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Libya's coast guard has intercepted 906 migrants off the western city of Sabratha.

The migrants were on board several wooden and rubber boats, coast guard spokesman Ayoub Qassem says.

One of the rubber boats was perforated and nearly submerged, and a wooden boat had its engine missing.

The migrants were African, Asian and Arab, and included 98 women and 25 children, Qassem says.

Libya has been in turmoil for years and is the most common departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe by sea.

More than 60,000 migrants have crossed the central Mediterranean route from Libya to Italy this year.

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Libya intercepts more than 900 migrants - 9news.com.au

Some of the captives said they had had their teeth pulled out and their arms broken. Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

The United Nations migration agency expressed deep concern for around 260 Somali and Ethiopian migrants allegedly held and mistreated by criminal gangs in Libya, saying it believed that a harrowing video of them posted on social media was authentic.

The International Organization for Migration said a video posted on Facebook earlier this month showed abused Somalis and Ethiopians huddled fearfully in a concrete room.

The IOM said a Somali journalist based in Turkey recorded the video call from a gang in which some migrants claimed to have been beaten. Some alleged having their teeth pulled out and arms broken. The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.

The agency said some captives relatives had received videos asking them to pay $8,000 to $10,000 or their child or relative will be killed. The captives exact location was not known, but the IOM said the relevant authorities had been informed.

The IOM has long decried risks taken by human traffickers with the migrants and refugees they ferry through relatively lawless Libya and into the Mediterranean sea by boat en route to Italy. Libya has been without a stable, central government since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and has been a major departure point for tens of thousands of people, mostly from the Horn of Africa, who seek to cross the Mediterranean to reach relative peace and stability in Europe.

In the video, posted on Facebook, a man calling himself Abdinajib Mohamed speaks to the camera: I am here for a year now. I am in trouble. I am starved. Anyone who has gone through such ordeal would have hated life altogether. Look at my body they beat me every day with batons. They dont want to release me.

Another young man who called himself Nur Ali Awale said he had been held for 15 months. They beat me with iron bars, he said. I travelled from Ethiopia. They ordered me to pay $8,300, and my family cannot afford to pay that amount.

A veiled woman who said she had travelled from Bossaso city in northern Somalia with her two children said she had been beaten daily.

Originally posted here:
UN 'deeply concerned' at migrants allegedly held for ransom in Libya - The Guardian

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Popular protests against the authoritarian rule of Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi in Libya in February 2011 resulted in violent armed conflict between Gaddafis forces and rebel fighters. In March 2011, NATO implemented a no-fly zone to enforce UN Resolution 1973, which condemned the systematic violation of human rights by the Libyan authorities under Gaddafi and authorized member states to take all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian populated areas. By October the same year, Libyas interim authorities declared the countrys official liberation from Gaddafis rule. General elections took place in July 2012, and Libya experienced a period of relative stability and growth.However, throughout 2013 and 2014, tensions grew between different political and militia factions. This resulted in the emergence of two distinct blocs. One bloc, comprised mainly of Islamist factions, sought the removal of Gaddafi-era officials from positions of power. The other blocopposed Islamist groups and believed former regime figures could continue to play a role in Libya. A second general election took place in June 2014; however, the Islamist political factions fared poorly. In response to the political defeat, Islamist-aligned militias took control of Tripoli by force, reinstated the previous government, and declared the 2014 elections unconstitutional. The newly-elected parliament fled to eastern Libya where they continued to meet. The result was two separate sets of governing institutions one in eastern Libya and the Islamistbacked government in Tripoli covering different parts of the country and with competing claims to legitimacy.

This fragmentation of Libyas social and political fabric led to instability, violence and confusion, particularly in the capital of Tripoli. As conflict escalated in 2014, many foreign embassies and international organisationsrelocated across the borderto Tunisia. International support also shiftedfrom high-level, governance-related programming to peace building assistance and humanitarian aid. Throughout 2015, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) attempted to bring rival factions together to agree on a unity government. On 17 December 2015, partly as a result of UNSMILs efforts, Libyan representatives signed the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) in Morocco, creating the Government of National Accord (GNA) that took power in Tripoli in March 2016.

However, conflict has continued to flare up across the country while daily living standards have dropped due to instability, damaged infrastructure and economic decline. The GNA has faced major difficulties in exerting control outside of Tripoli, while institutional reunification and political reconciliation efforts have been slow to gain traction. To date, Libya remains a deeply divided country where militias wield more power than politicians, and smugglers, people traffickers and jihadist groups are able to exploit the population.

Excerpt from:
Non-Military Perspectives on Recent Developments in Libya - ReliefWeb

This file photo taken on April 01, 2017 shows migrants from West Africa waiting in a room at a "ghetto" in Agadez, northern Niger, as they wait to go to Libya from where they will attempt to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean sea. ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP

Agadez, Niger- Back in the days when Muammar Gaddafi was leader, Libya was billed as a top destination for those looking for jobs and money. But it has turned into the seventh circle of hell for migrants whose experiences range from exploitation verging on slavery to kidnapping and torture.

Migrants told Agence France Presse in Agadez, the main city in central Niger, about their suffering in Libya, which is in the grip of anarchy, controlled by a network of armed groups and militias, a place where African migrants are exposed to every form of abuse.

Now Libya is bad, bad, bad, said Ibrahim Ali, a native of Guinea-Bissau who has just returned to Agadez.

Exhausted by his trip back through the desert, this young man appears traumatized by the two years he spent working there.

Guns, everywhere guns. It no good any more, agrees Eric Manu, a 36-year-old bricklayer from Ghana who stayed there for several years.

Too much problems.

He said he left because of the unrest but also because wages had fallen by two-thirds and that hed had problems being paid.

You can work and they dont pay you.

Kante Sekou, a 27-year-old graduate, left Guinea in 2013 in the hope of getting to Europe.

But he gave up after reaching Libya where he spent a difficult time dodging both the police, who were arresting people, and the militias who were fighting each other.

He was finally taken on as a laborer on a construction site with a group of other migrants.

We were paid 15 dinars ($11/10 euros) per day and we had to hand over five of that for food. But we never saw any money. We would sometimes go three or four weeks without being paid, he said.

The food ran out and we didnt know what to do, recalls Sekou, who holds a degree in communications studies. In one village, we had to go into an abattoir (to find food). We took the leftovers camels feet and things like that which nobody wanted.

It didnt taste good but we had to do it.

One day, the workers were told the money had arrived, but Sekou wasnt paid what he was owed so he upped and left, moving to Misrata in the west where he worked as a decorator.

He also had a run-in with bandits, who routinely kidnap migrants and lock them up in makeshift prisons in order to extort a random.

Once, I had to jump out of a moving car to escape from armed men who wanted to take me away, he recalls. Others werent so lucky, such as 26-year-old Ibrahim Kande from Senegal who says anyone earning money which is usually sent home to support family is targeted by bandits.

If you earn money, the boys (armed men) catch you, beat you, and put you in prison not a normal prison, a private one, he says.

They lock you up and you have to pay between 200,000 and 500,000 CFA to get out the equivalent of 300-750 euros ($350-$850).

They call your parents and you have to tell them Send me the money or theyll kill me.

The money is picked up in the home country by an intermediary who gives the green light to free the captive, according to a modus operandi confirmed by multiple migrants.

Then, through various murky channels, the money is transferred to Libya.

They hit me many times, they kicked me, stabbed me, says Kande, showing scars on his forehead and on his leg. They robbed me three times. You cant sleep, youre always afraid. I suffered a lot.

Balde Aboubakar Sikiki from Kindia, a city in Guinea, was also kidnapped and held in a private prison.

They look like normal houses from the outside, but there are rooms where they lock you up. There are many people in there, says this 35-year-old.

He also says he was tortured before paying the ransom to get out.

They take you out of the cell and they beat you on the soles of your feet with batons or cables, he says. Such stories are rife among those who have returned from Libya.

Even so, there many people in Agadez who remain undeterred by such horror stories.

It will make the journey (to Europe) more expensive because its dangerous, but in the end, its always the migrants who pay, shrugs one.

Asharq Al-Awsat is the worlds premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities. Launched in London in 1978, Asharq Al-Awsat has established itself as the decisive publication on pan-Arab and international affairs, offering its readers in-depth analysis and exclusive editorials, as well as the most comprehensive coverage of the entire Arab world.

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Libya: Once an Opportunity, Now Hell for Migrants - Asharq Al-awsat English

Military situation in Libya on 11 December 2016. Controlled by the Shura Councils of Benghazi, Derna and Ajdabiya

Controlled by the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG)

Controlled by local forces

The Libyan Civil War[1][2] refers to the ongoing conflicts in Libya, beginning with the Arab Spring protests of 2011, which led to the First Libyan Civil War, foreign military intervention, and the ousting and death of Muammar Gaddafi. The civil war's aftermath and proliferation of armed groups led to violence and instability across the country, which erupted into renewed civil war in 2014. The ongoing crisis in Libya has so far resulted in tens of thousands of casualties since the onset of violence in early 2011. During both civil wars, the output of Libya's economically crucial oil industry collapsed to a small fraction of its usual level, with most facilities blockaded or damaged by rival groups, despite having the largest oil reserves of any African country.[3]U.S. President Barack Obama stated on 11 April 2016 that not preparing for a post-Gaddafi Libya was probably the "worst mistake" of his presidency.[4]

The history of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi spanned 42 years from 1969 to 2011. Gaddafi became the de facto leader of the country on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of young Libyan military officers against King Idris I in a nonviolent revolution and bloodless coup d'tat. After the king had fled the country, the Libyan Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) headed by Gaddafi abolished the monarchy and the old constitution and proclaimed the new Libyan African Republic, with the motto "freedom, socialism, and unity".[5]

After coming to power, the RCC government took control of all petroleum companies operating in the country and initiated a process of directing funds toward providing education, health care and housing for all. Despite the reforms not being entirely effective, public education in the country became free and primary education compulsory for both sexes. Medical care became available to the public at no cost, but providing housing for all was a task that the government was not able to complete.[6] Under Gaddafi, per capita income in the country rose to more than US$11,000, the fifth-highest in Africa.[7] The increase in prosperity was accompanied by a controversial foreign policy and increased political repression at home.[5][8]

In early 2011, a civil war broke out in the context of the wider "Arab Spring". The anti-Gaddafi forces formed a committee named the National Transitional Council, on 27 February 2011. It was meant to act as an interim authority in the rebel-controlled areas. After the government began to roll back the rebels and a number of atrocities were committed by both sides,[9][10][11][12][13] a multinational coalition led by NATO forces intervened on 21 March 2011, ostensibly[14] to protect civilians against attacks by the government's forces.[15] Shortly thereafter, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Gaddafi and his entourage on 27 June 2011. Gaddafi was ousted from power in the wake of the fall of Tripoli to the rebel forces on 20 August 2011, although pockets of resistance held by forces loyal to Gaddafi's government held out for another two months, especially in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, which he declared the new capital of Libya on 1 September 2011.[16] His Jamahiriya regime came to an end the following month, culminating on 20 October 2011 with Sirte's capture, NATO airstrikes against Gaddafi's escape convoy, and his killing by rebel fighters.[17][18]

The Libyan revolution led to defected regime military members who joined rebel forces, revolutionary brigades that defected from the Libyan Army, post-revolutionary brigades, militias, and various other armed groups, many composed of ordinary workers and students. Some of the armed groups formed during the war against the regime and others evolved later for security purposes. Some were based on tribal allegiances. The groups formed in different parts of the country and varied considerably in size, capability, and influence. They were not united as one body, but they were not necessarily at odds with one another. Revolutionary brigades accounted for the majority of skilled and experienced fighters and weapons. Some militias evolved from criminal networks to violent extremist gangs, quite different from the brigades seeking to provide protection.[19][20]

After the first Libyan civil war, violence occurred involving various armed groups who fought against Gaddafi but refused to lay down their arms when the war ended in October 2011. Some brigades and militias shifted from merely delaying the surrender of their weapons to actively asserting a continuing political role as "guardians of the revolution", with hundreds of local armed groups filling the complex security vacuum left by the fall of Gaddafi. Before the official end of hostilities between loyalist and opposition forces, there were reports of sporadic clashes between rival militias, and vigilante revenge killings.[19][21][22]

In dealing with the number of unregulated armed groups, the National Transitional Council called for all armed groups to register and unite under the Ministry of Defense, thus placing many armed groups on the payroll of the government.[23] This gave a degree of legitimacy to many armed groups, including General Khalifa Haftar who registered his armed group as the "Libyan National Army", the same name he used for his anti-Gaddafi forces after the 1980s ChadianLibyan conflict.[24]

On 11 September 2012, militants allied with Al-Qaeda attacked the US consulate in Benghazi,[25] killing the US ambassador and three others. This prompted a popular outcry against the semi-legal militias that were still operating, and resulted in the storming of several Islamist militia bases by protesters.[26][27] A large-scale government crackdown followed on non-sanctioned militias, with the Libyan Army raiding several now-illegal militias' headquarters and ordering them to disband.[28] The violence eventually escalated into the second Libyan civil war.

The second Libyan civil war[29][30] is an ongoing conflict among rival groups seeking control of the territory of Libya. The conflict has been mostly between the government of the Council of Deputies that was elected democratically in 2014 and internationally recognized as the "Libyan Government", also known as the "Tobruk government"; and the rival Islamist government of the General National Congress (GNC), also called the "National Salvation Government", based in the capital Tripoli. In December 2015 these two factions agreed in principle to unite as the Government of National Accord. Although the Government of National Accord is now functioning, its authority is still unclear as specific details acceptable to both sides have not yet been agreed upon.

The Tobruk government, strongest in eastern Libya, has the loyalty of Haftar's Libyan National Army and has been supported by air strikes by Egypt and the UAE.[31] The Islamist government of the GNC, strongest in western Libya, rejected the results of the 2014 election, and is led by the Muslim Brotherhood, backed by the wider Islamist coalition known as "Libya Dawn" and other militias,[32][33] and aided by Qatar, Sudan, and Turkey.[31][34]

In addition to these, there are also smaller rival groups: the Islamist Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, led by Ansar al-Sharia (Libya), which has had the support of the GNC;[35] the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL's) Libyan provinces;[36] as well as Tuareg militias of Ghat, controlling desert areas in the southwest; and local forces in Misrata District, controlling the towns of Bani Walid and Tawergha. The belligerents are coalitions of armed groups that sometimes change sides.[31]

In recent months there have been many political developments. The United Nations brokered a cease-fire in December 2015, and on 31 March 2016 the leaders of a new UN-supported "unity government" arrived in Tripoli.[37] On 5 April, the Islamist government in western Libya announced that it was suspending operations and handing power to the new unity government, officially named the "Government of National Accord", although it was not yet clear whether the new arrangement would succeed.[38] On 2 July, rival leaders reached an agreement to reunify the eastern and western managements of Libyas National Oil Corporation (NOC).[39] As of 22 August, the unity government still had not received the approval of Haftar's supporters in the Tobruk government,[40] and on 11 September the general boosted his political leverage by seizing control of two key oil terminals.[41] Haftar and the NOC then reached an agreement for increasing oil production and exports,[42] and all nine of Libya's major oil terminals were operating again in January 2017.[43]

Originally posted here:
Libyan Civil War (2011present) - Wikipedia