柏林的安全會議上，除了美國表態願意提供烏克蘭安全保證，德國、法國、英國等歐洲領袖也發表了聯合聲明，稱如今跟美國已有高度共識，將成立由歐洲主導、美國支持的多國部隊，以先前提出的「志願者聯盟」（Coalition of the Willing）為框架，部署於烏克蘭境內執行任務，協助烏克蘭軍隊重建、保障其領空及海上安全。在和平時期，烏克蘭軍隊應維持在80萬人左右。
At a meeting of his cabinet at the White House two weeks ago, US President Donald Trump looked around the long room filled with his top advisers, administration officials and aides, and made a prediction.
The next Republican presidential candidate, he said, is "probably sitting at this table".
"It could be a couple of people sitting at this table," he added, hinting at possible electoral clashes to come.
Despite a constitutional amendment limiting him to two four-year terms, his supporters chanted "four more years" at a rally last Tuesday night in Pennsylvania. Trump said at the time that the final three years of his second term amount to an "eternity".
But in the cabinet room last week, when talking about prospects for the 2028 Republican president nomination, he was clear: "It's not going to be me."
The next presidential election may seem a long way off, but Trump's own speculation – and certain frictions within Trump's coalition - suggest that the jockeying to succeed and define the Make America Great Again (Maga) movement after Trump is well under way.
EPA/Shutterstock
At 78 when he was sworn in for the second time, Trump was the oldest person ever elected president - some media outlets suggested may be slowing him down; Trump called such speculation "seditious"
In last month's local elections, the Republican Party lost support among the minority and working-class voters who helped Trump win back the White House in 2024.
Members of his team have feuded over policy. And some, most notably Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, have cut loose from his orbit, accusing the president of losing touch with the Americans who gave him power.
There has been speculation about fractures within the Maga base in certain quarters of the international press, as well as at home. On Monday, a headline in The Washington Post asked: "Maga leaders warn Trump the base is checking out. Will he listen?"
The warning signs are there. While Trump has long been known for being in tune with his base, the months ahead will pose a series of challenges to the president and his movement. Nothing less than his political legacy is at stake.
From Vance to Rubio: A team of rivals?
It was all smiles and talk of historic presidential achievements inside the friendly confines of Trump's newly redecorated, gold-bedecked cabinet room two weeks ago.
But the presidential aspirants Trump may have had in mind as he looked around the table hint at just how hard it could be to keep his Maga movement from stretching apart at the seams.
Vice-President JD Vance sat directly across from the president. As his running mate, he is widely considered to be Trump's most likely heir apparent – the favourite of Trump's sons and libertarian Silicon Valley tech billionaires.
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Vance, more than perhaps anyone in Trump's inner circle, is allied with those trying to give Trumpism an ideological foundation
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was on the president's immediate right. The former Florida senator, who competed with Trump for the Republican nomination in 2016, had spent the past 10 years undergoing a Maga transformation.
He has jettisoned his past support for liberalising immigration policy and his hard line on Russia in lieu of Trump's America First foreign policy. But if there is anyone close to an old-guard Republican with influence in Trump's party, Rubio tops the list.
Then there is Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, whose vaccine scepticism and "Make America Healthy Again" agenda have sent earthquakes through the US health bureaucracy; he sat two down from Rubio. The Democrat-turned-independent-turned-Republican is a living embodiment of the strange ideological bedfellows Trump made on his way to re-election last year.
And finally, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, was tucked off to the corner of the table. While the former South Dakota governor is not considered a major presidential contender, her advocacy for aggressive immigration enforcement – including a recent call for a full travel ban on "every damn country that's been flooding our nation with killers, leeches and entitlement junkies" – has made her a prominent face of administration's policies.
Reuters
The jockeying to succeed and define the Maga movement after Trump is already under way
Each might believe they could, if they chose to run, become Trump's political heir and take control of the political movement that has reshaped American politics over the last decade.
But to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin's comments at the birth of American democracy, whoever wins the Republican nomination will have been given a winning coalition – if they can keep it.
The Republican empire transformed
Of course none of this is guaranteed - nor is it certain that the next generation of Maga leaders will be someone from the president's inner circle. Trump stormed the White House as a political outsider. The next Republican leader may follow a similar path.
"It's going to be up to the next Republican president who follows Trump to set him or herself apart," says former Republican Congressman Rodney Davis of Illinois, who now works for the US Chamber of Commerce.
"But at the same time make sure that you don't go too far away, because clearly it's Donald Trump [who] got elected president twice."
When the November 2028 presidential election rolls around, American voters may not even want someone like Trump. Some public opinion polls suggest that the president may not be as popular as he once was.
A survey by YouGov earlier this month indicated the president had a net approval rating of -14, compared with +6 when he took office again in January. Then there are concerns about the economy and his relentless efforts to push the boundaries of presidential power.
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Leadership of Trump's movement still represents the keys to the Republican empire
Leadership of Trump's movement still represents the keys to the Republican empire, however, even if that empire has drastically changed in recent years.
"I think the Republican coalition has become fundamentally different over the last few decades," said Davis, who served in Congress from 2013 to 2023. "The Republican coalition that existed when Ronald Reagan was elected is not the Republican coalition anymore."
Back in the 1980s, the Reagan coalition was a fusion of free-market economics, cultural conservatism, anti-communism and international foreign affairs, says Laura K Field, author of Furious Minds: The Making of the Maga New Right.
Trump's party, she continues, was perhaps best described by long-time Trump adviser and current state department official Michael Anton in a 2016 essay advocating for Trump's election. In contrast with the Reagan era, its core principles include "secure borders, economic nationalism and America-first foreign policy".
'Normie Republicans' versus 'the edgelords'
Earlier this month, the conservative Manhattan Institute released a comprehensive survey of Republican voters, shedding more light on the composition of Trump's coalition.
It suggested that 65% of the current Republican Party are what it calls "core Republicans" – those who have supported party presidential nominees since at least 2016. (If they were alive in the 1980s, they may well have voted for Reagan.)
On the other hand, 29% are what the Institute called "new entrant Republicans". It is among those new Republicans that the challenge to the durability of Trump's coalition presents itself.
Only just over half said they would "definitely" support a Republican in next year's mid-term congressional elections.
According to the survey, the new entrants are younger, more diverse and more likely to hold views that break with traditional conservative orthodoxy. They hold comparatively more left-leaning views of economic policy, they tend to be more liberal on immigration and social issues, and they may also be more pro-China or critical of Israel, for example.
AFP via Getty Images
Trump was able to attract 'new entrant Republican' voters into his coalition - the question is whether he and his political heirs can keep them, or if they even want to
Jesse Arm, vice-president of external affairs at the Manhattan Institute, told the BBC in an email: "A lot of the conversation about the future of the right is being driven by the loudest and strangest voices online, rather than by the voters who actually make up the bulk of the Republican coalition."
Perhaps not surprisingly, the so-called new entrant Republican voters are significantly less supportive of some of Trump's would-be heirs. While 70% of core Republicans have positive views of Rubio and 80% for Vance, just over half of new entrants feel that way about either.
Other findings could be more concerning for Republicans.
More than half of new entrants believe the use of political violence in American politics "is sometimes justified" – compared to just 20% among core Republicans.
It also suggests they may be more likely to be tolerant of racist or anti-Semitic speech and more prone to conspiratorial thinking – on topics like the moon landings, 9/11 and vaccines.
Trump was able to attract these voters into his coalition. The question is whether he and his political heirs can keep them there – or if they even want to.
"The real takeaway is not that these voters will 'define' the post-Trump GOP, but that future Republican leaders will have to draw clear lines about who sets the agenda," argues Mr Arm.
"The heart of the party remains normie Republicans, not the edgelords that both the media and the dissident right are strangely invested in elevating."
Clashes in the conservative ranks
The divides revealed in the Manhattan Institute poll helps explain some of the most notable frictions within the Trump coalition over the past few months.
The Trump-Greene feud that culminated in the latter's resignation from Congress began with her backing of a full release of the government files connected to the Jeffrey Epstein underage sex-trafficking case – long a source of conservative conspiracy theories.
It broadened, however, into a critique of Trump's Middle East policy and accusations of his failure to address cost-of-living and healthcare concerns for low-income American voters.
An earlier high-profile Maga split erupted over Trump's economic policy, with billionaire Elon Musk, a strong supporter and member of Trump's inner circle at the start of the year, going on to condemn certain tariffs and government spending policies.
Reuters
An earlier high-profile Maga split erupted over Trump's economic policy
The president has, for the moment, largely tried to stay out of another bitter clash within conservative ranks over whether Nick Fuentes, a far-right political commentator and Holocaust denier, is welcome within the conservative movement.
It's a dispute that has roiled the influential Heritage Foundation and pitted some powerful right-wing commentators against each other.
According to Ms Field, those who follow Trump may find it a difficult conflict to avoid. "Nick Fuentes has a huge following," she says. "Part of how the conservative movement got the energy and power that they've got is by peddling to this part of the Republican Party."
In the halls of the Republican-controlled Congress, some signs of friction with the president's agenda are showing. Despite White House lobbying, it couldn't stop the House from passing a measure mandating release of the Epstein files.
The president has also been unable to convince Senate Republicans to abandon the filibuster, a parliamentary procedure Democrats in the minority have been able to block some of Trump's agenda.
AFP via Getty Images
Even a defeat next year – or in 2028 – is unlikely to mark the end of Trumpism
Meanwhile, Trump's party has been stumbling at the polls, with the Democrats winning governorships in Virginia and New Jersey last month by comfortable margins.
In dozens of contested special elections for state and local seats over the past year, Democrats have on average improved their margins by around 13% over similar races held in last November's national elections.
The future of Trumpism
All of this will be front of mind for Republicans ahead of the 2026 mid-term congressional elections - and it will do little to ease the concerns held by some that, without Trump at the top of the ticket, their coalition will struggle to deliver reliable ballot-box victories.
Yet even a defeat next year – or in 2028 – is unlikely to mark the end of Trumpism.
The ascent by Trump's Maga movement to the pinnacle of American power has been far from a smooth one. It includes a mid-term rout in 2018 and Trump himself losing in 2020, before his re-election last November.
But the changes that Trump has wrought within the Republican Party itself appear to be foundational ones, according to Ms Field. His Maga coalition builds on strains of populist movements in the US that date back decades or more – from Barry Goldwater's insurgent presidential campaign in 1964 to the Tea Party protests during Barack Obama's presidency.
"These things are not coming out of nowhere. They are forces in American politics that have been underground for a while, but have been just kind of fermenting."
The old Republican order, she argues, is a relic of the past.
"The Trump movement is here to stay and there's no real likelihood of the old establishment returning with any sort of clout - that much is clear."
Top picture credit: Getty Images
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The US military says it has carried out strikes on three boats it has accused of trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean, killing eight people.
The US Southern Command posted footage of the strikes on social media and said the vessels were "transiting along known narco-trafficking routes... and were engaged in narco-trafficking".
More than 20 vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean have been targeted in recent months, killing at least 90 people, as part of President Donald Trump's escalating campaign against gangs he accuses of transporting drugs in the region.
Some experts say the strikes could violate laws governing armed conflict.
The first attack by the US - on 2 September - has drawn particular scrutiny as there was not one but two strikes, with survivors of the first killed in the second.
The Trump administration has accused Venezuela of funnelling narcotics into the US and has intensified its efforts to isolate President Nicolas Maduro in recent months.
Thousands of troops and the USS Gerald Ford have been positioned within striking distance of Venezuela.
On 10 December, US forces seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, which it claimed was being used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran in an "illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organisations".
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil called the seizure "international piracy" and has claimed Trump wants Venezuela's energy resources.
The South American nation - home to some of the world's largest proven oil reserves - also accuses Washington of seeking to steal its resources.
Police 'put their lives on the line', says New South Wales premier
The New South Wales (NSW) premier has strongly rejected criticism of the police response to the attack on a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach, saying officers acted with "bravery and integrity".
Some witnesses have suggested police were too slow to disarm the two gunmen, who killed 15 people and injured dozens at an event celebrating Hanukkah at Australia's best known beach.
"There are two officers in critical care... at the moment," Chris Minns said after sustained questioning from reporters. "They weren't shot in the back as they were running away. They were shot in the front."
There have also been questions about whether adequate security was provided before the shooting took place.
"They shoot, shoot, change magazine and just shoot," one witness, Shmulik Scuri, told reporters the day of the assault, adding he thought officers "froze".
Asked about these criticisms, Minns said the "rush to conclusions" about the police operation was "disrespectful".
"They didn't take a backward step. They engaged the gunmen on the footbridge with handguns. The offenders had long range rifles," Minns said.
"If there's any suggestion that NSW Police didn't live up to their responsibilities to the people of this state, it should be rejected because it's not consistent with the facts."
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon avoided questions about how many officers had been deployed to police the event in advance. He told reporters police "regularly patrol that area as we did on that day" and that police presence was based "on the threat that exists at the time".
Australia's security agency has said the younger alleged gunman in the father-son duo, Naveed Akram, had come to their attention in 2019 due to his associations, but that there was nothing to suggest he was a risk of violence.
"Had there been intelligence that there was a particular threat at that location, or to that event, we may have had a different policing response," Commissioner Lanyon said.
NSW Police established Operation Shelter after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel to investigate antisemitic hate crimes. As part of the operation, regular patrols are conducted of high-risk locations. The eastern suburbs of Sydney, including Bondi, which has a significant Jewish population, is a key focus.
Another taskforce, Strike Force Pearl, was set up later to investigate hate crimes in Sydney.
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NSW Premier Chris Minns says police responding to the attack at Bondi 'didn't take a backwards step'
Police received reports of gunfire at a park in Bondi Beach at 18:47 (07:47 GMT) on Sunday. The gunmen carried out a shooting spree that lasted around ten minutes before police shot both men, killing one and critically injuring the other.
Dr Vincent Hurley, a former police officer who lectures on policing at Macquarie University, told the BBC it was "unrealistic" to expect police to be able to know how to react to every possible scenario.
"To respond to a mass shooting and mass killing event like that, there's no training that can be done."
He pointed out that police officers would have initially been reliant on calls to emergency operators "and everyone would have given them a different story".
"Then they have to fight through traffic at Bondi Beach which is a nightmare at the best of times."
At the scene, police would have been confronted with "absolute chaos" as thousands of people attempted to flee.
Individual officers would also have been faced with difficult choices such as whether to stop and render assistance to injured individuals or to go and look for the gunmen, decisions for which there is no protocol.
And even once the offenders had been identified, he says the risk of hurting bystanders in the crossfire would have complicated responses.
"There would be no way as a police officer, I would have drawn my firearm because all of the innocent individuals", he added. "It's not what you see on Netflix."
英國跨黨派任意拘留與人質事務國會小組（Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs）發表聲明批評，這項定罪顯示英國政府的失職，因「政府先前未能更強硬要求立即釋放黎智英」。聲明指出，美國、加拿大與澳洲等國，已成功促成其公民從中國與香港的任意拘留中獲釋，「儘管英國與香港之間有《香港基本法》所保障的特殊國際義務關係，英國卻未能做到」。
A bombed-out building in Marawi in 2022, five years after Islamic State-affiliated militants and government forces waged a devastating battle for control of the city.
US President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against the BBC over an edit of his 6 January 2021 speech in a Panorama documentary.
Trump has requested billions of dollars in damages, according to court documents filed in Florida.
The BBC apologised to Trump in November, but rejected his demands for compensation and disagreed there was any "basis for a defamation claim".
Trump's legal team accused the BBC of defaming him by "intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech". The BBC has not yet responded to the lawsuit being filed.
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Thousands of drivers could have speeding fines cancelled after a fault saw some cameras falsely triggered on English A roads and motorways.
National Highways said it had found 2,650 wrongful speed camera activations since 2021 due to a delay between cameras and variable speed signs.
Affected drivers will be contacted by police and be reimbursed for any fines while points will be removed from their licences where needed.
Not all camera activations are enforced, so not all of the wrongful activations will have resulted in fines.
National Highways apologised for the error and chief executive Nick Harris said a fix for the issue has been identified.
"Safety is our number one priority… All drivers should continue observing the posted speed limits as normal. Anyone who has been impacted will be contacted by the relevant police force," he said.
National Highways, which runs England's motorways, blamed an "anomaly" in how variable speed cameras were interacting with signs on some A roads and motorways.
It meant a delay of around 10 seconds between cameras and relevant variable speed signs, meaning some drivers were incorrectly identified as speeding after the limit had changed.
The body said the 2,650 incidents since 2021 represent fewer than two each day, compared with more than 6 million activations of speed cameras on the affected roads over the same period.
It said the anomaly has impacted 10% of England's motorways and major A roads.
It is working with police to check activations and promised nobody will now be wrongly prosecuted.
Meanwhile, police forces have stopped issuing fines from variable cameras until they have confidence in their accuracy.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "We apologise to anyone who has been affected. Safety was never compromised, and we are working with policing to ensure nobody is incorrectly prosecuted in future.
"Enforcement is still in place, and the public can remain confident that only motorists who break the rules will be penalised."
Trade minister Chris Bryant and his Korean counterpart Yeo Han-koo announced the deal in London
The UK and South Korea have finalised a trade deal which the government says will create thousands of jobs and bring billions into the British economy.
British industries including pharmaceuticals, car manufacturing, alcohol and financial services are expected to benefit from an extension to the current tariff-free trade on most goods and services.
The deal is the fourth such agreement struck by the Labour government, following deals with the EU, US and India — none of which have had a material impact on the UK's economy so far.
South Korean culture, including music, cosmetics and food, has become much more popular in the UK in recent years.
Trade minister Chris Bryant announced the deal in Samsung's flagship store in London on Monday night, accompanied by his Korean counterpart Yeo Han-koo.
Under the deal, 98% of trade will continue to be tariff free, the same terms that the EU has with South Korea, and which the UK maintained temporarily after Brexit.
The UK's agreement with South Korea was set to expire in January 2026, but the new agreement will protect £2bn of UK exports from an increase in tariffs.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the deal was "a huge win for British business".
"This deal making trade even easier between us will help boost the economy - supporting jobs and growth which will be felt all over the country," he said.
Bryant said the deal would give "cast-iron protections to our key industries to speed up economic growth as part of our Plan for Change".
South Korea is the UK's 25th largest trading partner, according to the Department for Business and Trade. In the 12 months to the end of June this year, it accounted for 0.8% of the UK's total trade.
Over that same 12-month period, official figures show UK exports to South Korea fell 16.4% and South Korean exports to the UK fell 10.8%.
South Korea's trade minister told the BBC that South Korea and Britain's economies "are complimentary", and denied that the fall in trade between the nations suggested the relationship wasn't as important as it used to be.
Han-koo said the new agreement was more about reducing non-tariff barriers, such as making rules around product origin more business friendly, and creating new digital and investment protections.
"So these two economies can win by cooperating closer through this kind of framework," he added.
Han-koo also said Britain can serve as a gateway for South Korea in its trade with Europe, while South Korea can serve as a gateway to Asia for British companies.
The South Korean deal is the latest in a series of post-Brexit trade agreements, but the independent budget forecaster, the OBR, has so far deemed deals done with those larger partners as unlikely to make a measurable impact on the UK economy by 2030.
The government has said that its various trade agreements struck this year will grow the British economy by creating jobs and cutting red tape for small businesses.
But its own assessment showed that the deal with India will only increase GDP by between 0.11% and 0.14%.
That deal in particular was criticised for potentially undercutting British workers.
India is the UK's 10th-largest trading partner, accounting for 2.5% of British trade.
'Great news'
UK companies including Bentley Motors, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Guinness owner Diageo welcomed the news of the South Korean deal.
Frank-Steffen Walliser, chairman and chief executive of Bentley Motors, said that South Korea is a key market for the company and the wider luxury vehicle market.
"To secure immediate ongoing access to South Korea and a positive long term trade deal, is great news. Smooth international trade is vital to UK automotive business growth."
Diageo's interim chief executive Nik Jhangiani said it would "help satisfy the growing demand from South Korean consumers" for Guinness, which is canned in Runcorn, Cheshire.
Emily Weaver Roads, interim international director at the Scotch Whisky Association, said the Asia-Pacific region was the largest regional market by value for whisky.
"The reduction of trade barriers in the Republic of Korea will further enhance Scotch Whisky's access to an important market, especially for single malts."
Trump and Xi last met face-to-face in October, when both of them visited South Korea
US President Donald Trump says he has asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping to "consider" releasing Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong pro-democracy tycoon who was earlier this week found guilty under the city's controversial national security law.
"I feel so badly," Trump told reporters. "I spoke to President Xi about it and I asked to consider his release."
The UK similarly called for the 78-year-old to be "immediately released", with UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper condemning the ruling, calling it a "politically motivated persecution".
Lai, who is a British citizen, has been in jail since December 2020 and is due to be sentenced early next year. He faces a maximum term of life in prison.
Trump made the brief comment to reporters at the White House on Monday - but did not specify when he had brought Lai's case up to Xi.
"He's an older man and he's not well. So I did put that request out. We'll see what happens, okay?," he said.
His comments come after a Hong Kong court on Monday found Lai guilty of colluding with foreign forces.
The verdict was welcomed by Hong Kong's chief executive John Lee, who said that Lai's actions had "damaged the country's interests and the welfare of Hong Kongers", but rights groups called it "a cruel judicial farce".
"He has been targeted by the Chinese and Hong Kong governments for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression," UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper had told Parliament on Monday, calling for Lai's "immediate release".
She added that the Foreign Office has summoned the Chinese Ambassador to "underline our position in the strongest terms", adding that it was "heartbreaking that such a violation of a British man's rights could occur in Hong Kong".
China's foreign ministry had earlier on Monday dismissed criticisms of Lai's trial, describing them as "brazen defamation and smearing of the judicial system in Hong Kong".
Lai was on Monday convicted under the city's controversial national security law - which rights groups say is used to crush dissent, but which Beijing defends as essential for the city's stability.
He was also convicted of publishing seditious material on Apple Daily under a separate colonial-era law.
His detention and conviction have drawn concern from rights groups and foreign leaders, who have long called for his release.
His children have voiced serious concerns about Lai's deteriorating health in prison, with Sebastien telling the BBC earlier this year that given his father's age and health, he could "die in prison".
It was a night at the museum like no other. As the staccato sound of firecrackers and explosions rang out across Martyr’s Square in the heart of Tripoli, for once it was not Libya’s militias battling it out for a larger stake in the country’s oil economy, but a huge firework display celebrating the reopening of one of the finest museums in the Mediterranean.
The National Museum of Libya – housing Africa’s greatest collection of classical antiquities in Tripoli’s historic Red Castle complex – had been closed for nearly 14 years due to the civil war that followed the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s downfall. Its ceremonial reopening came at the climax of a lavish show compressing Libya’s rich history and attended by diplomats and Arab celebrities, with a full-size Italian orchestra, acrobats, dancers, arches of fire and lights projected on to the fort. It did not lack for circus drama or cost, peaking with a billowing Ottoman sailing ship arriving high above the port on wires to be greeted by an angelic-appearing Libyan woman.
Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the prime minister of Libya’s UN-recognised government of national unity – Libya has two rival governments, one in the east and one in the west – was then taken to the doors of the museum, where he wielded a big stick, as if at the opening of the British parliament, to hammer on them and demand entry. The giant wooden doors drew open slowly and crowds poured in.
Inside, Libya’s history revealed itself – a record of a vast country shaped by successive occupations from Greek to Roman, Ottoman and Italian. On its four floors could be found cave paintings worthy of Lascaux; 5,000-year-old mummies from the ancient settlements of Uan Muhuggiag in Libya’s deep south; tablets in the Punic alphabet; and countless treasures from the still largely unvisited Roman coastal cities of Leptis Magna and Sabratha, including spell-binding mosaics, friezes and statues of great public figures and gods. Gone, however, was Gaddafi’s turquoise VW beetle, once given pride of place in the collection and one of the museum’s few losses to the uprising.
Speaking the next day in offices once occupied by Italian archeologists on the top floor of the Red Castle, Dr Mustafa Turjman, the former head of the department of antiquities, recalled evacuating all the museum’s works to secret hideaways to keep them from robbers and smugglers. He admitted there was hesitation about the reopening, after artefacts from the tiniest coin to giant statues were brought back from hiding.
Turjman said the museum showed people what Libya had once been – a region of great cultural and economic self-confidence, well connected to the world beyond the sea. “We are part of the Mediterranean,” he said.
This was not just a moment for classicists, or lovers of Libya’s rich history, Turjman said, but a moment for a country riven between its eastern and western regions to come together. “This is a museum about the whole of Libya … the archaeological masterpieces of the whole country. It is a force for unification,” he said. “So when people from Tripoli [in the west] come here they see statues from [the eastern region of] Cyrenaica, and when Cyrenaicans come they see their heritage, so it helps reunify the two regions … We are relatives. Their cousins are here and out cousins are here.”
Turjman hopes the museum will help educate Libyans after the distorted teaching of the Gaddafi era, and the first few weeks of the museum’s opening is dedicated to bringing in schoolchildren. “The most important thing is teaching the mind. Teaching how to respect time and history, and how to respect others, and to be involved in the world,” he said. “We have to build the minds. My generation studied the philosophy of the Greeks as part of our heritage, but this stopped. Libya is often an arid remote region, but we kept this heritage: it shows our willpower.”
Persuading the world to see Libya “through optimist’s eyes”, as the government slogan puts it, could be a tough ask. True, embassies are reopening, as are long-closed luxury hotels. The British oil multinational BP has reopened its office and new oil investments are planned. Luxury waterfront marinas have been built. A drive-in food complex has sprung up. But there is much to overcome.
A Libyan passport provides free passage to virtually nowhere and the country remains close to the bottom of world league tables for press freedom and corruption. On the museum’s opening night a notorious people smuggler, Ahmed al-Dabbashi, was reported shot dead in a gunfight with Libyan security forces in Sabratha. Australia only last week advised its citizens to stay away; in Tripoli’s al-Madina souq some of the shops say they are open only two hours a day due to the lack of visitors.
Dbeibah is disarmingly frank in interview about his country’s failings, including the arrest of three of his ministers in a corruption investigation, even if he insisted spending was transparent down to the last dinar. He admitted the country’s inability to shake off its dependency on the oil economy meant that 2.5 millions Libyans were on the government payroll – roughly a third of the population. Distorting but popular subsidies also mean petrol is cheaper than water, costing less than £1 to fill a tank. The price makes it a target for smuggling that the various auditing agencies seem incapable of preventing.
Pressed on why the east and west of the country had set up conflicting parallel institutions since the 2014 uprising, he blamed politicians and not the people.
Dbeibah has not been elected to office. Becoming prime minister in 2021 as part of a UN-supervised process, he was due to stay in power only until elections across the country could be held. But a parliament or president with a meaningful mandate remains a distant prospect so long as the political elite in east and west prefer the personal riches disunity brings.
The UN Libya mission is organising “a structured dialogue” in an effort to reconcile the country ahead of elections possibly next year, but Dbeibah says he opposes holding a vote until there has been a referendum on a new constitution. The merry-go-round of west and east setting preconditions for elections never stops. One Libyan official said: “Libyans have no clue about politics. Gaddafi prevented that.”
One of the very first visitors to the museum was the Egyptian comedian and TV host Bassem Youssef, who has millions of social media followers and has appeared on Piers Morgan’s TV show to speak about the Gaza war.
He said it had taken time to convince his wife it would be safe to visit Libya, and reflected on “the rectangular screen in our pockets that shapes our consciousness and minds”. He said Libya was in the news only when it was embroiled in conflict or other problems, and when things calmed down the media were no longer interested. It was as if for an Arab country to be in the news, something had to be wrong, he said.
“The image of any country or society has nothing to do with the reality on the ground, but rather with the lens through which one sees reality,” he said. “Unfortunately, we must admit that this lens, which transmits the image of most of our Arab countries, is broken, cracked and distorted.”
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