Archive for the ‘Libya’ Category

More than 1000 migrants sent back to Libya – NEWS.com.au

The Libyan coastguard recovered more than 1000 migrants floating in wooden and rubber boats in the Mediterranean Sea over the past few days and returned them to the Libyan coast.

Since Friday, 1124 people have been saved, the International Organization for Migration said on Monday.

The Italian government decided in July to launch a naval mission providing technical and logistical support to the Libyan coastguard, a move seen as a potential game changer in Europe's quest to stop sea migration from North Africa.

In the latest rescue mission, 155 people, including 18 women and 10 children, were rescued on Monday morning near the capital city of Tripoli.

The migrants came from several countries, including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Sudan as well as sub-Saharan Africa and Syria, according to Italian media reports.

Libya has been in disarray since the NATO-backed ouster of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Lawlessness in the former Italian colony has been a major factor in fuelling the migrant trafficking trade.

Around 114,000 migrants have landed in southern Europe since the start of the year, and about 82 per cent ended up in Italy, according to data from the IOM last month. Nearly all of them set sail from Libya.

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More than 1000 migrants sent back to Libya - NEWS.com.au

East Libyan city suffers as military forces tighten siege – Reuters

BENGHAZI, Libya/TUNIS (Reuters) - Residents of Derna in east Libya say they are facing critical shortages after Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) tightened its longstanding siege around the city last week.

Haftar's eastern-based LNA, one of a number of factions that have vied for power in Libya since a 2011 uprising ended Muammar Gaddafi's four-decade rule, is waging a military campaign against a coalition of Islamist militants and ex-rebels known as the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council (DMSC) that controls Derna.

Attention has shifted to the coastal city after Haftar announced victory in a three-year military campaign against a similar coalition in Benghazi, 350 km (210 miles) to the west, a month ago.

The LNA launches occasional air strikes over Derna and at the end of July, one of its fighter jets was shot down. The pilot was killed. The LNA subsequently reinforced its siege.

"The situation is extremely bad. Everything is stopped, the supplies are depleted and nothing is getting into the city," one resident told Reuters by telephone.

"There is a total blockade with no entry or exit. They only allow you to leave as a displaced person."

Another resident said most bakeries had closed because of a shortage of fuel, and that petrol stations had been shut for eight months. There was an acute shortage of medicine, he said, though some oxygen tanks were delivered to a hospital in Derna on Monday.

The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Libya has expressed concern over reports of "severe shortages of basic necessities, including life saving medical supplies" in Derna, while the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli called on all sides to "facilitate ways to provide for all the needs of the citizens".

The LNA is aligned with a parliament and government based in the eastern Libya that has spurned the GNA.

Haftar and the head of the GNA met in Paris in late July amid efforts to broker a peace settlement for Libya. A ceasefire was announced, though it excluded "counter-terrorism" operations. The LNA commonly brands its rivals as terrorists.

Derna has a history of militancy. It was occupied by Islamic State militants in late 2014, but they were later ousted by the DMSC. Since then, forces loyal to the LNA have bolstered their blockade. Supplies of food, cash and medicine were disrupted or confiscated even before the latest tightening of the siege.

The LNA says it has been hitting militant targets that it has identified on the outskirts of in Derna, including ammunition stores. It says it is preparing to use further strikes if peace efforts with local leaders fail.

In May, the city was also a target of Egyptian air strikes. Egypt said it was responding to an attack against Coptic Christians on its territory, though that attack was claimed by Islamic State.

Haftar, a figure many believe is seeking national power in Libya, has enjoyed strong backing from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as well as the United Arab Emirates.

Western envoys have met Haftar frequently in recent months, and say he has to be part of any solution to Libya's conflict.

Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Robin Pomeroy

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East Libyan city suffers as military forces tighten siege - Reuters

Libya’s Largest Oil Field `Back to Normal’ After Disruption – Bloomberg

Libyas biggest oil field Sharara is back to normal after a disruption caused by protests in the politically fragmented country,the state National Oil Corp. said.

Pumping was interrupted for hours after armed protesters shut some facilities, the NOC said in a statement. The company didnt give an updated figure for production at the field, nor did it explain what caused the disturbances or say who the protesters represent. Sharara in western Libya was producing 275,000 barrels a day as of July 12, a person with knowledge of the situation said at the time.

The field,operated by a joint venture between Libyas state producer and Repsol SA, Total SA, OMV AG and Statoil ASA, has experienced several brief shutdowns caused by different groups. It was closed for two days in June due to a protest by workers there.

Grievances and personal demands cannot be settled through causing harm to the entire population,NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanallasaid Monday in the statement. The tactic of shutting down facilities is an unacceptable negotiation technique, said Sanalla, who has campaigned to end a rash of blockades at Libyas ports and fields since he assumed leadership of the company in May 2014.

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Libyas crude output and exports reached a fresh three-year high last month as fighting among armed militias abated and leaders of the countrys rival administrations agreed in principle on steps to unite the nation.The recovery inthe country with Africas largest crude reserves makes it harder for OPEC and allied oil-producing nations to curb a global supply surplus thats depressing prices for the commodity.

The North African producer shipped about 865,000 barrels a day of crude in July, tanker tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. That was a gain of 11 percent from June, which was already the highest since at least July 2014.

The speed at which Libya can revive crude sales is critical for the oil market because, together with Nigeria, the nation wasnt bound by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries supply restrictions that helped limit output this year. OPEC extended the cuts accord -- and Libyas exemption from it -- through March 2018.

Libya slid into chaos after the armed uprising that toppled and killed former strongman Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, with myriad armed groups and two administrations vying for control of the countrys energy facilities. Its rival leaders -- Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj and Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar -- agreed last month on calling for a cease-fire, combining the countrys divided oil company and armed forces, and holding elections as soon as possible.

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Libya's Largest Oil Field `Back to Normal' After Disruption - Bloomberg

Cracks Appear in Italian Resolve Over Disputed Naval Mission Off Libya – Voice of America

SAN BENEDETTO DEL TRONTO, ITALY

Italian government ministers are becoming increasingly divided over risky naval efforts to curb the numbers of migrants who have landed at the countrys ports.

At issue what the mission should be for two Italian naval ships set to be deployed in Libyan waters. Several ministers object to the idea of Italian sailors turning back mainly sub-Saharan asylum-seekers either directly or indirectly in coordination with Libyan Coast Guard ships, some of whom are suspected of being in league with people smugglers.

The emerging cracks in the Italian government policy come as a ship leased to a far right anti-migrant group started to shadow refugee-rescue vessels operated by humanitarian organizations, raising fears of a possible dangerous confrontation at sea with the far-right activists from Defend Europe.

The number of migrants who have arrived in Italy this year totals more than 95,000, although in the past two weeks the rate of arrivals has eased slightly. About 2,000 migrants attempting the sea crossing this year have drowned. In the past four years, about 600,000 migrants have arrived on Italian shores the majority of whom departed from Libya and made the hazardous journey across the Mediterranean Sea.

The mass influx has strained Italys emergency and humanitarian system almost to the breaking point and is a source of increasing political tension among Italys political parties. It is likely to dominate next years national elections and is worsening the electoral prospects of the center-left coalition government of Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

Last week, parliament approved the limited Italian naval mission to help Libyas coast guard regulate the flow of migrants and prevent human trafficking. On Sunday, a leading opponent of the mission, Deputy Foreign Minister Mario Giro, said, Turning migrants back to Libya at this moment means returning them to hell.

His remarks were prompted by reports that on Saturday, Libya's Coast Guard announced it had recovered and saved more than 800 migrants near its coast. Giro says that returned migrants end up in detention centers in the hands of militias, who take advantage of them to do their business. He says just returning migrants to Libya wont alleviate a huge humanitarian crisis."

Giro, a member of the Sant'Egidio Community, an influential Catholic volunteer association, also defended NGOs, which are being blamed by populist parties and some in the government for acting as a collective pull factor for migrants by mounting rescue missions.

The NGOs have been accused of coordinating pick-ups with people smugglers something the humanitarian organizations vehemently deny. NGO heads say they are merely doing what European governments should be doing more of rescuing migrants at risk of drowning. NGOs are now responsible for picking up more than 40 percent of those rescued at sea.

The head of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), Tommaso Fabbri, says, The responsibility to organize and conduct search and rescue operations at sea lies as it always has with states. As such, our current rescue activities are simply filling the void left by Europe.

Last month, the government of Italy introduced a code of conduct restricting what refugee-rescue charities are allowed to do, if they want to land migrants at Italian ports. Among other requirements, they are to refrain from patrolling within Libyas territorial waters.

Only three out of eight NGOs operating in the southern Mediterranean have agreed to the Italian terms. A vessel operated by the German NGO Jugend Rettet was seized last week off the coast of the island of Lampedusa by Italian coast guard vessels for breaching the code and the ship has now been impounded while investigations continue.

Giro is seen by the Italian media as the spokesman for an influential group of parliamentarians featuring left-wingers and Catholics. He acknowledges some NGOs subscribe to a no border ideology, a kind of humanitarian extremism, but he argues, In the face of the tragedy thats happening, I prefer humanitarian extremism to other types of extremism.

His views are in direct confrontation with former Communist and Interior Minister Marco Minniti, the exponent of a tough, security-focused line on migration.

The 61-year-old Minniti wants to close Italian ports to any NGOs failing to sign the code of conduct, a proposal frowned on by transport minister Graziano Delrio. And he was the main exponent for the Italian naval mission after persuading Prime Minister Fayez Serraj, the head of an internationally recognized government in Libya, to welcome the mission.

The Italian naval mission to Libya is not only under threat from opposition within the Italian government. Now a Libyan warlord has threatened to bomb the Italian ships.

Minniti has warned that the Democratic Party and its coalition partners face electoral disaster next year, if they fail to take mounting public anger seriously and come up with ways to curb the flow of asylum-seekers, most of whom are economic migrants fleeing poverty, rather than refugees fleeing war.

Anti-migrant rage is obvious in slogans daubed in cities and even in towns that have been allotted only a few thousand migrants. In San Benedetto del Tronto, a seaside resort on Italys Adriatic coast, high-school students shocked their teachers in July by daubing across a large mural the slogan Stop The Immigration Business! The mural adapted an Edward Hopper painting, replacing a yellow hay field with a dark and stormy sea and a boat loaded with migrants.

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Cracks Appear in Italian Resolve Over Disputed Naval Mission Off Libya - Voice of America

Russia Seeks to Restore Economic Links with Libya – teleSUR English

Last year, trade relations between Russia and Libya were close to non-existent at $74 million, but things are slowly beginning to improve.

The Russian Government has plans to reinstate certain ties with Libya.

RELATED: Venezuela's Maduro: We Don't Want to Be Like Libya

In an interview with Kommersant, the head of the Russian contact team on Libya Lev Dengov said the government is reviewing the reestablishment of economic relationswith Libya.

Infrastructural projects stalled when former President Muammar Gaddafi was assassinatedand civil war outbreak.

"We plan to resign the contracts signed during Muammar Gaddafis rule. This includes the previous agreements in the transport sector, construction of railways, energy, electrification and a number of others," Dengov said.

Since the death of Gaddafi, Russia has lost billions of dollars worth of contracts in Libya.

In 2008, Russian Railways signed a 2.2 billion contract to construct the 550-kilometer Sirte-Benghazi rail line. There were also oil and gas deals, in addition to electrification and peaceful nuclear development negotiations.

These plans were disrupted by the Libyan civil war that started in 2011.

Last year, trade relations between Russia and Libya were close to non-existent at $74 million, but things are slowly beginning to improve.

In February, Russian oil company Rosneft signed a crude oil purchasing agreement with Libyas National Oil Corporation.

Following more than half-a-decade of conflict, Libya is split between two rival governments. The western region of the country is under the rule of Fayez al-Sarrajs Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, while General Khalifa Haftar controls the eastern region, Tobruk.

The United Nations supports the Tripoli government and General Haftar is supported by the Libyan National Army and a number of countries including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

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Dengov shared that Libya had an interest in purchasing Russian weapons, but insisted thatRussian will adhere to the UN Security Council embargo.

We do not take anyones side in this conflict and do not want to arm one to the detriment of others. We would like everyone to be in approximately equal positions, he said.

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Russia Seeks to Restore Economic Links with Libya - teleSUR English