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European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday are focusing on events in Africa as part of a general discussion this week on the blocs defence and security strategy.

The Chairman of the African Union Commission is among those present.

On the agenda are possible future military missions in North Africa and the Middle East, as well as the security situation in Somalia and South Sudan.

We are moving from the traditional purely aid centred approach to Africa to real partnership in all fields, from climate change to security, economic development, migration and obviously humanitarian support, said Federica Mogherini, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs.

The number of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean is again on the rise. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says more than 45,000 people have reached Italy by boat from North Africa, an increase of over 40 percent on the same period of 2016. More than 1,200 are said to have died on the way.

Italys coast guard said rescuers saved 484 migrants in the sea on Saturday and found the bodies of seven men who had died trying to get to Europe.

Italy and Germany have asked the EU for a mission to be sent to Libyas southern border which many people cross on their way north. The countries interior ministers, Marco Minniti and Thomas de Maziere, sent a joint letter on Friday to the EU seeking a greater EU commitment to help stabilise the 5,000-kilometre frontier which Libya has long struggled to control.

A senior official in the United Nations-backed Libyan government in Tripoli said on Sunday his administration was ready to create a new guard to patrol frontier, but it could only be secured if other countries helped.

If we dont resolve southern Libyas problems, we will not resolve the migrant issue, Abdudsalam Kajman, the governments vice-president, told Italys Corriere della Sera newspaper.

The difficult economic situation in that region pushes lots of young people to work for the traffickers, he added.

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Africa on Brussels agenda amid rising migration from Libya to ... - euronews

The Looted and Smuggled Antiquities Office of the Libyan Antiquities Authority has prepared a preliminary list of the archaeological objects that have been looted from Libyan museums and smuggled abroad.

The list included incidents of looting that date back to the World War II including a sandstone statue and a local sculpture representing the goddess Isis, found in Martuba town, in addition to a pharaonic statue made from black basalt stolen from Tolmeita village during the Second World War, which is being shown at Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, USA since1991.

Director of the Looted and Smuggled Antiquities Office Khaled Al-Hadar clarified that the list will be translated into English, as being the first language in the world, and will be circulated to international organizations who have an interest in antiquities including ICCROM, INTERPOL, UNESCO, and Italys Carabinieri Art Squad.

He added that all Libyan embassies abroad will be also informed of this list, which also included various collections of pottery vessels, statues, sculptures and engravings.

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Libyan authorities issue international circular on looted antiquities from Libya - The Libya Observer

A shot of the living conditions inside a detention centre in Libya. Credit: UN Migration Agency (IOM)

Hundreds of migrants along North African migration routes are being bought and sold openly in modern day slave markets in Libya, survivors have told the United Nations migration agency, which warned that these reports can be added to a long list of outrages in the country. The International Criminal Court is now considering investigating.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) had already sounded the alarm after its staff in Niger and Libya documented over the past weekend shocking testimonies of trafficking victims from several African nations, including Nigeria, Ghana and the Gambia. They described slave markets tormenting hundreds of young African men bound for Libya.

Operations Officers with IOMs office in Niger reported on the rescue of a Senegalese migrant who this week was returning to his home after being held captive for months, IOM had on April 11 reported.

According to the young mans testimony, the UN agency added, while trying to travel north through the Sahara, he arrived in Agadez, Niger, where he was told he would have to pay about 320 dollars to continue North, towards Libya.

A trafficker provided him with accommodation until the day of his departure, which was to be by pick-up truck, IOM said. But when his pick-up reached Sabha in south-western Libya, the driver insisted that he hadnt been paid by the trafficker, and that he was transporting the migrants to a parking area where the young man witnessed a slave market taking place.

Sub-Saharan migrants were being sold and bought by Libyans, with the support of Ghanaians and Nigerians who work for them, IOM Niger staff reported.

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IOM sounds new alarm of slaves markets in Libya - Libyan Express

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

Conflict continues to halt economic recovery and deteriorate food security prospects

Security-related uncertainties disrupted procurement and distribution systems, resulting in income losses for farmers unable to market their production and leading to food shortages in urban areas

People in need of assistance estimated at 1.3 million

Conflict continues to threaten agricultural production

Harvesting of 2017 winter barley is nearing completion. Harvesting of winter wheat started in early May and will continue until mid-June. Out of the 2.1 million hectares of land suitable for agriculture, 1.8 million hectares are classified as arable and 300 000 hectares under permanent crops, mostly fruit trees. The area developed for irrigation is about 470 000 hectares but only some 240 000 hectares are currently irrigated. Cereals are mostly cultivated in the coastal regions where rainfed production or cropping with supplementary irrigation is possible, and in the arid south is under full irrigation. Wheat is used for human consumption, while all the other cereals are used for fodder. Anecdotal evidence suggests that farmers have switched from wheat to barley as a more droughttolerant crop due to increasing unreliability of irrigation since 2011.

For the current season, below-average rains were reported in the northwest coastal districts of Al-Zawiya and Tripoli, resulting in patches of dryness. Farmers reported that security concerns prevented them from purchasing seeds, particularly for crops such as vegetables, where seeds are not normally saved from the previous harvest. Increases in fuel prices also limited farmers ability to carry out mechanized operations.

Below-average domestic crop production forecast for 2017

The preliminary forecast for the 2017 cereal crop indicates a lower crop of about 234 000 tonnes, about 18 percent below average and 10 percent below the harvest of last year. Libya relies heavily on imports (up to 90 percent) for its cereal consumption requirements. In the 2016/17 marketing year (July/June), the actual import requirement is projected at 3.9 million tonnes, an increase of about 3 percent compared to the previous year.

Continuing conflict a set-back to the economy

Civil insecurity, fuelled by the presence of armed groups, brought about the destruction of public infrastructure, disrupted procurement and distribution systems that resulted in food shortages, mainly in urban areas and in the loss of income for farmers that were unable to market their production.

Libya is one of the most hydrocarbondependent economies in the world, with oil revenues accounting for more than 80 percent of the State revenues. Libyan oil production has recovered faster than expected following the conflict in 2011, but is currently well below the 2010 level of 1.55 million barrels per day due to clashes between groups in the oil-producing regions to gain permanent control of key facilities.

After a contraction in the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) in 2011 by almost 60 percent caused by the fall in oil production, the economy grew by over 92 percent in 2012 (year-on-year). Continuous political transition and volatile oil production resulted in further contractions of up to 20 percent yearly in 2014 and 2015. The economy is expected to contract by an additional 4 percent in 2017 depending on domestic stability as well as international oil prices.

Inflation eased from over 30 percent in July 2016 to 22.3 percent in January 2017. High inflation levels remain supported by insecurityinduced supply chain disruptions and a weakening Dinar. Some measures were taken to contain soaring prices, such a ban on vegetable exports. The unemployment rate, estimated at 26 percent as of end2010, is unlikely to improve in the short-run. A large share of the population is normally employed in the public sector.

The Libya Humanitarian Needs Overview (issued in November 2016), estimated the total number of people in need of assistance at 1.3 million, or 20 percent of the affected population, with most severe cases reported in Aljfarah, Tripoli and Benghazi. The number of people in need of food assistance was put at 0.4 million. Refugees, asylum seekers and internally-displaced are among the most vulnerable. Food shortages have been reported mostly in the south and east where basic food items, including wheat, bread, flour, pasta, oil, milk and fortified blended foods for children are in short supply. Access to subsidized food among the affected population is limited.

By the end of 2017, the WFP aims to assist up to 175 000 beneficiaries (including both domestic population and refugees) affected by the crisis in Libya following the disruption of basic social services and the Public Distribution System.

Excerpt from:
People in need of assistance estimated at 1.3 million - ReliefWeb

Deported Nigerian migrants (internet)

258 Nigerians have returned home from Libya on Thursday night with the help of the United Nations migration agency International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

This is the biggest voluntary repatriation of Nigerians from Libya after the return of 253 migrants in April.

233 males, 25 females including five children disembarked from the chartered Libyan airline Airbus A333-200 with registration number 5A LAT at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported.

Julie Okah-Donli, the director-general of National Agency for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) said they were looking out for trafficked people during the profiling of the returnees.

In early April, IOM documented reports of slave markets and kidnapping rings on migrant routes in Libya run by traffickers to buy and sell West African migrants.

The reports indicated that with the support of Ghanaians and Nigerians who work for traffickers, sub-Saharan migrants were being sold and bought by Libyans.

All the surviving migrants spoken to by IOM gave similar accounts.

The north African country has become a transit zone for thousands of migrants who are keen to escape poverty and war to Europe.

Migrant numbers from Libya to Italy have soared dramatically in 2017 with more than 550 deaths recorded in the Mediterranean this year.

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More Nigerian migrants deported from Libya - Libyan Express ... - Libyan Express