Tripoli (AFP)

In a fragmented country plagued by conflict and wars of influence, Libyan journalists are caught in the crossfire of the fighting and the bias of their employers exposing them to retaliation.

The conflict that erupted in early April south of the capital Tripoli, following an offensive launched by Marshal Khalifa Haftar's troops, exacerbated political and media cleavages.

In Libya, two authorities have been fighting for power for a long time: on the one hand, the UN-recognized Government of National Unity (GNA), based in Tripoli, and on the other hand, a parallel cabinet based in the east, a region controlled by pro-Haftar forces.

Each camp has its own news agency and its own official television. And, among the private media as well, everyone has now chosen their side, in the wake of the pro-Haftar forces' offensive against Tripoli, exposing their journalists on the ground to the hostility of the belligerents.

Already after the fall of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, several televisions belonging to businessmen and politicians had left the country to send from abroad, in response to threats or attacks. New channels were also created.

- "Exactions" -

"Because of the conflicts (...), the journalists in Libya can not do their normal work anymore," Mohamad al-Najem, executive director of the Libyan Center for Press Freedom (AFFP), told AFP.

"The (Libyan) media, especially those who broadcast from abroad, are largely responsible for the exacerbation of hate speech and incitement to violence, encouraging abuses on the ground, which is reflected in their journalists, "he says.

In the latest Reporters Without Borders (RSF) poll on press freedom worldwide, Libya is ranked 162 out of 180.

And the 32 cases of attacks on journalists identified since April by the LCFP confirm that the situation of journalists has become even more critical since the beginning of Marshal Haftar's offensive.

"Libyan media is facing an unprecedented crisis," said Souhaieb Khayati, RSF's North Africa director. "Many of them find themselves forcefully or unwillingly fired by warring factions," he says.

On 16 July, eastern-based parallel authorities banned 11 television stations that were deemed hostile, accusing them of "terrorism apology" and "threat to social peace".

Moreover, they do not allow journalists to cover the fighting on the side of pro-Haftar forces, unlike the GNA, which opened the front to dozens of journalists Libyan and foreign.

According to the Foreign Press Department of the GNA, "more than 150 foreign journalists have obtained visas since the beginning of the war".

"Our role is limited to authorizations, but journalists are entirely responsible for their own security on the front," Abdelfattah Mhenni, the director of this department, told AFP.

- Application during experimentation -

Since the beginning of the offensive, despite the principle of maximum precaution, one cameraman of AFP and another of Reuters were wounded by shooting covering these fights near Tripoli.

The murder of Musa Abdul Karim, also a journalist of images (JRI), in July 2018 in Sebha (south), and more recently the death in January 2019 of Mohammed bin Khalifa, a photographer who covered clashes between militias, bereaved the last two years.

"Journalists and other media professionals continue to be subjected to intimidation and arbitrary detentions," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report published in late August.

In early May, two reporters from a private anti-Haftar TV station were arrested by the Marshal's forces while covering the fighting south of Tripoli. They were released 23 days later, as a result of tribal pressure.

None of the arrested or assaulted journalists agreed to speak to AFP for fear of his safety and that of his family. Many have been forced to change phone numbers, move, or even leave the country.

To protect journalists, the LCFP wants to make available to them an application on mobile phone, which would make it possible to denounce attacks "in complete safety".

Presented recently to a group of journalists in Tripoli, the application "Kon Chahed" ("Be witness", Ed), is now in the trial phase. It must make it possible to "report the attacks (...) and warn colleagues who are in the same zone", argues the LCFP.

© 2019 AFP