2011 Libyan uprising

The 2011 Libyan uprising, sometimes called Gaddafi's War. Began as a series of protests and confrontations occurring in the North African state of Libya against Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule. The protests began on 15 February 2011 and have since become a widespread uprising that continues to the present. Inspiration for the unrest is attributed to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, connecting it with the wider 2010–11 Middle East and North Africa protests. On 22 February, The Economist described the events as an "uprising that is trying to reclaim Libya from the world's longest-ruling autocrat." - Excerpt from Wikipedia entry, taken 3 March 2011

 

Since the night of February 16, 2011 (#Feb17) Libyans have been protesting one of the world’s most intractable governments: that of Muammar Al Gaddafi. Colonel Gadaffi came to power in a 1969 coup d’etat and attempted to spread his brand of revolution, the Third Universal Theory, throughout the Middle East and Africa. While his star rose and fell on the international stage, the 6.4 million people of Libya suffered from a dearth of civil society institutions, lack of human rights, endemic corruption and a repressive police force. Will Libya become the next North African government to fall? In January, Gaddafi mourned the loss of Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and later criticized Egyptians who were protesting long-serving president Honsi Mubarek. He then threatened he would react even harsher to his own domestic critics. This is a promise he appears to be keeping. - Excerpt from Global Voices Special Page on Libya

 

Snapshot of the crisis and key actors

• Timeline of 2011 Libyan uprising, from Wikipedia
• International reactions to the 2011 Libyan uprising, from Wikipedia 
• Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi, from Wikipedia

 

Background information & context

• 2 Mar 2011: OCHA, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya: Unrest Situation Report No. 2 (Arabic version) 
• 1 Mar 2011: UN GA UNHRC, Report of the Human Rights Council on its fifteenth special session (A/HRC/S-15/1)
• 1 Mar 2011: IFRC, North Africa & Middle East: Civil unrest Emergency appeal n° MDR82001
• 1 Mar 2011: OCHA, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya: Unrest Situation Report No. 2
• 28 Feb 2011: OCHA, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya: Unrest Situation Report No. 1 
• 28 Feb 2011: ICC, Statement by the Office of the Prosecutor on situation in Libya 
• 26 Feb 2011: UN SC, In Swift, Decisive Action, Security Council Imposes Tough Measures on Libyan Regime, Adopting Resolution 1970 in Wake of Crackdown on Protesters 
• 25 Feb 2011: IOM, IOM Appeals for an Initial Eleven Million Dollars to Assist Migrants Fleeing Violence in Libya
• 25 Feb 2011: ECHO, Commission Decision of on the financing of emergency humanitarian actions in North Africa from the general budget of the European Union (ECHO/-NF/BUD/2011/01000)

 

Libyan Government sites

• Libyan Mission to the UN in New York

 

Libyan Government sites

 

• Libya February 17th (Libyan Opposition website)
•  

GLIDE number 

• OT-2011-000025-LBY

 

UN system in Libya

• Map of Libya from United Nations
• UNDP Country website
• UN OCHA Country Website 
• Humanitarian Response site for North Africa (http://northafrica.humanitarianresponse.info/Home.aspx)  
• Inter-agency Assessment Mission to Eastern Libya - Participant List

 

Key UN contacts

• OCHA Regional Office for Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia - ROMENACA
• United Nations Development Programme, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

69/71 Turkia Street. Dahra

P.O.Box : 358

Tripoli - Libya

Tel : +218 21 333 0852

Fax : +218 21 333 7349

Email : registry.ly@undp.org

 

Baseline information for Libya (collected by Volunteer Task Force)

• The following nation-wide humanitarian indicators for Libya have been compiled by OCHA, in collaboration with Volunteer Technical Communities, in order to provide the humanitarian community with a baseline for the on-going analysis of the humanitarian situation. The indicators have been drawn from a variety of credible sources and have been selected based on the key humanitarian indicators developed by global Cluster/Sector leads and OCHA through the IASC Needs Assessment Task Force. The indicators have been compiled to support sectoral temporal analysis by the humanitarian community and for consideration by sectoral leads when populating the Humanitarian Dashboard.
• Download here.

 

UN OCHA Crisis Briefing Kit, courtesy Reliefweb

• Briefing Kit produced on 3 March 2011 (~22Mb)
• Briefing Kit produced on 5 March 2011 (~13Mb) 
• Briefing Kit produced on 8 March 2011 (~14Mb)
• Briefing Kit produced on 19 March 2011 (~10Mb) 
• Briefing Kit produced on 26 March 2011 (~18Mb) 
• Briefing Kit produced on 5 April 2011 (~19Mb)

 

The above PDFs include,

• Inter-agency and news updates over the past week 
• Latest 10 Situation Reports
• Latest 10 maps 
• Other key documents

 

Libya Crisis Map (UN OCHA)

• Social Media Mapping for Common Operational Datasets. See map here. 

 

UN Common Operations Dataset (COD)

• The IASC Guidelines on Common Operational Datasets (CODs) in Disaster Preparedness and Response has been developed to help national authorities and humanitarian organizations exchange data thereby improving the effectiveness of humanitarian response. These guidelines outline the common datasets needed for response in humanitarian emergencies, as well as the governance model for the management of the data (i.e. accountabilities and responsibilities). 
• The CODs are subject to change as new data becomes available.  If you would like to suggest any changes to the CODs, or if you have any questions regarding their use, please contact Mr. CJ Hendrix, OCHA Information Services Section, tel: +41 (0)22 917 2527, mobile: +41 (0)79 217 3083, or via email: hendrix@un.org  
• Download data for Libya from here.

 

UN Humanitarian Information (from UN OCHA)

• The Humanitarian Dashboard can be found on the Humanitarian Response in North Africa website [http://northafrica.humanitarianresponse.info/Dashboard.aspx]. Sectoral pages will be added as they become available.
• The Humanitarian Indicators for Libya have been issued. Compiled by OCHA in collaboration with Volunteer Technical Communities, they can serve as a baseline for the on-going analysis of the humanitarian situation.  
• Satellite imagery being requested has been made available on UNOSAT's online tasking area.  [http://maps.google.com/?q=http://unosat-sdn.web.cern.ch/unosat-sdn/northafrica/libya/vector/km/UNOSAT_imageryaois_15mar2011.kml]
• A Who-does-What-Where Libya (2011) on-line form is now available. Agencies in the field have been asked to submit their 3W information to OCHA - http://northafrica.humanitarianresponse.info/3W.aspx
• A Survey of Survey tool is available on-line. Agencies responding to the crisis have been requested at the field level to provide information on their assessment activity - http://northafrica.humanitarianresponse.info/Reports/AssessmentReports.aspx

 

Twitter feeds with vital links to information

• Latest tweets on the floods aggregated by Google here (constantly updated)
• #libya, #Benghazi, #Tripoli, tags on Twitter 
• #Feb17 tag and February17 account 
• Curated Twitter feed on Libya from Global Voices 
• Curated Twitter updates on Libya from Meedan 
• Standby Volunteer Task Force Twitter feed (SVTF is responsible for Libya Crisis Map initiative)

 

Twitter visualisations (created by mainstream media, content via citizens)

• 
• Twitter network of Arab and Middle East protests - interactive map, from the Guardian. 
•  
• Region in Turmoil, Twitter updates visualisation from Al Jazeera

 

Situation reports from UN OCHA

• OCHA Situation Report, 28 February 2011 
• OCHA Situation Report, 2 March 2011
• OCHA Situation Report 3, 2 March 2011 
• OCHA Situation Report 4, 3 March 2011
• Humanitarian Situation (as of 4 March 2011) from OCHA  
• OCHA Situation Report 5, 4 March 2011 (download infographic here)
• OCHA Situation Report 6, 7 March 2011 (download full report, humanitarian situation update and Who,What,Where database) 
• OCHA Situation Report 7, 8 March 2011
• OCHA Situation Report 8, 8 March 2011
• OCHA Situation Report 9, 10 March 2011
• OCHA Situation Report 10, 10 March 2011 
• OCHA Situation Report 11, 14 March 2011
• OCHA Situation Report 12, 15 March 2011 
• OCHA Situation Report 13, (17 March 2011 - download full report and humanitarian situation update)
• OCHA Situation Report 14 (20 March 2011)
• OCHA Situation Report 15 (22 March 2011)
• OCHA Situation Report 16 (24 March 2011)
• OCHA Situation Report 17 (27 March 2011) 
• OCHA Situation Report 18 (29 March 2011) 
• Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah: Crisis Situation Report No. 20 (4 April 2011) 

 

Situation reports from Emergency Relief Coordinator

• ERC Key Messages on Libya Issue 1, 23 February 2011
• ERC Key Messages on Libya Issue 2, 28 February 2011
• ERC Key Messages on Libya Issue 3, 4 March 2011
• ERC Key Messages on Libya Issue 4, 7 March 2011

 

Situation reports and statements from other sources

• US State Department, 21 February 2011 
• Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Libya
• Amnesty International on Libya 
• International Crisis Group update on Libya, 1 March 2011 
• Crisis Group Statement: “Immediate International Steps Needed to Stop Atrocities in Libya”, 22 February 2011 
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 4
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 5 
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 8
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 9
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 10 
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 11
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 12
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 15
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 16
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 17
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 18
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 19
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 22
• Standby Volunteer Task Force, Situation Report: March 23
• Summary Situation Report: February 27 - March 26 (Final report)

 

Emergency Telecommunications contacts

• Comms charity Télécoms Sans Frontières heads to Libya
• The displaced still in urgent need of means of telecommunications on the Libyan border, TSF 

 

Videos

• Libya Alhurra (seems to be anti-Qadaffi live video from inside Libya, in Arabic. On Al Jazeera, the website is described as a "a live webcam and small TV station trying to let the world know what is going on in Libya".)
• YouTube content
• Google Video content 
• Al Jazeera video clips
• Al Jazeera's Listening Post 'Libya: The propaganda war' 
•  
• BBC video clips
• CNN video clips 
• France24 video clips 

 

Audio / podcasts

• #feb17 audio updates (updated regularly, mostly in Arabic), via AudioBoo

 

News and information (Libyan Govt)

• Libyan Broadcasting Corporation (English version)
• Libyan Broadcasting Corporation (Arab version, for Google Translate version, click here) 

 

Local newspapers in English (upon cursory reading, do not seem to be pro-regime)

• Tripoli Post, stories aggregated on Libya
• Panapress
• Libya - Press Agency News Media English
• Libya daily
• Zawya

 

Arabic language websites 

• Al Jamahiria (English translation here)
• http://www.alfajraljadeed.com/ (A Tripoli newspaper, English translation of cover page here)
• http://www.alshames.com (Seems to be a pro-regime Tripoli Newspaper, English version here)

 

News and information (Mainstream)

• Middle East Protests - Tweets Mapped (constantly updated) 
• Al Jazeera spotlight on Libya
• Al Jazeera English day by day updates (extremely comprehensive coverage of ground situation) 
1. February: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
2. March: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 16
• IRIN news updates on Libya 
• Guardian page on Libya 
• The Lede (New York Times blog) updates on Libya (follow / subscribe via RSS)
• Curated news updates from Global Voices (subscribe to RSS feed here)
• Reuters Alertnet page on Libya (excellent curated source of updates)

 

News and information from war (Mainstream)

• Questions and Answers on Laws-of-War Issues, Human Rights Watch 
• The Lede (New York Times blog) - March 22, 23, 24, 25, 28

 

News and information (Crowdsourced)

• Libya Crisis Map, UN OCHA and Standby Volunteer Task Force (subscribe to RSS feed here)
• Crowd Voice curated news updates on Libya (access / subscribe via RSS here)
• Alive in Libya 
• Live blog of protests in Middle East and North Africa, curated by movements.org
• Conference call with UN OCHA regarding the support of Volunteer Technology Communities (Re: Libya) March 1, 2011 
• Google Real Time search of Twitter updates 

 

News and information (Facebook groups)

• Libyan Youth Movement
• Libya Protest News 

 

Latest news from Google News (automatically updated)

 

Mapping data / Imagery (General)

• Map of the Rebellion in Libya, Day by Day created by New York Times (excellent infographic)
  
• Middle East Protests - Tweets Mapped (constantly updated) 
• Data tables containing several 10,000s of place names in txt-format for each of the North African countries can be freely downloaded from the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (USA). The tables have also been converted into ArcView GIS formats and the files for Morocco,Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt can be downloaded from here. Also available are two ArcView files (download 1 and 2 from here) containing locations of mineral mines, oil- and gas fields and pipelines.
• A compiled Geodatabase and atlas on the borders from available source of information (OSM, GMap, NGA, genomes, field) by ICRC.  
• Libya - Nationwide Data from GeoCommunity 
• University of Texas, Maps on Libya 
• MapAction catalogue on Libya (no information as of 4 March 2011)
• Libya: largest cities and towns and statistics of their population from World Gazetteer (download KML for Google Earth) 
• Libya: Administrative Divisions (population and area) from World Gazetteer 
• MapAction maps on Libya 
• Mapping Violence Against Pro-Democracy Protests in Libya

 

Openstreetmap on Libya

• OSM Libya 
• OSM Tripoli 

 

 

Humanitarian situation maps (OCHA)

• OCHA Humanitarian Situation Updates (7 March) 
• UNHCR Humanitarian Situation in Libya and the Neighbouring Countries (as of 9 March 2011) 
• OCHA Humanitarian Situation update (as of 11 March 2011) 
• OCHA Humanitarian Situation update (as of 13 March 2011) 
• OCHA Humanitarian Situation update (as of 18 March 2011) 
• OCHA Humanitarian Situation update (as of 22 March 2011) 
• OCHA Humanitarian Situation update (as of 23 March 2011) 
• Humanitarian Dashboard Libya - 1 April 2011 
• Who, What, Where by Cluster (10 March 2011, 18 March 2011) 

 

Logistics information

• Logistics planning map from WFP Log Cluster (18 March 2011)
• Country profile of Libya (from WFP LogCluster, constantly updated) 
• Logistics information from WFP Log Cluster

 

• Logistics Capacity Assessment - LCA - LBY (from WFP LogCluster, constantly updated) 
• Libya Online logistics information (unclear who runs site or accuracy of information) 

 

Mapping data / Imagery / Infographics (UN)

• Reliefweb maps on Libya
• WFP Logistics Cluster maps on Libya 
• General Logistics Planning Map (7 March 2011), via WFP (very high resolution PDF, ~1Mb)
• UNOSAT imagery on Libya 

1. 04-Mar-2011 Analysis of the Tunisian Transitional Camp - 8.5 km West of the Ra´s Ajdir Border Crossing Facility
2. 04-Mar-2011 Overview of Emsaed, Libya-Egypt Border Crossing Facility: 26 February 2011
3. 03-Mar-2011 Current Situation at Ra´s Ajdir, Libya-Tunisia Border Crossing Facility (3 March 2011)
4. 02-Mar-2011 Tripoli poster size satellite reference map
5. 01-Mar-2011 Map Atlas for Tripoli city, Libya
6. 28-Feb-2011 Benghazi poster size satellite reference map
7. 25-Feb-2011 Map Atlas for Benghazi city, Libya 

 

• Common Operational Datasets for North Africa | UNITAR-UNOSAT
• Critical Infrastructure (11 Mar 2011) 

 

Mapping data / imagery (Google)

• Google has published imagery from GeoEye, acquired February 24 & 25 February, over Tripoli and Sabha. You can access the KMLs here: 
1. http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/libya/other/geoeye/tripoli_2011-02-24_scene2/tripoli_2011-02-24_scene2.kml 
2. http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/libya/other/geoeye/tripoli_2011-02-24_scene1v3/tripoli_2011-02-24_scene1v3.kml  
3. http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/libya/other/geoeye/Sabha_2011-02-25/Sabha_2011-02-25.kml  
4. Updated Map Maker data for Libya is available for download at http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=156852 
5. And below is the full list of imagery (kmls) that we have published over Libya --  Wazin, Ras Ajdir, Ghudamis, Surt, Al-khums, Misrata, Sabha, Benghazi, and Tripoli.  
6. Wazin (March 3, 2011), http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/libya/other/geoeye/Wazin_border_2011-03-03/Wazin_border_2011-03-03.kml 
7. Ras Ajdir (March 3, 2011), http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/libya/other/geoeye/Ras_Ajdir_border_2011-03-03/Ras_Ajdir_border_2011-03-03.kml
8.  Ghudamis (March 3, 2011), http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/libya/other/geoeye/Ghudamis_border_2011-03-03/Ghudamis_border_2011-03-03.kml 
9. Surt, http://goo.gl/5iskb  (March 2, 2011), http://goo.gl/ZIChb  (March 2, 2011)
10. Al-khums (March 1, 2011), http://goo.gl/cECST 
11. Misrata (March 1, 2011), http://goo.gl/BAWS6, http://goo.gl/NsGo3 
12. Sabha (February 25, 2011), http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/libya/other/geoeye/Sabha_2011-02-25/Sabha_2011-02-25.kml 
13. Tripoli  (February 24, 2011), http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/libya/other/geoeye/tripoli_2011-02-24_scene2/tripoli_2011-02-24_scene2.kml 
14. http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/libya/other/geoeye/tripoli_2011-02-24_scene1v3/tripoli_2011-02-24_scene1v3.kml 
15. Benghazi  (February 23, 2011), http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/benghazi_scene_one/libya/ikonos/benghazi_scene_one_2011-02-23/benghazi_scene_one_2011-02-23.kml 
16. http://mw1.google.com/crisisresponse/2011/benghazi_scene_two/libya/ikonos/benghazi_scene_two_2011-02-23/benghazi_scene_two_2011-02-23.kml
• Libyan Arab Jamahiriya: Google Map Maker Data Download (1 March 2011)

 

Photos

• a7fadhomar's photostream, via Flickr
• Other images on Libya uprising from Flickr 

 

How to help

• OCHA Guide to humanitarian giving
• 5 Ways To Help Libyan Refugees, Huffington Post 
• The DOs and DON’Ts of Disaster Donations 

 

Other Crisis Information wikis and research by ICT4Peace Foundation

• Pakistan Floods 
• Crisis in Kyrgyzstan 2010
• Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill - April 2010
• Haiti earthquake 2010
• Haiti and Beyond: Getting it Right in Crisis Information Management
• Chile earthquake 2010
• Cyclone Nargis: Lessons and implications for ICTs in Humanitarian Aid
• Cyclone Nargis: Lessons and implications for ICTs in Humanitarian Aid
 (Update to original report)
• 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami