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Editor's Note: This piece originally appeared on Order from Chaos.

Recent developments in Libya make it hard to be optimistic about the survival of the country as a unified and stable state. The smuggling of migrantscomparable in some ways to the slave trade of the 17th and 18th centurieshas skyrocketed, setting off worrisome alarms throughout the Mediterranean region. This is compounded by the situation in Libya itself, which appears to exist in a permanent state of anarchy characterized by fighting between militias, gangs, and tribes. The recent clashes around the oil terminals in the Gulf of Sidra are just an example of this state of instability and lawlessness.

What Libya is missing today is strong and determined leadership, empowered by a wide democratic mandate and with an inclusive policy program that could tackle the rapid deterioration of the country. There has been considerable speculation over whether Western countries will stop supporting the U.N.-backed Presidential Council (PC) in Tripoli and switch their allegiance to the eastern strongman General Khalifa Haftar. Some are of the opinion that Haftar would be the right person to keep the country united and guarantee a modicum of stabilityhence allowing the migration and terrorism challenges to be addressed.

But this would be the wrong choice. No one in Libya today has the strength to reach a military victory or rule the whole country, and the fight alone would cause permanent damage to Libyas social fabric, threatening a continuation of guerrilla warfare and terrorism. There is no alternative to a negotiated solution. The challenge is reaching a sustainable one.

Italy: A Good apple among Many Bad

Libya has increasingly become a proxy war among foreign actors. A united international front is therefore essential to the success of Libyan negotiations over the countrys future. But international actions have recently tended to generate more negative reactions than positive ones.

Take Italy. Italy has supported the U.N.-led negotiations and the resulting Presidential Council (PC) from the start. But some in Libya have labeled its support neo-colonialism. In January, Italy became the first Western country to announce the reopening of its embassy in Tripoli, a risky move that, nevertheless, sent a strong signal of support for the government of PC president Fayez Serraj. In an earlier sign of goodwill in 2016, Italy sent a mission to Misrata to install a field hospital to treat wounded soldiers fighting the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) in Sirte. Considering the insufficiency of the medical infrastructure in Libya, this was an important gesture.

However, some Libyan actors have criticized Italys involvement. The Italian government offered to install a field hospital for Haftars Libyan National Army, but this offer was brusquely rejected. Khalifa Gwell, the head of the so-called Government of National Salvation, an illegitimate institution that allegedly governed the Western part of the country from 2014 to 2016, abruptly told the Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in January to withdraw his troops from Misrata because of Italys colonial history of fascism. At the same time, the prime minister of Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) Abdullah al-Thinni issued an urgent diplomatic note to all foreign embassies and consular offices informing them that an Italian military vessel loaded with soldiers and ammunitions has entered the Libyan territorial waters, adding: This is a clear violation of the U.N. Charter and a form of repeated aggression. All of this happened as the Russian air carrier Admiral Kuznetzov sat anchored at the coast of Cyrenaica, hosting Field Marshal Haftar himself, who reportedly signed unknown deals on behalf of the Tobruk government. The hypocrisy is self-evident.

Italy wants Libya to achieve stability and peace because, unlike many other international actors involved in the Libyan theater, it recognizes the importance of a stable and peaceful Libya capable of governing its territory.

There is no doubt that Italy has committed grave mistakes in the past, as well as more recently. However, it is also true that Romes conduct towards post-2011 Libya has been one of the most coherent and transparent, not only in words but in deeds. This is evident in the behavior of Italian ambassador to Tripoli Giuseppe Perrone. In early February, Perrone traveled to Tobruk to meet HoR president Agila Saleh and other members of the parliament to seek a political compromise. Following the Benghazi Defense Brigades (BDB) contentious temporary occupation of the oil terminals in March, the Italian government endorsed the BDBs relinquishing of the terminals to the National Oil Corporation in Tripoli that permitted the PC/Government of National Accord to continue to enjoy oil sale revenues in the Gulf of Sidra. While the wisdom of the approach itself could be debated, it was definitely a coherent oneand one that could hardly be called neo-colonialist.

Italy has been trying to keep Libya at the center of international attention, and has delivered significant humanitarian aid to the needy country by hosting hundreds of wounded Libyan fighters in its hospitals. Italy wants Libya to achieve stability and peace because, unlike many other international actors involved in the Libyan theater, it recognizes the importance of a stable and peaceful Libya capable of governing its territory. Italy has no colonial project, nor any intention to establish a protectorate or extend its influence over Libyan coasts. Italy simply recognizes that the destiny of these two countries are once again interconnected by a series of international interventions in Libya thatthis timeare all but Italian.

Work Together

For the last six years, various players have intervened in Libya without a common projectonly with their particular targets to pursue. That has completely spoiled the process of natural selection at the political level, not favoring the most deserving leader, but the most supported in terms of means and weapons. And the effects have been devastating, facilitating the fragmentation of Libyan society. All the international actors involved in Libya must ask themselves: Where are we heading in Libya? If stability and security for Libya are really the goals, then there is no alternative for the international actors but to honestly and consistently support the U.N.-led negotiation and the Libyan Political Agreement, with all the pertaining corrections and amendments needed to improve its functionality and efficacy.

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No, Italy Is Not Guilty of Neocolonialism in Libya - Lawfare - Lawfare (blog)

5 Nigerian womenwere discovered to be partof the women captured andturned into sex slaves for months by ISIS.

The 5 Nigerians,2 children and 28 Eritreans wererescued by Libyan forces last December but made to face detention in a Misrata prison.

After the womenwere rescuedfrom Sirte, they were investigated for possible ties to the group and held for several months in a Misrata prison but have now beenreleased by Libyan authorities.

Then in mid-February, theLibyan attorney-generals office announced that it had cleared the women of any wrongdoing, but their release was delayed for several more weeks, with no explanation given.

The group reportedly escaped from Sirte, a former Islamic State stronghold in central Libya, when forces from the nearby city of Misrata battled to oust the militants late last year.

Some of the women were said to have been on their way to Europe when the Islamic State fighters kidnapped and held them as sex slaves.

Fortunately on Wednesday, they were all released andreceived by staff from the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Libyan Red Crescent, before being taken to a shelter for medical check ups.

One 14-year-old Eritrean girl said:

Im very happy, I cant describe how I feel, but I am very happy, I can start a new life and see my family again, she told Reuters before leaving the prison with the rest of the group on a Red Crescent bus.

A UNHCR official said the entire group had scabies, but otherwise appeared to be in reasonable physical condition. The agency says it expects to resettle the Eritreans as refugees.

Samer Haddadin, head of the UNHCRs Libya mission said:

We will send them to a safe house where they can be treated if they need medical treatment, and receive assistance from us, and be protected. At the same time we will be processing them for refugee status determination and we are doing this to make sure we can find a resettlement country for those who meet the resettlement criteria.

Source: Reuters

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ISIS: Nigerian women turned sex slaves in Libya released - TheNewsGuru

4/5/2017

SAN DONATO MILANESE, Milan -- Eni has made a new discovery of gas and condensates offshore Libya in the Gamma Prospect, in the Contract Area D, 140 km offshore from Tripoli, in Libya. The discovery, made through the well B1 16/3, is located 15 km south west of the Bouri field and 5 km north of the Bahr Essalam field. The drilling of the Gamma prospect is part of the near-field exploration strategy of Eni, targeting opportunities, that in case of success can exploit synergies with existing infrastructures reducing the time to market and providing additional gas to the local market and export.

The well, drilled in 150 m of water depth, reached a total depth of 2,981 m and encountered gas and condensates in the Metlaoui Group of Eocene age. The well has the capacity to deliver, in production configuration, in ecxess of 7,000 boepd and represents a further discovery made by Eni in Libyan offshore Area D, following the discoveries made in 2015.

Eni, through its subsidiary Eni North Africa BV, is operator of Contract Area D with a 100% working interest in the exploration phase. Eni has been present in Libya since 1959 and currently produces 350,000 boped in equity in the country.

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Eni discovers gas, condensates offshore Libya - WorldOil (subscription)

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Foreign Ministry of UN-proposed Presidency Council has confirmed to Libyan embassies and consulates abroad that the current Governor of Central Bank of Libya Al-Sidiq Al-Kabir is still the legitimate person in charge of the bank and that any parallel institutions are illegal.

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A fire broke out at the cement factory in Zliten due to an electrical fault today. Three workers were wounded.

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UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has received 27 Eritrean and Nigerian women from Misrata Rehabilitation Center. Thewomen were rescued by Misrata-led force during Sirte battle against ISIS.

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The second group of Dignity Operation wounded fighters left Benina Airbase in Benghazi for treatment in Italy on Wednesday.

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Sirte mayor Farj Al-Madani and his companions were released on Wednesday after 55 days of abduction.

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6.7 billion dollars were allocated for the private sector's importation transactions and 3.9 billion dollars for the public sector all as part of the 2017 importation budget that came in the meeting that was held in Tripoli by the UN-proposed government's prime ministry members.The meeting made the decision after discussing the proposals of the meetings that were co-chaired by Audit Bureau, Central Bank of Libya and Presidential Council.The meeting also recommended forming a committee that is tasked with monitoring the imported goods and foiling any smuggling attempts.

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The spokesman of Misrata municipality, Osama Badi told local media outlets that they have finalized the doctrine of peaceful coexistence that will be announced later on Thursday. The doctrine will include Sirte, Jufra, Bani Walid, Misrata, Zliten, Misallata, Al-Khums, Tarhouna and Qasir Al-Akhyar cities and districts. The step is aimed to establish social security and has been under preparation since September 2016.

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News Roundup - Thu, Apr 6, 2017 - The Libya Observer

Rome - African migrants languishing in Libyan detention camps need to be "got out of there" as soon as possible, a senior aid official who has just visited some of them said Monday.

Arjan Hehenkamp, the director general of the Dutch branch of charity Doctors without Borders (MSF), told reporters in Rome he had been shocked by the squalid, oppressive conditions he had witnessed in Libya.

"These detention centres are essentially human warehouses," he said of the camps ostensibly under the authority of Libya's government of national unity, but in reality frequently controlled by different militia groups, with whom MSF has to negotiate access to provide basic medical services.

"People are abused, used, traded, extorted," he said.

European efforts to stem the flow of mainly African migrants travelling from Libya to Italy have recently focused on trying to get more of them repatriated to their countries of origin directly from the camps, while also trying to block their arrival in Libya.

Italy has agreed to try to bolster the Libyan coastguard so it can intercept and turn back boats leaving Libya.

And on Sunday Rome announced a deal with dozens of rival tribes in southern Libya on securing the southern border of the vast state.

But Hehenkamp said Libya in its current state could not be part of the solution.

"People (in the camps) have lost any form of control, they are at the mercy of their captors," he said.

"They can't talk but their eyes are pleading. After that, you only have one thing in mind: 'get them out of there, get them the heck out of there, let them escape'."

He added: "There is a necessity for a humanitarian evacuation for anyone who is a migrant in Libya, regardless of how and why they came in the first place."

Hehenkamp also voiced doubts about the possibility of organising large-scale voluntary repatriations.

"To call it voluntary is a mockery. On the other hand, anything else is probably better than staying in the detention camps," he said.

"They should be brought to places where they can be assisted, where they can recover, where there is a government with the capacity to take care (of them)."

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See the article here:
'Get them out of there' - MSF plea on Libya camps - News24