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Shahinoor Begum left no stone unturned in the search for her kidnapped son even though everyone told her that there was no hope.

The 45-year-old mother sold her properties and spent around Tk 20 lakh in ransom to have her son released from a Libyan human trafficking gang and then embarked on a journey from her nondescript village in Cumilla to the war-torn Libyan city of Benghazi to find her son Yakub Hossain, aged around 20.

Yakub went missing while he was trying to go to Italy from Libya by taking the perilous boat journey through the Mediterranean. The family didn't know his whereabouts for six months.

"People around me said my son was dead. Some said he got killed. But I refused to believe them. I sold everything we had to bring my son back. I paid about Tk 20 lakh to his captors in four instalments for his release. I still couldn't find him. Then I went to Libya," Shahinoor told this correspondent.

On March 21, the iron-willed woman returned to her village in Debidwar with her son.

Shahinoor said her husband, who also lives in Libya, had two heart attacks after their son went missing.

"It destroyed our financial stability. I spent days crying, not sure what to do. Then I decided to go to Libya," she said.

She first travelled to Dhaka to get a passport and travel documents. "I paid Tk 3 lakh to a travel agent for airfare and other expenses. I boarded a Biman plane on January 8. This was my first trip outside Bangladesh. I was alone. I met a few people who were also travelling to Libya. I stayed in Dubai for a day. From Dubai I went to Egypt where we had a 24-hour transit. Finally, I reached my husband's home in Benghazi.

"After reaching Benghazi, I started contacting people who could speak in Bangla. I told them about my missing son. Seeing me cry, some of them contacted the International Organization for Migration which helped me rescue my son."

Shahinoor said the people of IOMrescued her son after a few days and also arranged a phone call between her and Yakub.

"When I heard my son's voice on the other end, I could not hold my tears. My son was also crying."

But she could not meet Yakub because he was in Tripoli at the time.

"With the help of IOM, my son and I could return home."

On reaching Bangladesh, both of them stayed at Ashkona Hajj Camp until March 21 before they were allowed to go home for a long-cherished happy reunion.

Yakub said he went to Libya on a tourist visa in May 2019 to become a migrant worker. He started working at an oil company in Benghazi for a monthly salary of around Bangladeshi Tk 35,000.

Looking for a better life, Yakub decided to go to Italy illegally at the beginning of last year on the advice of a man named Jahangir. He paid Tk 4 lakh to a broker named Rafiq to go to Italy.

But he was caught by the Libyan Coast Guard and landed in jail along with 300 others, he said.

"Around six months later, I tried to go to Italy again. This time, the human traffickers got hold of us," he said.

"They took our mobile phones, our money, our clothes and everything. We were kept in a small room that resembled a grave for 7 days. There was no light or air. Meals were given 2-3 days a week. They beat us up once a day. They used to beat us with whatever they could find."

The victims were kept in a slaughterhouse where some of the hostages died of starvation, he added.

Shahinoor said, "I will not let my son go anywhere again. I'm forever grateful to IOM for rescuing my son. We also need government support to get back the money that we have paid."

According to the Consular and Welfare Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 902 irregular citizens of Bangladesh have been repatriated from Libya from last September to March this year.

According to IOM sources, 23,601 people from different countries have gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014.

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A mother's love: Flies to Libya, brings back abducted son - The Daily Star

ANKARA, March 24 (Reuters) - Turkey urged Libya to refrain from any steps that would lead to renewed conflict and called on authorities to follow democratic processes, amid a crisis over control of executive power in the country.

Libya's political crisis has escalated since the collapse of a scheduled election in December that was planned as part of a peace process to reunify the country after years of chaos and war following a 2011 NATO-backed uprising.

Turkey has provided military support and training to Libya's former internationally recognised Government of National Accord, and helped it fight off an assault lasting several months on the capital Tripoli by eastern Libyan forces led by Khalifa Haftar. It still has military personnel and Syrian militia fighters in Libya.

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Ankara has supported the peace process but remained largely silent since the latest turmoil in Libya after the formation of two rival governments.

After an almost 4-hour meeting chaired by President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, Turkey's National Security Council (MGK) said a "calm in Libya that was achieved through big sacrifices" was an opportunity for peace.

The MGK called on parties involved in Libya to "refrain from steps that could cause new clashes" and urged authorities in the country to "follow democratic processes on a basis of legitimacy for the achievement of lasting peace and stability".

An interim Government of National Unity, which Ankara backs, was installed last year to oversee the run-up to elections and reunify divided state institutions.

When the elections collapsed, the House of Representatives parliament in the east, based in Tobruk, said that the government's term had expired and it designated a new administration and set elections for next year.

However, the prime minister of the unity government said he would only relinquish power after elections, and armed forces backing each side have mobilised around Tripoli, raising fears of another conflict or a return to territorial division.

A date for a new election has not been set.

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Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Stephen Coates

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Turkey urges Libya to avoid steps that could renew clashes - Reuters

The UN Advisor, Stephanie Williams, thanked the High Council of State (HCS) for its constructive engagement in the Tunisia-held talks for constitution basis consensus, saying she is confident that their colleagues in the House of Representatives (HoR) will soon come to the table, and reiterating that the door for UN-facilitated negotiations is always open for the sake of Libya.

Williams explained on Twitter that she concluded on Thursday a three-day consultative meeting with a delegation of the HCS nominated to join the UN-facilitated joint committee to devise a sound constitutional basis to enable the holding of fair and inclusive elections.

The closing session was attended by representatives of the diplomatic community in Libya who reiterated their support for the UN initiative and engaged with the HCS representatives on their ideas pertaining to the constitutional basis. Williams added.

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UN Advisor is confident HoR will soon join Libya constitution basis talks - The Libya Observer

The Chairman of the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanallah discussed with a delegation from Total Energies consisting of Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Laurent Vivier, CEO of Total in Libya, Pascal Brent, and Manager of Assets Department - Total Libya Branch, Naseem Zouari, increasing rates of oil production and minimization of carbon emissions, as well as switching to renewable energies and the latest updates of the capacity-building programs of the oil sector.

During the meeting on Thursday, the attendees discussed ways to develop joint cooperation to implement a package of important topics, most notably Total's resumption of exploration operations at some locations, the orientation to raise production rates, the operations activity of the offshore Al-Jurf field, the NOC's active efforts and plans to reduce carbon emissions and benefit from Totals experience in this field, in addition to Total contribution to bring the renewable energies technologies and apply it in various operations in the Libyan oil sector.

NOC indicated that attendees also reviewed the latest developments in capacity-building programs to train national students at Libyan universities in the field of oil by Total Summer University and a range of other training programs in oil disciplines.

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Libyan NOC reviews increasing oil production with France's Total - The Libya Observer

Libya imposed a total ban yesterday on the export of all types of fish effective immediately. It also announced the plan to create a three-month strategic stock of basic foods

The announcements came following a meeting held yesterday headed by Economy Minister Mohamed Hwej to discuss the mechanism of regulating the local market, the flow of goods and controlling their prices.

As well as key relevant government departments, the Economy Ministry reported that the meeting included security departments, several businessmen, mill owners and companies manufacturing and supplying foodstuffs.

During the meetings, the attendees discussed the problems and obstacles facing mills and companies in providing raw materials and importing basic commodities in large quantities, represented in opening credits for collection and the repercussions of the global political crisis on export and import operations and the high costs of shipping.

Minister of Economy Hwej stressed that the ministry will take a number of necessary measures to solve problems and overcome difficulties facing businessmen and suppliers, and form a working team headed by the Minister of State for Economic Affairs and membership of the law enforcement agencies to communicate and coordinate with the relevant authorities in the state, including the Audit Bureau and the Central Bank of Libya to provide the necessary facilities regarding opening cash against document credits.

He directed the owners of mills and companies manufacturing and importing food commodities to provide a strategic stockpile for a period of no less than three months, indicating that the ministry will begin setting the prices of basic commodities and referring them to the controlling authorities for implementation and control of violators and speculators within the framework of organizing the local market and achieving stability and food security for the citizen.

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Libya imposes total ban on fish exports and orders creation of three-month strategic food stock - Libya Herald