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Tripoli - The former prime minister of Libya, Ali Zeidan, was kidnapped by gunmen from a hotel in the capital Tripoli on Sunday.

This was the second time that Zeidan was kidnapped from a hotel after he was forced out of Tripolis Corinthia Hotel at gunpoint in October 2013.

Members of Haytham Tajouris Tripoli Revolutionary Brigard (TRB) were alleged to be behind Zeidans latest kidnapping from the Victoria Hotel in Khaled Ben Waled Street, off Omar Mukhtar Street, the Libyan Herald reported.

There are unconfirmed reports that the TRB was executing a warrant issued by the attorney general Sadiq Al-Sour. There has as yet been no reaction from the Presidency Council (PC).

Zeidan left for Germany in March 2014 after he was fired by the-then Parliament, the General National Congress (GNC).

The former PM returned to Libya on several occasions, during one of which visits he claimed he was still prime minister. He returned again this year and told the media he had visited a number of towns and cities including Tobruk, Beida, Benghazi, Zintan, Sebha and Jufra.

After a visit to Sebha in July, reports filtered through that while on a visit to the town he had called for the division of Libya, claims that he strongly denied.

During his abduction in 2013 Zeidan was held for a few hours before being released. The previous abduction was blamed on two GNC members for Zawia, Mustafa Treiki and Mohamed Al-Kilani. In 2014 Kilani was killed in fighting with Warshefana forces. Kidnappings of politicians and citizens alike continue to plague Libya. In June the United Nations reported numerous cases of kidnappings, arbitrary detention, torture, sexual assault, mass killings and summary executions in all areas of Libya by several groups with and without official mandates. The assessment came in the UN Libyan Experts Panel final report presented to the Security Council. The 299-page report said that the (UN Libya Experts) Panel continues to receive frequent reports of serious human rights violations. The absence of the rule of law and institutional control over armed groups, some of which continue to operate under official mandates, have led to a deterioration of the human rights situation in Libya.

Detention conditions continue to be inhumane throughout Libya, and formal and informal detention centres are under the control of armed groups.

Arrests and detentions by armed groups do not respect due process. The Panel received numerous reports of kidnappings and arbitrary detentions used by armed groups for political or material benefit. Politicians, activists, bank employees and journalists are frequent targets, added the report.

African News Agency

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Former Libyan PM kidnapped in Tripoli - Independent Online

Commander of Dignity Operation, renegade General Khalifa Haftar, said on Monday his army would continue fighting against terrorists until it takes full control of the entire country.

During his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Haftar claimed that 90% of the countrys territoryis under his control, asking Russia to provide military assistance to his forces.

We are determined to continue our struggle until the army takes full control of the Libyan territory. He said.

He also accused head of Presidential Council Fayez Sirraj of violating Paris agreement.

Dignity Operation militants do not differentiate between the real terrorists and the political opponents, regarding them as two sides of the same coin.

For his part, Russia's top diplomat said all mediation efforts to end Libyas conflict should be based on the United Nations, adding that his country supports the political settlement and full-scale restoration of the statehood of Libya.

Khalifa Haftar arrived in Moscow on Saturday.

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Eastern General vows to continue fighting to liberate Libya - The Libya Observer

Reuters

By Jessica Resnick-Ault

NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Oil prices tumbled more than 2.5 percent on Monday in volatile trade, as dollar strength and weak domestic demand data in China hammered prices that had received a short-lived boost on concerns about potential reductions in crude supply from Libya.

Global benchmark Brent crude futures settled down $1.37 or 2.63 percent at $50.73.

"It is a strong dollar, concern about China demand, and weak volumes," said Phil Flynn, an analyst with Price Futures Group in Chicago.

The dollar rose broadly as traders unwound bearish bets against the U.S. currency that have come in the wake of increasing tensions with North Korea and underwhelming inflation data.

The absence of further abrasive rhetoric by U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over the weekend helped bring investors back to the dollar, analysts said.

Oil prices fell on news that refinery runs in China dropped in July.

Analysts said the drop was steeper than expected, exacerbating concerns that a glut of refined fuel products could weaken Chinese demand for oil.

Efforts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other oil producers to limit output have helped lift Brent past $50 a barrel. Still, analysts and traders worry that U.S. output could undermine efforts to cut production.

U.S. shale output is expected to rise again in September, according to U.S. data issued late in the session. U.S. shale oil production for September which includes a new regional data input, is forecast to rise by 117,000 barrels per day to 6.15 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.

Trade was volatile, with prices falling early on the Chinese demand data, then retracing losses after Libya's national oil corporation said it was investigating security violations at the country's largest oil field. A disruption from the 270,000 bpd Sharara field could cut supplies from producer group OPEC. The NOC did not specify whether the violations had affected output at the field.

Rising production in Libya has added to the global crude glut. The OPEC member country is exempt from the global deal to cut output and has been trying to regain pre-war production levels.

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Oil prices fall 2 pct on oversupply upstages Libya concerns - Nasdaq

African refugees wait aboard the Golfo Azurro, the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms rescue ship, to disembark at the Italian port of Reggio Calabria, on Feb. 25, 2017. Santi Palacios / AP

Immigration is dominating Italy's political agenda before elections early next year, with public opinion increasingly hostile to migrants. Almost 600,000 migrants have arrived in Italy over the past four years.

Most sailed from lawless Libya in flimsy vessels operated by people smugglers. More than 13,000 migrants have died trying to make the crossing.

Ships manned by charities have played a growing role in rescues, picking up more than a third of all migrants brought ashore so far this year, compared with less than one percent in 2014.

Aid groups and some Italian politicians warn that migrants intercepted by the Libyan coast guard are taken back to inhuman conditions in detention camps on the Libyan mainland.

However, prosecutors in Sicily have opened investigations against some NGOs, which they suspect of collaborating with people smugglers, and Rome has proposed a Code of Conduct setting stricter rules on how the groups can operate.

Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said in a newspaper interview on Sunday that Libya's growing role in controlling its waters was curbing people trafficking and producing a welcome "readjustment" in the Mediterranean.

MSF's decision to halt its rescue operations was part of this positive process, he told the newspaper La Stampa.

Save the Children said its rescue ship, the Vos Hestia, would dock in Malta until it received assurances about the intentions of the Libyan authorities.

Libya was trying to increase the range of the waters its ships controlled from 12 nautical miles around its coast to 70 nautical miles, the humanitarian organisation said.

"The necessary pause in operations from charity rescue ships likes ours and others will undoubtedly put lives at risk," its operations director, Rob MacGillivray, warned.

Libyan coastguard officials have previously said they have rights over operations dozens of miles beyond the territorial limit of 12 nautical miles, without clearly detailing the claims to such rights or how they could be enforced.

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Aid Groups Suspend Migrant Rescues Over Libyan Threats - NBCNews.com

Despite continuing efforts of the Federal Government to evacuate stranded Nigerians from Libya, efforts which have been on since 2016 with over 2000 Nigerians assisted back home, more Nigerians still throng the North African country, Daily Trust can report.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), a United Nations humanitarian agency, has been collaborating with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other agencies of government to return Nigerians back home.

From 2006 till date, no fewer than 42 trips have been carried out to bring back the stranded thousands of Nigerians, with virtually all of them recounting horrible experiences in Libyan detention facilities.

Most of them spent months and years in detention before help came to them while some died in the process, according to accounts narrated by the returnees.

The latest set of Nigerians evacuated from Libya arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) cargo terminal on Thursday with 128 making the trip. Six of them had medical cases with one having three gunshot wounds and was brought out from the airplane with a stretcher.

But the horrible tales have not helped to dissuade people from embarking on the trip.

An IOM official who spoke with our correspondent, said, More people are still going to Libya from Nigeria. They embark on the dangerous trip through the desert hoping to cross the Mediterranean Sea to proceed to Europe. I dont know what they are doing in Libya because the country is battling with its internal security challenges. There are these militia groups involved in organized crimes against undocumented immigrants. And Libya at the moment is facing disintegration threat. When you say you are going there for greener pastures, can you achieve anything meaningful in that direction?

But a retired Assistant Controller General of Immigration, Alhaji AbdulMumeen Abdulmalik who spoke to our correspondent said Nigerians would continue to leave the country unless the government tackled the economic recession and lack of jobs.

People go outside the country to seek economic opportunities that are lacking here, Abdulmalik said.

The Zonal Coordinator of NEMA in the South West, Alhaji Sulaiman Yakubu who received the latest returnees on behalf of the Director General, Engr. Mustapha Maihaja, said the agency had stepped up enlightenment campaign on the risk of travelling to Libya.

We are also telling the youths that the Federal Government has put in place a lot of initiatives to empower the youths. We have the YouWin programme, we have the N-Power programme and others, Yakubu said.

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Despite massive repatriation, Nigerians still troop to Libya - Daily Trust