Mediaboss Marketing

* Little clarity on how U.N.-mediated deal can be reset

* Angry reaction in Tripoli to idea of Haftar as army leader

* Diplomatic push seen as lopsided and uncoordinated

By Aidan Lewis

TUNIS, May 10 Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar, a figurehead in the east of the country, and Fayez Seraj, the head of a U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, appeared at ease as they broke more than a year of deadlock between them at talks in Abu Dhabi last week.

The meeting may have been amicable but it is unclear if either man will sway a complex array of factions on both sides of Libya's divide towards compromise.

Also unclear is whether foreign states with divergent strategies in Libya will help them do so -- especially as U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to spell out a policy on Libya.

At stake are the prospects for stabilising and unifying Libya, which splintered into competing fiefdoms after the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Western powers had hoped Seraj's Government of National Accord (GNA) would play that role. But though oil production has risen and Islamic State was defeated in its stronghold of Sirte under its watch, the GNA has been unable to extend its authority or resolve acute security and economic crises since arriving in Tripoli in March last year.

Haftar, meanwhile, built his power base in the east, spurning the GNA as his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) took control of most of Benghazi and oil facilities to the southwest.

As the international community pressed to reset the U.N.-mediated deal that created the GNA, Haftar shunned dialogue, refusing at the last minute to meet Seraj in Cairo in February.

"The fact that they met this time was important," said a senior Western diplomat. "Haftar has moved...he is now sounding more amenable to compromise."

STRONGMAN IMAGE

Last month there was also a meeting in Rome between the heads of two parliaments based in Tripoli and the east, one aligned with the GNA and the other with Haftar. Both are naming delegations to negotiate the details of a deal.

But there are few obvious signs of convergence. A statement from the Haftar camp in Abu Dhabi stressed support for the military, battling terrorism, and "addressing the proliferation of armed formations" mirroring the image Haftar projects as a strongman who can crush extremism and curb militias.

Seraj's statement reflected conditions that could contain Haftar -- placing the military under civilian authority, building a democratic state, and preserving "the principles of the 17 February (2011) revolution".

Haftar is said to want a three-member ruling council that includes himself and Aguila Saleh, head of the eastern parliament, alongside Seraj.

But that would leave out key constituencies represented in Seraj's current leadership council, including southern Libya and the city of Misrata, whose powerful military brigades have been broadly aligned with the GNA and against Haftar.

Some more radical Misrata militias that still back an ousted, Islamist-leaning government, and have recently lost ground in Tripoli, are vehemently anti-Haftar.

But even more moderate armed factions aligned with the GNA in the capital reacted with unease after the Abu Dhabi meeting they saw as unfairly bolstering Haftar's strongman position.

"We have said numerous times no to military rule and Tripoli is a red line, whether for Haftar or anyone else," Hashem Bisher, a prominent commander, wrote on his Facebook page.

The reaction became wider and angrier when Seraj's Foreign Minister Mohamed Siyala made comments on Monday that suggested acceptance of Haftar as the head of a national army.

One brigade said it had shut the foreign ministry, where pictures of Haftar were posted captioned: "No to the war criminal Khalifa Haftar".

The Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), which includes fighters who have been battling LNA forces as they push west and south, condemned Siyala's comments and questioned the GNA holding "suspicious conferences and meetings".

Seraj did not travel to Egypt for a follow-up meeting with Haftar originally expected on Thursday.

DISJOINTED DIPLOMACY

Western diplomats say foreign mediation has to be synchronised for a political deal to be reached.

The Abu Dhabi meeting was brokered by Haftar's two most prominent foreign backers, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Both share the Haftar camp's distaste for the Muslim Brotherhood and back his military campaign against Islamist militants.

Algeria, which hosted a round of talks this week, and Tunisia, are pushing a more inclusive approach. But diplomacy has been disjointed, in part because of uncertainty over U.S. policy under the Trump administration and a delayed leadership change at the United Nations' Libya mission.

That has left a vacuum that medium-sized players with different approaches have been battling to fill, said Jalel Harchaoui, a geopolitics researcher at Paris 8 University specialising on Libya.

"If the U.S. takes a keen interest in Libya again, they would be the only player that could unify these efforts," he said. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Editing by Patrick Markey)

* Phaserx reports first quarter 2017 financial results and provides corporate update

* CEO warns UK needs foreign talent after Brexit (Adds details, CEO quotes)

* Says will report fy headline earnings per share of between 177,1 cents and 188,8 cents Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Bengaluru Newsroom: +91 80 6749 1136)

More:
Way forward for Libya uncertain despite "breakthrough" meeting - Reuters

The Libya Observer

UAE deployed US-made fighter aircraft to eastern Libya forces The Libya Observer TIME cited satellite images of the Al-Khadim airbase - published in an IHS Jane Defense report last year in October - located in eastern Libya, as seeming evidence of the deployment of six "Archangel" aircraft, manufactured by Iomax USA, adding that ... Report: US-made military planes are being used in Libya's civil warMilitary Times US-made planes are being used to support a Russian-backed general in LibyaBusiness Insider UAE deploying US-made planes to support rival Libyan authorityThe New Arab all 14 news articles »

View original post here:
UAE deployed US-made fighter aircraft to eastern Libya forces - The Libya Observer

Libya Herald

Libya should be more of a priority for the US Libya Herald Libya should be more of a priority for the US, both in terms of helping address its immediate challenges but also harnessing the country's potential in the long-term, former prime minister Mahmoud Jibril told a conference in Washington this week ...

See more here:
Libya should be more of a priority for the US - Libya Herald

An estimated 1,300 refugees have died while attempting the crossing from Libya to Europe so far in 2017. Photograph: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters

The final toll of dead and missing from two refugee shipwrecks off Libya at the weekend has risen to 245, the United Nations high commission for refugees (UNHCR) has said.

Tuesdays revised estimate is partly based on horrific accounts from hospitalised survivors, and raises the death toll in the two incidents by about 50 people.

The revised tallies suggested that 82 went missing after a shipwreck on Friday night and a further 163 are feared dead in an incident off the Libyan coast on Sunday. The International Medical Corps said a woman and six men were rescued by the Libyan coast guards in the second incident. The new figures were given by the UNHCR at a briefing in Geneva.

Overall the weekend disasters pushed the death toll on the Libya Mediterranean route for 2017 up to 1,300, while refugees and asylum seekers who successfully crossed the Mediterranean now number more than 43,000.

The increased death toll is due to the greater use of small, plastic boats and the violence of the people smugglers.

Survivors of one wreck recovering in hospital in Pozzallo in Sicily told the authorities that 140 people had been pushed from one boat on to a rubber dinghy not capable of taking more than 30, which then capsized. The dinghy had no distress signalling equipment, and its surviving occupants were rescued by a Danish cargo ship. As many as five children had died.

Filippo Grandi, the UNs high commissioner for refugees, said said that he was profoundly shocked by the violence used by some smugglers, including the merciless killing of young man a few days ago, which was reported to my teams by survivors.

He added: The increasing numbers of passengers on board vessels used by traffickers with an average of 100 to 150 people are also alarming and the main cause of shipwrecks, and risks are increased by the worsening quality of vessels and the increasing use of rubber boats instead of wooden ones.

Grandi has gone out of his way to praise NGOs involved in the rescue effort, saying their role was on a par with the tireless efforts of the Italian Coast Guard, in coordination with Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.

In 2016, NGOs rescued more than 46,000 people in the central Mediterranean, representing over 26% of all rescue operations. This trend continues, reaching 33% since the beginning of the year, Grandi said.

Saving lives must be the top priority for all and, in light of the recent increase in arrivals, I urge further efforts to rescue people along this dangerous route. This is a matter of life or death which appeals to our most basic sense of humanity and should not be called into question.

The international office of migration (IOM), the UN agency for migration, estimated the total number of deaths on the central Mediterranean route from 1 January to 7 May before the latest disasters at 1,222.

It added that the number of arrivals in Italy was 41,146. During the same period last year the number of deaths on the route was 966, and the number of arrivals was 31,214.

According to IOM figures, 181,000 refugees arrived in Italy in 2016. That number is forecast to top 200,000 in 2017, a figure increasingly playing a role in Italian politics ahead of critical elections due next year.

Flavio Di Giacomo, an IOM spokesman based in Rome, explained the rise in numbers. Favourable weather between Friday and Sunday brought thousands of migrants attempting a sea crossing to escape the violence and abuse in Libya. Our field colleagues providing direct assistance at the harbours reported that many migrants bore signs of torture, he said.

He said that in many cases, the refugees are attacked at sea by smugglers who seize their mobile phones.

Nigeria, represents the largest single nationality of migrants arriving in Italy as it did last year followed by Bangladesh, Guinea, Cote dIvoire and Gambia.

Many other refugees under European Union policy are being returned to camps in Libya. The state of the detention centres in Libya have been repeatedly criticised, and many are privately run by smugglers with little no access for the international community.

Carmelo Zuccaro, the Catania prosecutor, told an Italian parliamentary anti-mafia commission on Tuesday that there is a mass of money destined for migrant reception that attracts the interests of mafia organisations, and I say that on the basis of some investigative evidence.

He added that it was wrong to think the mafia operates everywhere, because that way we risk increasing its aura of omnipotence.

Zuccaro caused a row last month by saying he had heard that people smugglers were funding some NGOs that rescue migrants to destabilise the Italian economy, although he had no hard evidence of this. He later insisted he was not referring to the large NGOs.

Zuccaro added in his testimony to the commission: Last Saturday a ship with 498 migrants arrived in Catania and if there had been our police units on the NGO ship that saved them we would already have caught the traffickers and we would have them in our jails.

The EU border control agency Frontex in a February report described the NGOs as unintentionally acting like a pull factor for more crossings by saving refugees close to the Libyan coast. However, Frontex says there is no evidence of collaboration between the smugglers and NGOs.

Continue reading here:
Nearly 250 refugees dead or missing after shipwrecks off Libyan coast - The Guardian

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Ministry of Health in Libya jointly launched the summary report on findings of service availability and readiness assessment (SARA) survey at Corinthia Hotel, Tripoli, On May 8th, 2017.

The workshop was chaired by Omer Basher Altaher, the Libyan Minister of Health in Libya and it was attended by Essa Aleminee the Undersecretary of Health, Syed Jaffar Hussain, the WHO Representative and Head of Mission in Libya and DSRSG/RC/HC Maria do Valle Ribeiro.

The event was attended by 95 participants from the Ministry of Health, Bureau of Social Affairs, Ministry of Education, Civil Registration Vital Statistics Department, Council of Economic Development, Libyan Board of Medical and Specialties and General Information Authority as well as other entities.

The Results of SARA survey, which were presented by Muhammad Ibrahim Daganee, highlighted that 17% of hospitals, 20.1% of primary health care facilities and 8.8% of other specific service facilities had been closed.

There is imbalance of health workers and shortages of medicines, equipment and diagnostic materials. The results also indicated.

Moreover, the service availability and readiness of the specific and specialized services were below the target, however; the target on workforce density, facility density and maternity bed density were well achieved.

Read more:
Report: WHO sums up findings about Libya health sector - Libyan Express