When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

blog

The Dangers Of Being Christian In Libya

The Dangers Of Being Christian In Libya

Following its 2011 revolution, Libya has struggled to establish a democratic rule of law as it navigates the political divisions sowed through the decades-long bloody reign of Muammar Gaddafi. Religion, per se, had not been seen as a major source of conflict in a country that is 97% Sunni Muslim.

Roaming jihadist groups, however, would also turn out to threaten the stability and security of post-Gaddafi Libya, with such attacks as the high-profile 2012 assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi. And now, since the start of the year, the Islamist threat has returned, first with the killing of Westerners — including the execution-style slaying of a British oil worker and his New Zealander fiancée on a beach in January — and the targeted murder this week of a group of Egyptian Christians.

Seven Arab Christians from neighboring Egypt were killed on a beach outside of Benghazi on Monday. It is not clear whether their murders — also execution-style — are linked to that of the Western couple in January, or the murder of an American evangelical school teacher, who was shot to death in Benghazi while out for a run.

Sources have reported that the seven Egyptian Christians were abducted from their homes by men walking door-to-door, inquiring if the residents were Muslim or Christian.

The accusation that Arab Christians were somehow allied with the West has long plagued Arab Christians in places such as Lebanon and Egypt. Sporadic violence against Christians has continued, including the burning of churches in post-Arab Spring Egypt, where Coptic Christians are a deeply rooted minority estimated to represent about 10% of the population.

Libya, however, is a country with no significant indigenous Christian population. These latest murders of fellow Arabs who are Christian may be the work of a jihadist group looking for non-Muslim “outsider” victims, whose deaths will cast a shadow over the Libyan government’s struggle to present a united front.

It may be an indication that Christian Arabs are now as permissible and as high-profile targets as the foreigners previously preferred by jihadist groups in their terror-sowing bids for notoriety. In any case, it is an indication that “Arabness” — a shared cultural and linguistic heritage — is not enough protection today for those facing the lawless elements in post-revolution Libya.

Photo: Andreas Wahra

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Geopolitics

Yes, Xi Jinping Is Now More Powerful Than Mao Zedong Ever Was

After being re-elected as head of the Communist Party last year, the Chinese leader has been unanimously re-elected to another five-year term as head of state. Now, wielding more power than any other past Chinese communist leader, he wants to accelerate the rise of Chinese influence around the world.

Photo of huge portrait of Xi Jinping

Huge portrait of Xi Jinping is displayed in the National Day mass pageantry celebrating the 70th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China

Yann Rousseau

-Analysis-

BEIJING — Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has been re-elected to a third five-year term at the head of the world's second largest economic power. Nobody was surprised.

The vote took place during a legislative assembly convened to rubber stamp decisions of the authoritarian power, during which 2,952 parliamentarians unanimously approved Xi's re-election before rising, in perfect choreography, to offer a prolonged standing ovation to their leader. As usual, Xi remained completely neutral in the face of the enthusiasm.

His victory was a mere formality after his re-election last fall as the head of the all-powerful party, which controls all of the country's political institutions, and after legislative amendments to erase term limits that would have forced him out.

Xi Jinping, who took over the presidency in 2013, "is now the most powerful leader in the history of the People's Republic, since its founding in 1949. Institutionally, he holds even more power than Mao Zedong," says Suisheng Zhao, a professor and Chinese foreign policy expert at the University of Denver.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

The latest