouts risked their own lives to deliver it – making it possible for JFK and his crew to be rescued.
Eroni Kumana died last week at the age of 93.
Click above to watch.
Amid violence, Somali President pitches country as irresistible investment
By Mick Krever and Claire Calzonetti, CNN
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has a pitch.
“There is no investment without risk,” the president of Somalia – a country nearly synonymous with “failed state” – told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen, in for Christiane Amanpour, on Tuesday.
“In Somalia, the level of risk right now we have – some people may claim that it's high, but it's not. It's a security situation that is improving. It is a state-building program that is improving. And there is a very bright future for Somalia and for the partners in Somalia.”
Optimism may as well be a job requirement for the leader of Somalia – especially for one who is pitching his country to investors at the first-ever U.S.-Africa summit in Washington.
When Mohamud was elected president in 2012, it was the first election the country had held on home soil in several decades.
The legacy of James Brady
Imagine a world where a presidential press secretary becomes more than a mouthpiece or a punching bag – he becomes a hero.
CNN’s Fred Pleitgen has the story of James Brady, who died Monday at the age of 73.
Click above to watch.
‘Traumatization is everywhere,’ says Red Cross President in Gaza
By Mick Krever, CNN
There is a deep feeling of trauma in Gaza, Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen from Gaza City.
“Traumatization is everywhere,” Maurer said. “I was shocked indeed by the impact of the shelling over the past couple of weeks on the neighborhood, but also a couple of hours later to see the children, women, and men who have been exposed to that shelling in hospitals – to see how wounded they were, and how difficult it was to cope with the numbers and the seriousness of the wounds of all those civilians who were in the hospitals I visited.”
Maurer was able to visit Gaza because of a shaky cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that seems to have held after going into effect early Tuesday.
During his visit, he tweeted that he had “never seen such massive destruction ever before” – strong words for the president of the Red Cross, who has no doubt seen quite some destruction in his time.
“Even if we are on the first day of a seemingly holding cease-fire, my clear opinion is that much more will have to be done over the days and weeks to come to scale up our operations in terms of health response, water and sanitation, sewage, economic livelihoods,” Maurer told Pleitgen. “A lot has been disrupted over the past couple of weeks.”
“In terms of response, I was on the one side positively surprised by the quality of work, by the engagement.”
“It will be a challenge. We are certainly motivated, and even more so after this visit today, to put as good as possible our resources into mobilizing this response.”
“We will have objective difficulties; we will have to engage with the Israelis in order to channel as much aid as possible through the crossing.”
Sierra Leone ‘not able to deal’ with Ebola outbreak, says Doctors Without Borders
By Mick Krever and Annabel Archer, CNN
Sierra Leone’s government “is not able to deal with this outbreak” of Ebola, an emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen from the epicenter of the largest-ever outbreak of the virus.
“We need much more help from international organizations – the WHO, the CDC, other organizations – to come to support the government,” Anja Wolz said from Kailahun, Sierra Leone.
There is a desperate need for international organizations “to send more infection control specialists, to send more epidemiologists here in Kailahun District.”
Century after start of WWI, Serbia strives to ‘be a part of the solution’
By Mick Krever, CNN
Ceremonies are taking place across Europe to mark 100 years since the outbreak of World War I.
Fifty heads of state gathered in Belgium to remember the German invasion, and Britain's declaration of war on Germany.
It was also supposed to be “the war to end all wars,” but a hundred years later, tensions in Europe are ratcheting up yet again, particularly between Russia and the West.
One country that is close to both sides is Serbia: a traditional ally of the Kremlin that is also looking to join the European Union.
“No one needs any more crisis in the heart of Europe,” Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen, in for Christiane Amanpour, on Monday. “No one needs any more problems, any more clashes, any more fights.”
Israel calls ‘hypocrisy’ in international criticism
By Mick Krever, CNN
Criticism of Israel from some of its staunchest allies smacks of hypocrisy, the Israeli intelligence minister told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen, in for Christiane Amanpour, on Monday.
“Sometimes I feel there is some hypocrisy in the criticism,” Yuval Steinitz said. “Maybe [the] United States, Britain, France, and NATO forces can teach us from their experience how to minimize collateral damage – for example, in their experience in Belgrade; their experience in Iraq; in Fallujah in Iraq; or in Afghanistan.”
“The IDF is doing more than any other armed forces, including Western armed forces, to minimize collateral damage.”
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