Tripoli pictures June 2016

Golf Gargaresh, in the western suburbs of Tripoli. Such a tricky course than the one committed post-revolutionary Libya.

Taha Jawashi for L'Express

Leaded by political chaos, security fears and the scourge Daech, daily from Tripoli to Misrata is a constant struggle. Which forced people to navigate between solidarity and system D.

The swing is strong, the game of graph approach, accurate putting. And, indeed, the quintet of retirees surveyed club hand the course in Gargaresh seafront in the western suburbs of Tripoli, has merit. For here, no green fairways: it engages, at a time when the shadows stretch, golf in hostile terrain. At any time, the dimpled ball can squirt on a shard of glass or a cinderblock fragment.
The greens? Even green. Brownish areas, half land, half sand, which is smooth squeegee the time comes. Leaning against a rocky beach, this nine-hole - not counting the crevices and gullies - draws in model reduced Libya today: a rough nation to unpredictable trajectory, striated fault lines.

Kidnappings and clashes between

Of course Tripoli, capital long delivered to militia chaos, no longer paralyzed with funk. The last major clash between two rival brigades of mid-April. And one must backfire who first Ramadan evening, answering the call to prayer, not a shootout, but brief fireworks welcoming the breaking of the fast. Ala, 20, a student of English, and his sister Iman, future pharmacist two years younger, followed this year near normal curriculum. Although their father, Salem, assists in college once heard a burst of assault rifle. "And even if says the elder, three of our teachers, Filipino origin, shorten some courses to go home early."
precarious lull, so: June 10, hooded gunmen killed since their release 12 detainees barely placed on parole, all accused of taking part in the repression of the deadly insurgency in February 2011, the regime the late Muammar Gaddafi.
Other persistent anxiety factor, the villainous abductions, often orchestrated by a mafia network anchored in the southwest suburbs. "Three or four cases a month on average, admits Hassan Abdullah, spokesman of the North Tripoli Central Security Force with a common mobile. Money That said, these types can ransom of 1 million dinars. - 600,000 euros at the official rate, three times less on the black currency market - and end up compromising to 400 dinars.


The target: the businessman or his son, but also ordinary citizens who just sold his house, supposedly holding a cash package. Or the gun holder of a rival faction of reckoning bottom. "In 2016, the bloodhounds of the Force were released unharmed three hostages. To the families they counsel also not to deal with the kidnappers.

the French School of the library.

"They want to do it fast, argues Hassan. If you refuse to pay, there is a chance they release their captive. Or they kill, that's true. That is the risk." Formally under the authority of the Interior Ministry, the anti-crime unit has not forgotten much loyalty to the Islamic forces Rada Abdul Rauf Kara powerful militia Greater Tripoli.

Neither total war nor peace of souls

"On the security front, said a diplomat familiar Asian Libyan turmoil, armed groups forged in the time of the revolutionary impulse still dictate their law. And Fayez el-Sarraj should reflect that." Referring to Prime Minister frail government of national unity , or RNG, fruit of the agreement signed in December 2015 in Skhirat (Morocco) under the aegis of the UN.
Neither total war nor peace of souls Malek knows every corner of this in-between volatile. Beard short, balding and with glasses nerd, this economics graduate opened in early April in the neighborhood of Ras Hassan Route 66 Cafe, appointment of Tripolitanian bikers enamored of vintage bikes. But it no longer parks his white Ladybug on the embankment opposite.
"One night a masked commando guys was a hit on it, he raconte-, annoyed. Six impacts. No doubt the American side and plugged my institution he dislikes ..." Close? No way. Better, Malek, who, for lack of functional administrative services, has built the Route 66 without a shadow of a permit, would have no objection to pay license and taxes. "Rather, he said. It would be a sign of stabilization."
The young Abir tasted also the rigidities of social norms. Manager of a fitness club, where one learns - among women - to zumba and Arab and Indian dances, she thought he could give her yoga classes in the open air, on the beach Regatta. Error: under intense pressure, Abir had to quickly abandon this daring.

Patience and solidarity

On the radar screen return to normality, although other red lights flash again. Starting laments the head of mission of a medical NGO, for "a health system in free fall for five years." "The specter of the epidemic lurks, says he. As for the hospitals overwhelmed by the influx of wounded, they also suffer from the freezing of bank accounts, so budgets, and caregiver staffing decline."

The Route 66 Cafe in Ras Hassan. "No doubt his American side it displeases" sighs Malek, owner.

Another index, the queues every morning wind to cash-strapped banks surroundings. NCO in his state, Mohamed deserted time for a cigarette break the crowd that this feverish BNP Paribas agency. "My March balance has been transferred to three months late, says thirty emaciated. From there to withdraw 500 dinars allowed ... The last time I was able to get 150 after six hours of wait. How am I doing? Allah provides for everything. "
And solidarity of his flock does the rest: it is thus possible, in this period of Ramadan which no believer balk at the expense, obtain from such a trader a wad of cash in exchange for a check of the same amount; bonanza amputated by the least charitable, a little strong Islamic Committee. Suffice to say that the phenomenon amplifies the waltz labels. Cooking Oil, bread in a semester, the prices of basic commodities has tripled. And everyone wonders about the course qu'atteindra lamb at the time of Eid, epilogue of the fasting month. Only gasoline seems to escape soaring: the full costs the equivalent of 2 euros.
Not enough to encourage Libyan Tripolitans to adopt the electric car. Converting even more illusory that they need to live to the rhythm of cuts. "At least five or six hours of power cut a day," a tour guide rattle weaned customers, crossed in a shopping street that cradles the hum of generators. Elsewhere, the stench from piles of garbage bags that saturates the hot air: outsourced to private companies likely to recruit sub-Saharan or Bangladeshi immigrants, the garbage collection is at best uncertain.

Building titanic outstanding

Visually, another incongruity plot: the profusion of titanic fixed sites, on which ensure petrified cranes cohorts inert sentinels. Resorts unfinished, office towers overdue residential buildings skeletons committed mostly under Gaddafi, the proud projects have not survived the sinking of the Jamahiriya or the flight of foreign investors. Come out they one day from their torpor? Mystery.

Unfinished construction sites in the capital, the era of ghosts where the oil bonanza dopait dreams grandeur.
So controversial it may be, the irruption of the GNA had the merit of clarifying the landscape in a torn Libya a time between three executive and two bedrooms, plagued by appetites of hundreds of brigades richly endowed arsenals. Nevertheless: the influence of the cabinet Sarraj still too hesitant to settle the entanglements of everyday life. The insults suffered by lean delegation qu'enverra this summer Tripoli to Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games should earn him automatically a gold medal. "To stories of Finance and visas sighs one of its pillars, we missed several qualifiers. Not to mention the preparation ..."

Installed since March 30 in the naval base of Abu Setta, he hardly spell, Fayez el-Sarraj, scion of a famous dynasty Tripoli, sitting patiently expanding its shots rallies; one day the Central Bank, the next such unit hitherto loyal military intelligence Khalifa Haftar, former general of the Gadhafi era firmly established in Cyrenaica (eastern province).
Nevertheless: the disappointment already flush. "This is a notable and educated measured concedes a jeweler of the medina. But he lacks charisma. This country needs a strong man." "Nothing tangible on the ground, echo plague the Absily blogger. The passage of time is against him."
similar finding in Salem, the aimless guide "Sarraj ad promises, but worse Moreover, he did not elbow and must bend to the dictates of the Muslim Brotherhood and militia leaders.." Less anxious, bow Figures of an embryonic civil society still leave the former architect the benefit of the doubt.

"Sound governance, transparency and freedom of expression"

"At least he and his entourage to show they open to our pleas for good governance, transparency and freedom of expression," says Amjad Badr, Hexa Connection host. Despite its modest means, this NGO teaches in Tripoli and Benghazi (eastern), workshops in summer camps for children, art blog and Internet literacy.
"Luckily, our political class disregards these issues too to judge us subversive, ironic Amjad Only problem:. The suspicion inspired by the financial support provided by a think tank in Washington ..." No doubt this pioneer could devote a seminar the formula tagged in English on a fence in the district of Fashloum: "do not ask what the government can do for you ask yourself what you can do for your country.."
Maxime implementation 230 kilometers further east, in Misrata, a proud port city founded by the Romans in II century AD. Heirs Cretans, Maltese merchants and Ottoman past, its children know that "free Libya" must fighters of the former Tubartis. They who, in spring 2011, resisted the furious attacks of Gaddafi artillery. They who today lead the siege of Sirte ; and whose MIG fighter en route to the threatened bastion of jihadists Daesh, flying in a loud roar the Museum of Martyrs, conservatory heroism home.
Of course, the local hospital also lacks cruelly equipment, treatments and surgeons. Of course, in the absence of the Minister of Information, the team of public television Misrata TV does not know how to turn guardianship. But the city seems safer and more serene than Tripoli.

A neighborhood football tournament dedicated to the spirit of tolerance.

"My dairy plant at full capacity, insists Mohamed Raied, president of the Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Libya. Their prices remain unchanged, I route all over the country and my 1500 employees are on deck. " Soon, the purpose of this stocky and square boss takes a political turn. Anything goes: the errors of the Central Bank, guilty of squandering 20 billion euros of foreign exchange; massive recruitment of officials "paid to do nothing, to ransom an assistantship that encourages laziness", contempt for the private sector, left to itself.

Fight for union

"It is to change the economic laws of the interior that I won a seat in parliament, admits Raied. Without success at this time." On the fate promised to renegade general Khalifa Haftar, which denies the legitimacy of union government, the shock of CEOs not more tacks: "No way to appoint the head of the army in exchange for his allegiance, slice -t it. at best, they granted him the command of the Eastern region or a seat in a college staff. "
At dusk, when flat on the terraces lapping shishas, ​​the verdict is less forgiving. "The power can only be a friendly nostalgic pensioners Gaddafi, asserts an unemployed person. Better is the partition of unity with Haftar." Despite the liveliness of ancestral regionalist tropism, the scenario of the collapse has few followers.
"The resentment is so in view of the sacrifices, supports a spawning TV Misrata, the idea yesterday marginal, is gaining ground." "Totally excluded, response Mohamed Raied Libyan social fabric results from an inextricable mixture. 350000 Misrati live in Benghazi tribal mosaic where 200 homes and an avenue named after my family."
This June 8, the sandy stage area Habdah al-Badri, dedicated to football in September, hosts one of the matches  "Beyond the love of football, a message of reconciliation," argues the tournament promoter. Las! By the tenth minute red card punishes a murderer tackle irascible visitor. As union, concord is a struggle.

French exception

It is a tranquil haven nestled in the Hay al-Andalus neighborhood. A neat island row of colorful, spacious rooms overlooking a playground old: Welcome to the French School of Tripoli, founded in 1956. She soon blow its 60 candles? No. Lack of funds. From kindergarten to fourth fortnight of teachers welcomes 44 students - four times less than before the 2011 revolution - almost all from non-French speaking families; which are struggling in these troubled times to pay the tuition.


Here, no crowded classrooms: three children in first grade, five in EC 2 and ... one fifth. "The constant stress, sighs Farah Ben Othman, president of the association of parents, forced to abandon his hairdresser, his studio stylist and during baking. The school takes all my time." One regret: April 16, during his flying visit to Tripoli, the Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has failed to make a detour to this corner of France which, however, housed a time of chaos background post- Gaddafi, the ambassador and his guardian angels.