News Roundup - Sun, Apr 30, 2017 The Libya Observer Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) will face Societe Generale bank at the British Supreme Court in London on Tuesday. The court is going to look at the charges against the French investment bank that said it paid 58.5 billion dollars in bribery. LIA is ... |
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News Roundup - Sun, Apr 30, 2017 - The Libya Observer
Khartoum - The United Nations envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, will visit Khartoum on Sunday for talks on the conflict in the North African country, the Sudanese foreign ministry said.
Kobler, on his first visit to Sudan, is expected to meet Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour and other senior officials in Khartoum.
"He will discuss efforts made by Arab League and African Union to solve the Libyan crisis," the foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Ghandour will also attend a May 8 conference in Nigeria drawing Libya's neighbours, it said.
Libya has fallen into crisis since the 2011 killing of longtime strongman Moammar Gadddafi, with dozens of armed factions battling for control of the oil-rich country.
During the rebellion against Gaddafi, Khartoum had acknowledged its support to rebels fighting his forces.
Sudan recognises Libya's unity government headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, which was born of a UN-brokered deal signed in late 2015.
The unity government has, however, struggled to assert its authority nationwide since taking office in Tripoli in March last year.
Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar has opposed Sarraj's government and is backing a rival government based in Libya's east.
But for the past two years his main priority has been battling jihadists in second city Benghazi.
Khartoum has tense relations with Haftar, often alleging that many Sudanese rebels from war-torn Darfur have joined him and were fighting for him in Libya.
Sudanese media has also regularly reported deaths of some Sudanese youths in Libya while fighting for the jihadist Islamic State group.
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UN envoy to Libya to visit Sudan for peace talks - News24
Isis fighters parade through Sirte, Libya, where they seized control of the passport office in early 2016. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Italian investigators believe that a number of Islamic State fighters from Libya have slipped into Europe by infiltrating a scheme designed to give hospital treatment to wounded regular Libyan government soldiers.
A Italian intelligence document seen by the Guardian reveals a complex network in which, from 2015, members of Isis and others linked to jihadi movements have infiltrated Europe pretending to be injured, so as to be treated in clinics and then freed to move elsewhere in Europe and the Middle East.
Elements of Isis are involved in the smuggling of the wounded men from Libya and are using this strategy to travel out of Libya with false passports, the document says.
The Italian intelligence document focuses on a western-backed health project for the rehabilitation and care of injured Libyans, saying it is being run in a doubtful and ambiguous way, even though it is overseen by the UN-recognised government of national accord based in Tripoli. It suggests the Libyan government has been unwittingly paying the travel expenses of Isis members, confusing them with legitimate fighters.
Diplomats and health sector managers have been using a scheme called the Comitato Assistenza Feriti Libici (Centre for the Support of Injured Libyans) to apply for special visas to take wounded soldiers for treatment in Europe.
But Italian intelligence believes an unknown number of Isis fighters have infiltrated the scheme using false passports supplied to them by a criminal network, including corrupt officials. It says it discovered in early 2016 that Isis had seized control of the passport office in Sirte and stolen as many as 2,000 blank documents.
The French government has already claimed in public that Isis has developed a sophisticated capacity to manufacture as many as 200 false passports.
The Italianintelligence document states: Since 15 December 2015, an unknown number of wounded fighters of the Islamic State in Libya have been transported out of the country to an Istanbul hospital to undergo medical treatment.
The bulk of the false wounded come from the Libyan area of Fataeh, where elements of the Islamic State would be holed up, the document states.
From there, the fighters are most commonly sent to Turkish hospitals. It claims in one case the fighters showed fake passports to doctors in Misrata and told them they were wounded in Sirte and Benghazi.
The Isis fighters the intelligence document says would present false passports and, posing as members of the Majlis Shura Thuwar Benghazi (MSTB) report to medical personnel in Misrata.
Misrata is in fact the headquarters of the smuggling of these men from Libya to other countries. Misrata is also the place where the trafficking of false passports takes place when a fake identity is needed to cover the real identity of these men.
The allegations underline the difficulties authorities in Libya and Europe face in determining the motives of militiamen fighting in Libya, and the extent to which their Islamist sympathies extend to support for Isis.
The main countries identified in the document are Turkey, Romania, Serbia and Bosnia, but the injured appear to have also stayed in France, Germany and Switzerland.
An Italian doctor named in the report, Rodolfo Bucci, confirmed to the Guardian he had been contacted by an individual identified in it as part of the smuggling network. I was contacted by some men to coordinate these medical treatments because Im a specialist in Europe in pain treatment therapy. But then I dont know what happened. I dont know if the programme was stopped, he said.
The Italian intelligence document describes the position of the government of Tripoli as highly ambivalent because, although it does not pay for medical care for Isis fighters, it officially facilitates the exit from Libyan territory of elements traced to MSTB, a group in which jihadist militiamen, linked to Daesh [Isis], are directly involved.
In some cases, the intelligence report states, the documents apparently prepared by hospitals arranging for Libyans to leave the country give only superficially described details of injuries or are totally bereft of any details.
Petter Nesser, a senior researcher at the FFI terrorism research group in Norway, said European intelligence agencies were increasingly concerned about Isis fighters from Libya.
There was a feeling that we would have seen more combatants coming out from Libya and it has taken a while until this materialised. Most of the plots in Europe were linked to Syria. But quite recently we are starting to see more plots in Europe linked to Libya.
We know that Daesh is coordinating the infiltration of more operatives and combatants from Libya. The Berlin attacker had ties to Libyan operatives and even Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Paris attacks ringleader, had ties with Isis agents in Libya.
The Italian intelligence documents are largely based on the exchange of information from the Italian civil and military police, as well as the FBI. The investigation has been passed to antiterrorism police in Italy.
The Italian interior ministry has been contacted for comment.
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Italy fears Isis fighters slip into Europe posing as injured Libyans - The Guardian
More than 300 Ghanaians living in Libya have returned to Ghana.
According to them, they have been struggling to cope with the harsh conditions in the war-ravaged North African country.
I have regretted going to Libya. Life there is very difficult. There are robbers who robbed us at a gun point every day. When you report to the authorities, they dont do anything about it, one returnee told journalists.
READ ALSO: America to deport 7000 Ghanaians - US Ambassador
Many of them who travelled to Libya on foot through the Libyan Desert to seek greener pastures said that they were disappointed at the lawlessness in that country.
They have, therefore, pleaded with other Ghanaians not to attempt going there.
They also used the opportunity to call on the government to help other Ghanaians who are still stranded in Libya to return home.
"We paid for the air-ticket months ago but there were no airplanes arriving in the country to bring us back to Ghana. We are pleading with government to save our brothers left behind in Ghana" another returnee said.
About three Ghanaians earlier this month were reported dead in Libya with over 500 people more stranded in that country.
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Back Home: Over 300 Ghanaians living in Libya voluntarily return ... - Pulse.com.gh
Libya is asking the EU for armed ships and helicopters to increase its refugee patrols in the Mediterranean Sea amid allegations of widespread abuse against migrants.
The German parliament said a list of wanted equipment, including diving suits, ambulances, communications equipment and night vision gear, was being considered by the European Commission.
EU states are already deploying submarines, ships and aircraft to assist in reconnaissance efforts, although they have been criticised for focusing on smuggling rather than rescue missions as a record number of refugees die at sea.
Libyas latest request was revealed by a parliamentary question from the opposition Die Linke party, with broadcaster ARD reporting vessels equipped with machine guns were among a total of 130 boats of varying sizes and capacities called for.
They would be used by the Libyan coastguard, which stands accused of beating and shooting refugees while pushing back boats launched by smugglers into the Mediterranean Sea.
Regardless of the agencys alleged abuses, including attacks on aid agencies rescue ships, Britain is among the countries supporting the coastguard with offshore training.
The first round has been completed and discussions are underway for a second batch, The Independent understands.
Desperate journeys: Rescued at sea, refugees detail abuse in Libya
European states backed an agreement struck by Italy to support the fragile Government of National Accords (GNA) ability to stem the crisis earlier this year, but the prospect of sending arms has raised alarm.
Isis and Islamist factions are among the countless groups waging a bloody battle for territory in the continuing civil war, where a Russia-backed warlord holds increasing sway.
As well as the threat of extremists gaining weapons and equipment donated by the EU, human rights groups have been outraged by the prospect of European support for Libya forcing migrants into detention centres where they report being raped and tortured in dire conditions.
Some are controlled by authorities affiliated with the GNA, while many are operated by smugglers who abduct migrants and force them into labour, prostitution or extort them for ransom in a lucrative industry.
The International Organisation for Migration revealed that hundreds of young African men are being traded in public in what they described as slave markets earlier this month.
Migrants who go to Libya while trying to get to Europe have no idea of the torture archipelago that awaits them just over the border, said IOM spokesman Leonard Doyle.
There they become commodities to be bought, sold and discarded when they have no more value.
The human trade has expanded rapidly amid the chaos following the Nato-backed removal of Muammar Gaddafi in the 2011 uprising and ensuing civil war.
Widespread lawlessness has allowed smugglers to thrive along Libyas Mediterranean coastline, which is now the main launching point for refugee boats heading for Europe.
Almost 1,100 migrants have died on the treacherous route to Italy this year, with 44,000 rescued and taken to land, while 4,900 have crossed the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece.
That route has slowed to a trickle since the controversial EU-Turkey deal came into force last March, seeing all asylum seekers arriving on Greek islands detained under threat of deportation.
But the prospect of implementing a similar agreement with Libya looks slim given the governments reduced capacity and human rights concerns raised by the UN.
A spokesperson for the GNA has not yet responded to The Independents request for details of the reported list of equipment requested from the EU.
Jalal Othman said authorities take all allegations of human rights abuses very seriously, after fresh evidence of abuse against migrants emerged earlier this year.
Migrants wait to receive aid distribution provided by the International Organization for Migration in Libya (AFP/Getty Images)
The Libyan judicial and law-enforcement systems are facing extreme pressures at this time due to the very challenging security situation in the country, he added.
We condemn all mistreatment of migrants without reservation. While we have to be realistic about the states current law-enforcement capacity, action will be taken wherever possible against those who break the law.
The Libyan Government of National Accord continues to work closely and productively with our European partners on illegal migration and people-smuggling.
The refugee crisis shows no sign of slowing after the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers in Europe, as conflicts continue in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq alongside insurgencies and instability across sub-Saharan Africa.
EU nations granted refugee status or some other protection to more than 700,000 people last year the latest statistics show.
Eurostat said Germany granted asylum to the highest number of applicants, approving 445,000 claims, followed by Sweden, Italy and France.
Of those accepted across Europe, 405,600 were Syrians, 65,800 were Iraqis and 61,800 Afghans.
Lengthy waits continue for migrants stranded in Italy, where 176,000 people are living in reception centres, and Greece, where 62,000 asylum seekers have been trapped by the EU-Turkey deal and border closures through the Balkans.
Update, 28 April:
A spokesperson for the European Commission said: "A Libyan request for equipment support has been sent to the EU and member states from the Libyan coastguard. This request is currently being assessed.
"Improving the capacity of the Libyan authorities to better manage borders and migration is a key objective of the EU's approach including that agreed by the EU and member states in Malta on 3 February.
"The EU is already working closely with the Libyan coastguard, notably through its Operation Sophia which has already trained 93 coastguards since October 2016, as well as through project Seahorse."
FedericaMogherini, the EU'shigh representative for foreign affairs,told adefence ministerial meeting held on Thursday thatit is early to say when equipment would be provided.
We have concluded the first round of training for the Libyan coastguards and navy and are continuing aiming at a larger number of trainees," she added.
"We are looking at ways in which we can follow this up in terms of providing non-military assets that would enable those that we have trained to do their job in the Libyan territorial waters.
"So we are currently already looking at the assets that might be required, assessing the needs, the sustainability and the correct and proper use they can be devoted to.
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EU considering giving ships armed with machine guns to Libyan coastguard accused of killing migrants - The Independent