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Do they belong to the official coast guard, or do they just look like they do? Are they bringing refugees back to Libya in order to save them, or are they just planning to squeeze every last penny out of them? It can be difficult in Libya to distinguish between official and self-proclaimed maritime rescuers, to understand the links between the different groups and their respective motives.

No, his people are part of the official Libyan coast guard, a militia leader from the city of Az-Zawiyah, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) outside the capital, tells a reporter from the US newspaper Washington Post. Six years ago he had fought against then-dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Afterward, he and his men took over as the coast guard - though whether they're state-sanctioned or operating on their own goes unanswered by the Post reporter. In any case, the boat operated by the militia chief and his tribesmen is inscribed with the words "Libyan Coast Guard."

The refugees they pick up are handed over to other tribesmen, who take them to a specially built detention center. The militia leader says his men are not involved in what goes on at the detention center. And yes, there are patrols that charge refugee boats a fine in order to be allowed to pass. But those men do not belong to the coast guard - they are smugglers who wear similar clothing. That is why the international aid agencies think the coast guard is trafficking in humans, he tells the Post reporter.

Refugees picked up by Libyan boats are often taken to specially built detention centers

Desperate times

So who belongs to the country's coast guard? The situation on the Libyan coast is difficult, according to Gnter Meyer, head of the Center for Research on the Arab World at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz.

The Libyan coast guard has around 1,000 civil servants, all of whom are relatively badly paid. Converted, their wages come out to around 500 euros ($590) a month, though often they go months without getting paid. On the other hand, smugglers earn a considerable amount of money. Larger boats can earn up to 1 million euros per trip. "Parts of the coast guard are also involved in this situation," Meyer told DW.

The problem is exacerbated by the Western-backed unity government's lack of real power - it is reliant on the support of different militias. "That is why the people on the ships belonging to the Libyan coast guard are also associated with the most important militias," Meyer explained.

No standards for rule of law

The detention centers where refugees are housed are also lacking standards for rule of law. Journalists and human rights organizations have reported on serious human rights abuses taking place in the camps. The conditions are often poor, and people frequently go malnourished. Refugees are beaten and extorted, and women are sometimes raped and sold as sex slaves.

"It is therefore a highly criminal business that goes on there," Meyer said. "Estimates range from one to one-and-a-half billion euros per year." Meanwhile, human trafficking remains one of the most important industries in Libya, especially in the south of the country, he added. Up to 90 percent of the total income generated in that region has been from smuggling.

Reducing the number of refugees

Despite these circumstances, the EU is planning to close the Mediterranean route in order to reduce the number of refugees. According to a press release published in July, the EU wants to support and expand the coast guard. To this end, Brussels has already allocated some 90 million euros. Now, another 46 million euros are to be invested. "It is important to ensure that human rights are respected," the statement said.

According to Gnter Meyer, it's doubtful whether this will help improve human rights standards. "In general around 500 members of the coast guard are to be trained, but if they know that they're entering the migrant-smuggling business and planning to pursue their own interests, this training could prove to be problematic," he said.

EU or smugglers?

The Libyan government is weak, and the majority of the country's population lives in poverty. As long as these two factors don't change, the coast guard is likely to be a desirable place to work, Meyer said. The same applies to the southern part of the country, where people from sub-Saharan Africa enter cross the border. There, too, migration can hardly be prevented because of the generous income it produces.

Many of the migrants seeking a new life on the other side of the Mediterranean are coming from this part of the country. As long as they continue to travel toward the coast, many Libyans will face a difficult choice: work with the EU, or join the smugglers who are reaping the profits.

See more here:
Libya's maritime rescuers caught between duty and temptation - Deutsche Welle

Libya, 10 August 2017- The Government of Libya has signed a USD 3.5 million agreement with FAO to strengthen its technical and functional national capacities in agriculture. The project aims to build capacities and to ensure more efficient and effective governmental agricultural support services to achieve greater synergies and impacts.

After hydrocarbons, agriculture is the second most important sector in Libyas economy. However, the socio-economic and environmental settings in which the agricultural sector operates present a number of challenges, such as low productivity and climate conditions, characterized by little and fluctuating rainfall, limited water resources and poor irrigation systems.

Libya has recognized the fundamental role of improved agricultural innovation systems in order to achieve agricultural sustainability, improve food security and livelihoods and economic development. In this context, we, the Government of Libya, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, have requested technical assistance from our trusted partner FAO, said H.E. Mahmoud El-Tilisi, Permanent Representative of Libya to FAO.

Since 2006, the Government of Libya and FAO signed a number of agreements for technical cooperation. However, due to the country`s difficult security situation, the projects signed under a 5 year framework agreement (2012-2017) could not be implemented. As a consequence, the latest framework agreement has been extended from 2017 to 2022.

This capacity development project will critically contribute to upgrading the skills and the capacities of the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture in a wide range of technical areas, following a long period of instability. In the short term, it will contribute to strengthening the capacities of the Ministry in dealing with the immediate challenges to agriculture and livestock production. As well, the cadre of the Ministry will be provided with the tools and capabilities to prepare for the recovery of the agricultural sector, added Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative of FAO Regional Office for the Near East.

FAO has been continuously active in building partnerships, networking, training and capacity development in the field of agricultural innovation. As capacity development is at the core of FAO's mandate, these comparative advantages position the organization well to implement this project and to achieve sustainable results with impact.

This is an innovative project that will not only strengthen Libyas national capacities but also capacity development programmes in regional institutions. The project will support the priority issues facing Libya in food security both now and in the future, said Sally Berman, FAO Capacity Development Officer.

The project is an entry point for strategic partnerships between FAO Libya and academia and research institutions in the country. It will generate significant and relevant knowledge to assist the Libyan Government through the training of more than 300 technicians and experts of the Ministry of Agriculture who would address the challenges faced in achieving food and nutrition security, said Mohammed Al-Ansi, OiC, FAO Libya.

The project contributes towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as it links to SDGs 1 and 2, to end poverty and hunger, as well as to other SDGs, such as SDG 6, which covers water sanitation, and SDGs 12 to 15, which deal with responsible consumption, climate action, life below water and life on land.

Read more here:
FAO partners with Libya to boost the country's national capacities in the agricultural sector - Reliefweb

A Libyan coast guardsman during the rescue of 147 illegal immigrants attempting to reach Europe in June. Photograph: Taha Jawashi/AFP/Getty Images

The Italian government has hailed a fall of more than 50% in the number of migrants from Libya reaching its coastline in July as a potential turning point made possible by tougher actions against smugglers operating in the Mediterranean.

The number of migrants reaching Italy fell to 11,459 in July from 23,524 in June and 23,522 in July last year. Over the past few years the summer months have been the peak period for traffickers in the Mediterranean.

The fall in numbers making the crossing is likely to be the result of a more aggressive turnaround policy by the Libyan navy and coastguard, backed by improved boats and equipment funded by the European Union and Italian-led training. In the past few days, the Libyan coastguard has fired warning shots at one NGO ship seeking to rescue migrants. At a press conference on Thursday the Libyan navy underlined the message by telling foreign ships to stay outside Libyas search and rescue zone.

Italy, including its coalition government, is deeply divided over its response to the migrant crisis, but ministers are desperate for any sign that it is is managing to bring numbers under control as it faces attack from populist and centrist parties.

Matteo Renzi, who is likely to be the Democratic party leader in elections expected next year, welcomed the July and early August fall as significant.

However, even if the July fall is maintained through August, about 140,000 migrants are projected to reach Italy this year.

The Italian governments efforts to drive the figures down are under political attack both domestically and in Libya.

At home, the Italian government is pressing NGOs that are operating rescue ships to sign up to a 13-point code of conduct or else finds their ships barred from landing in Italian ports. So far four NGOs have agreed, with four refusing on the grounds it requires them to allow the Italian military to accompany their rescue missions, something they say is in breach of humanitarian principles.

A vociferous political campaign has claimed the NGOs are not humanitarians, but working in tandem with the smugglers to act as a taxi service for African economic migrants that want to start a more prosperous life in Europe. The allegations have not been proven, and each of the NGOs has rescued tens of thousands of migrants from drowning.

The Italian transport minister, Graziano Delrio, who is responsible for the coastguard, has privately sided with some of the NGOs, saying that while he is not opposed to the code, if there is an NGO vessel close to people who need to be rescued, I cant exclude it. He argues that even if an NGO has not signed the code, the coastguard had to cooperate if human lives were at stake, pointing out this is anyway a requirement of international humanitarian law. So far four NGOs have signed code - the Spanish NGO ProActiva, Save the Children, Moas and Sea-Eye. NGOs that have not signed include Sea-Watch, and Medicines Sans Frontiers.

But Loris De Filippi, the president of Mdecins Sans Frontires Italy which has not signed the code, claimed the Italian government was seeking to criminalise the NGOs. He said the vast majority of its rescues took place 30 miles or so off the Libyan coast and follow requests from the Italian coastguard.

In Libya, the UN-backed government of Fayez al-Sarraj is under attack for agreeing to allow Italian military ships help the Libyan coastguard combat smugglers inside Libyan coastal waters. The rival Libyan administration based in Tobruk claims the agreement violates Libyas sovereignty and the Italian flag has been burned in Benghazi in protest. The scale of the protests has forced Rome to reduce the number of ships it sends. As the former colonial power, any perceived Italian interference in Libya is highly sensitive.

The commander of the eastern forces in Libya, Khalifa Haftar, has ordered his air force and naval force troops to bomb any foreign vessels in the Libyan waters but the Libyan navy seems prepared to defy the threats and cooperate with the Italian navy.

Italys defence ministry said the plan has UN backing and its ships are merely providing logistical, technical and operational support for Libyan naval vessels, helping them and supporting them in shared and coordinated actions.

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Number of migrants arriving in Italy from Libya falls by half in July - The Guardian

A batch of 128 Nigerians deported from Libya arrived in Lagos on Thursday aboard a chartered Airbus A320 Afriqiyah aircraft with registration number 5A-ONA

ThE aircraft landed at 5.35p.m at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

The deportees, comprising 126 male, two female, were flown back into the waiting hands of officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police.

Also on ground were officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

The two females and four male deportees had medical cases.

The Director General, NEMA, Alhaji Mustapha Maihaja, represented by Mr Suleiman Yakubu, Zonal Coordinator, South West, NEMA, used to occasion to counsel Nigerians not to be deceived by phantom promises in their quest for pastures.

He said that one of those who returned had sustained bullet injuries all over his body had been stretchered into a NEMA ambulance.

Maihaja said the victim would be taken to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for proper medical attention.

He advised Nigerians to stay back and contribute their quota to the socio-economic development of the country.

There are a lot of things you can do in Nigeria here. You dont have to travel outside the country in search of greener pastures.

My advice to parents is to keep tab on their children and to ensure that they know where their children are going and not to be deceived by phantom promises, he said.

Maihaja said NEMA and some state governments had put various schemes in place to help rehabilitate and reintegrate returnees into the society.

The Director-General, National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Mrs. Julie Okah-Donli, had on Wednesday said that 540 Nigerians were set for deportation from Libya, beginning from Aug. 10.

She had said that the deportees would be brought back to Nigeria in three batches.

Thousands of Nigerians have been flown back from Libya, with some voluntarily returning with the help of the International Organisation for Migration.

Continued here:
128 Nigerian deportees arrive from Libya - Vanguard

The High Council for Reconciliation called on State officials and the UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salameh to work on lifting the siege on the people of Derna to ensure that all important supplies are accessible by the people of the city. The Council considered in its statement on Wednesday that responding to the distress call in Derna is an obligation that cannot be delayed by all Libyan citizens and by all humanitarian and moral values.

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The Tripoli Municipal Guard and the Municipal Security Coordination Office launched a campaign to reveal the state of health licensing procedures for cafs and restaurants operating on the Corniche area of Tripoli. The teams identified several violations resulting in several shops being closed, and some unauthorized kiosks being removed.

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The Libyan army celebrated the seventy-seventh anniversary of its founding on Wednesday. The speakers stressed the importance of rebuilding the military institution and activating its role and unification on all Libyan soil. The Deputy of the Minister of Defense stressed that the members of the Libyan army have a fraternal relationship, and that the military should be kept far from the political turmoil affecting the country, as he put it.

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The Fuel and Gas Crisis Committee assured Tripoli residents of the availability of 68 million liters of fuel at the Berea Oil and Marketing storage tanks. The committee also called on citizens to ignore the rumors of fabricating a fuel crisis in the capital, noting that there is no need to cause long queues at gas stations.

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The Minister of Health of the UN proposed government Omar Tahir held discussions with the chairman and members of the Advisory Committee for Treatment on the best ways to deal with cases involving treatment that requires travel abroad. The Ministry of Health through their official Facebook account said that the Minister discussed with the Committee on ways of how to authenticate that there is no treatment locally and which cases that called for travel for treatment outside Libya.

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The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that the total number of rescued illegal immigrants off the coast of Libya in 2017 amounted to 12,420 immigrants. The organization said on its Facebook account that the total amount rescued in Libyan territorial waters within just two weeks was 1298 immigrants.

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Gunmen loyal to Khalifa Hefter fired at residents of the city of Derna as they gathered on the road leading to Martouba, east of the city to enter for refueling and shopping for necessities following the announcement of the opening of the eastern road. Witnesses said that dozens of cars had parked for hours in front of what is known as the Anti Terror Branch of Hefter's army preventing citizens from entering the area. The forces of Hefter announced on Tuesday that the eastern road known as the Martouba road was open to citizens, after the closure of all land crossings 8 days ago. Civil society organizations in the city of Derna described this announcement by media as fraudulent and that the citizens of Derna are still suffering.

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The Customs of the International Airport of Matiga thwarted an attempt to smuggle ammunition for 9 mm firearms hidden inside boxes of clothing coming from Turkey through a local freight company on Wednesday. The Special Deterrent Force in Tripoli stated that customs officials at the airport inspected the goods at the electronic scanners and found an estimated 1000 pistol magazines. All those involved are under investigation in this case for bringing this shipment.

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The head of the European Union mission to Libya Bettina muscheidt said during a meeting with the government's foreign minister, Mohamed Sayala, on Wednesday that she has noticed an improvement in the level of security and stability in the areas she visited in the capital Tripoli and Janzour. The European envoy confirmed that the next period will see the resumption of work in a number of projects in the framework of bilateral cooperation between Libya and the European Union including the holding of more workshops that highlight a number of cooperation projects in the fields of banking, information and development.

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News Roundup - Thu, Aug 10, 2017 - The Libya Observer