Al-Qalam 
Mandla Mandela lifts the spirits of Samud Land Convoy participants, including SA delegates Fatima Hendricks, Muhammad Bulbulia and Jessica Mary Breakey pictured.
Mandla Mandela flies to Libya to motivate participants of the Samud Land Convoy heading to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid. Ismail Suder reports.
Two South Africans travelling with the Samud Land Convoy currently in Western Libya have spoken out about being blocked by East Libyan authorities from continuing their humanitarian aid caravan to Gaza – but they say they are not deterred.
The convoy departed from the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, passing through the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria and the Republic of Tunisia, then through western Libyan territories, with participation of more than 20 trucks, ambulances, and mobile accommodation units, and more than 230 participants from 44 countries, including doctors, engineers, educators, lawyers, media professionals, and humanitarian volunteers.
But when the convoy neared the border of the breakaway region of Sirte in Eastern Libya, the military informed them they would not be allowed to enter its territory.
When Pro-Palestinian heavyweight Mandla Mandela learnt that the “Samud Land Convoy” had been blocked, he boarded a flight to Libya to meet the activists who were encamped at the coastal city of Zliten.
Al-Qalam interviewed two of the three South Africans in the convoy, Muhammad Bulbulia and Jessica Mary Breakey, who both said that despite the hot desert windstorms, dwindling food and rationed water, their discomfort was nothing compared to what the people of Gaza were enduring. The third South African participant in the convoy is firebrand human rights activist Fatima Hendricks, whose brother Qulb Hendricks – a participant in the latest Global Samud Flotilla – is currently being held by Israel. The others detained are Faizel Moosa, Hajat Kagiso Al Tha’irah Ahjum Mathee, Mogamed Faeek Ariefdien, Ebrahim Peters and Yusuf Rahman.
The Samud Land Convoy (SLC) is aligned with the Global Samud Flotilla (GSF).
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation condemned Israel for the illegal arrest of the activists, adding it was negotiating for the release of the SA abductees.
Back at the east-west Libyan buffer zone, the executives of the land convoy delivered a letter to warlord Khalifa Haftar’s regime with a plea to allow the convoy safe passage towards Egypt.
The letter read: “We hereby inform Your Excellency that the convoy, subject of this request, is a specialised international humanitarian relief convoy, part of the initiatives of the “Global Sumud Flotilla,” one of the most prominent international civilian humanitarian initiatives, with participation from actors from more than 44 countries worldwide.”
They asked the regime to facilitate safe passage through the territory under its control, including the cities of Sirte and Benghazi, right up to El Salloum, the primary harbour town and official land border crossing between Libya and northwestern Egypt.
The letter continued: “The Sumud Convoy is proceeding transparently and publicly and is under international observation. There is no legal or factual basis for interfering with its movement.
“Accordingly, we request a response regarding safe passage arrangements and approval within 24 hours of receipt of this letter.”
“Failure to provide confirmation or to guarantee safe passage within this timeframe will be interpreted as a refusal to ensure the safety of a peaceful civilian convoy, despite prior notice and an opportunity for coordination.” They are awaiting a response.
Meanwhile, Johannesburg academic and activist Jessica Mary Breakey told Al-Qalam that participants are from North Africa, but there are large contingents from Indonesia and Turkey.
“Part of the delegation are specialised humanitarian workers and we want access through Rafah into Gaza,” she said..
“Enroute, we stayed at a coastal town called Zliten, where we were warmly welcomed by the community – and by officials of the local mosque. They offered us accommodation and food and it was really, really beautiful with such a spirit of solidarity. That was when Mandla Mandela came briefly to join us. He flew all the way here to offer his support and solidarity, which lifted our spirits”, she added.
Mandela reminded the activists that Libyans “supported us during our darkest days in the struggle for liberation in South Africa.”
He added: “I am here today when we commemorate the Nakba “Catastrophe” to say we remain united as Africans speaking with one voice in support of the Palestinians in Gaza and Occupied Territories.:
“Our mission will not stop until every Palestinian in the diaspora has been given the right of return to the land of their forefathers. We will continue to mobilise the entire global community until we realise a free Palestine from the river to the sea. Libre Palestina, Aluta continua.”
