Libya : The return of flights to Italy after a 10-year interruption

On Saturday, the Libyan Government of National Unity announced in a statement the first official flights to Italy after an interruption of about 10 years. The Libyan government statement stated that “on July 24, the Italian airline ITA operated a test flight from Rome to the capital, Tripoli.”

The Libyan National Unity Government announced, on Saturday, the first official flights from Mitiga Airport in the capital, Tripoli, to Rome, Italy, after an interruption of about 10 years due to the European ban imposed on Libyan aviation.

This came according to what the National Unity Government announced in a statement published on the official “Our Government” platform, in which it said: “The first flights to the Italian capital, Rome, departed from Mitiga Airport in Tripoli this morning (Saturday) after a 10-year interruption.”

In 2014, the European Commission imposed a ban on the passage of aircraft belonging to Libyan airlines over the airspace of European Union member states for reasons related to safety controls in the country, which witnesses security tensions from time to time.

The Libyan government statement stated that "on July 24, the Italian airline ITA conducted a test flight from Rome to the capital, Tripoli."

On board that flight, according to the statement, was "Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Al-Dabaiba, who announced at the time the return of direct flights to Italy this September as part of intensive government efforts to lift the European ban imposed on Libyan civil aviation."

While the statement did not mention the identity of the Libyan airline leaving for Rome, the Libyan Mediterranean Sky Airlines (private) company confirmed that it operated that flight.

The company said in a statement: “At this moment, Mediterranean Airlines flight MT522 has landed at Rome Fiumicino Airport, coming from Mitiga Airport, after flights between Tripoli and Rome stopped for about 10 years, knowing that the flight duration is about one hour and 35 minutes.”

On July 9, Al-Dabaiba confirmed that the Italian government informed him of its decision to lift its air embargo imposed on Libyan civil aviation, through a post on the “X” platform in which he said that “flights will resume in September 2023.”

On March 1, the Libyan unity government announced the beginning of work on developing a plan to lift the air embargo imposed on Libyan air transport companies in European airspace that has been ongoing for years.

In a statement by the Libyan government at the time, the plan began with coordination with Italy to resume flights between the two countries and move to the final lifting stage and allow aircraft registered in Libya to cross the airspace and land at European airports.

In a related context, the unity government published on its Facebook page a statement about the signing of a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of civil aviation between the Libyan Civil Aviation Authority and the Italian civil aviation authorities, under the auspices of the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transportation for Air Transport Affairs.

The memorandum of understanding aims to develop cooperation in the field of civil aviation and air transport and to facilitate and encourage air transport companies between the two countries to operate charter and regular flights. The two sides also agreed to sign a new air transport agreement between the two countries at a later time.

Algeria expands the scope of learning the English language “with the decline of France’s influence”

London - The Associated Press published a report entitled “Algeria expands the scope of learning the English language as France’s influence declines,” in which it said that more than a year after Algeria launched a pilot program to teach English in primary schools, the country praises the program as a success and is expanding it in a move that reflects... The increasing linguistic shift underway in former French colonies across Africa.

According to the report, students returning to third- and fourth-grade classrooms this fall will participate in two 45-minute English language classes each week as the country creates new teacher training programs at universities and looks forward to more transformative changes in the coming years. In addition, the country is strengthening pre-existing law enforcement against private schools that operate primarily in French .

“Teaching the English language is a strategic choice in the country’s new education policy,” Education Minister Abdelkarim Belabed said last week, praising this step as a tremendous success.

The number of French speakers in Algeria exceeds the number of French speakers in all countries except France itself and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is spoken by approximately 15 million of the country's 44 million people

As the report points out, English is the most widely spoken language in the world, represents the majority of content on the Internet and remains a lingua franca in business and science. As France's economic and political influence across Africa declines, Algeria is among a longer list of countries that are gradually shifting toward English as a major foreign language.

The report notes that the number of French speakers in Algeria exceeds the number of French speakers in all countries except France itself and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is spoken by approximately 15 million of the country's 44 million people, according to the International French Language Organization. Its officials consider English language lessons a practical rather than a political transformation, pointing to the importance of the language in the scientific and technical fields.

But, as the report notes, questions about the status of the French language in Algerian society have long been polarized, as teachers and former education policy officials acknowledge. Retired high school principal Mohamed Arezki Ferdi is quoted as saying that Algeria should have started switching to the English language decades ago.The report notes that the current initiative was launched by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who took power in 2019. Previous leaders also tried to expand the scope of the English language but failed to overcome the French-educated elites who have long controlled power in the country.

“We lost a lot of time,” Ferdi said. “We should have introduced English in primary schools when President (Abdelaziz) Bouteflika introduced his reforms after coming to power in 1999. But at that time, French-speaking lobbies in Algeria had great decision-making power in institutions.”

The report notes that the expansion of learning the English language comes with escalating tensions between France and Algeria, and that the two countries share security interests regarding the political turmoil shaping contemporary West Africa. However, in recent years, the two countries have repeatedly disagreed over immigration, extradition and how each country commemorates colonialism and the brutal war that led to Algeria's independence in 1962.

According to the report, Algeria plans to expand its current program to fifth grade next year. She will continue to teach students in French for three hours each week in primary schools.

When learning English began last year, Algerian officials affirmed their commitment to the French language and said they would continue to teach it on a large scale. But in his remarks this week at the start of the school year, Kamal Badari, Algeria's minister of higher education, said the expansion of the program aims to enable primary school students to take technical courses later in English - not French.

The expansion of learning the English language comes with escalating tensions between France and Algeria. Some are concerned about how Algeria will implement such a shift and declare victory early.

On the other hand, the report confirms that although few question the importance of the English language, some are concerned about how Algeria will implement such a shift and are wary of declaring victory too early. Ahmed Tissa, a former advisor to the Algerian Ministry of Education, believes that making students proficient in English can only happen gradually and will likely require more than simply adding classes.

“We need to go back to basics,” he added. “This is no small task.”

The report concludes that no matter how quickly schools shift to English, signs of a pushback against French are evident elsewhere.

It is noteworthy that the Algerian authorities have slowly replaced the French language with English in the official designations of various government ministries. On his trip last year to Algiers, French President Emmanuel Macron asked the country to submit remarks from the podium indicating its address and date in English and Arabic, one of the two official languages in Algeria alongside the original Amazigh.