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US aerial reconnaissance assets have recently noticed both Russian transport aircraft and a large Russian drone at an airbase in far western Egypt close to the Libyan border, CNN has learned.

It is not clear if the Russian equipment and personnel are military or contractors, but US officials believe it's all part of the growing signs that Russia is interfering in Libya, according to this official and another US official.

There was some open discussion of this at the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, when the four-star head of Africa Command acknowledged the US believes Russia is trying to manipulate the political outcome in Libya.

General Thomas D. Waldhauser testified: "Russia is trying to exert influence on the ultimate decision of who becomes and what entity becomes in charge of the government inside Libya. They're working to influence that -- that the decision."

Sen. Lindsey Graham then asked about the Russians: "They're trying to do in Libya what they've been doing in Syria?"

Waldhauser answered: "Yes, that's a good way to characterize it."

CNN spoke to officials in Egypt about an earlier Reuters report alleging the placement of drones and special forces in Egypt near the Libyan border.

An Egyptian military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told CNN this issue is a matter of sovereignty, going on to say that Egypt's military has hosted several rounds of talks for Libyan officials and members of parliament over the past two months to ease the political deadlock.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, responded to CNN questioning about drones, saying "we don't have that information." On special forces in Egypt near the Libya border he added, "we also have no information about that."

Five years after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi, three governments vie for power in Libya, multiple tribes compete for influence and a slice of the country's dwindling oil wealth; while ISIS has gained a foothold in some areas.

Keen to promote stability, the United Nations hastened in a Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) early last year.

It continues to compete with the Islamist-dominated General National Congress in Tripoli, also known as the Government of National Salvation, and with the previous internationally recognized government, the Council of Deputies, which has set up camp in the east of Libya and backs Gen. Khalifa Haftar, the head of the so-called Libyan army.

CNN's Barbara Starr reported from Washington, Emma Burrows reported from Moscow and Sarah Sirgany reported from Cairo. Angela Dewan and Laura Smith-Spark also contributed to this report.

Continued here:
US officials warn Russia could be interfering in Libya - WTAE Pittsburgh

When he saw boats in the distance, Issa knew he was going to live. It was July 2014 and he had spent hours in the sea, clinging to a plastic petrol container while women, men and children drowned around him. The small rubber boat that was supposed to take them all to Italy had sunk just two hours after leaving the Libyan coast. Of the 137 people Issa says were on board, only 49 survived.

Issa, from Burkina Faso, was not rescued by any passing ship but was picked up by the Libyan coastguard. Rather than being taken to a safe port in Italy as he had hoped, he was returned to Libya where he was handed over to the police. He says he was locked up for months in appalling conditions and beaten regularly by policemen who demanded money in exchange for his release.

My hands were tied behind my back, he said. I was laying on the floor facing down, and they were beating me on the back with a belt and electric cables.

Only after Issas family scraped together 625 OOO CFA (about 900), was he finally released.

In September last year, he tried to reach Italy again but after three days at sea, the boat he was on landed back on Libyan shores. We were arrested upon arrival and taken to a prison in Tripoli, and two weeks later we were transferred to the city of Sabha. We learnt that we had been sold to traffickers. After a month in captivity, he and others managed to escape. Our abductors shot some people. I dont know whether any of them died, he said.

This is just one of the stories of people we interviewed during a recent visit to Agadez, a city in central Niger which has become a busy transit point for refugees and migrants from sub-Saharan Africa trying to get to Europe via Libya as well as for those returning after suffering horrific abuse there.

They echo heart-wrenching stories I heard from the hundreds of refugees and migrants I met in reception centres in Italy. Many of them had been detained for months in Libya where they said they had been tortured, beaten, raped, humiliated. The word that stuck in my mind, used by so many of them to describe their experiences, is hell.

European governments are investing tens of millions in anti-migration measures in Niger, including by supporting Nigerien police operations to stop the flow of pick-up trucks that speed towards the Libyan border. They claim that these measures are necessary to protect those travelling. As one diplomat in Niger told me: We are worried for the people, they are enslaved in Libya. We need to stop this. We cant accept that people lose their lives and are abused in this way.

If EU leaders really cared about the abuses refugees and migrants face in Libya, they would offer them safe and legal routes to Europe.

But if the safety of these people was really their chief concern, why are these same governments sparing no effort in pushing the Libyan authorities to stop people attempting to come to Europe? Indeed, in recent months, European institutions and governments have been stepping up their cooperation with the Libyan coastguard to help it intercept people and take them back to Libya, turning a blind eye to the horrific abuses they will face there. In the past few weeks alone, Italy has signed a new agreement on migration control with Libya and European leaders have repeatedly declared their intention to increase collaboration including at the European Council last week.

Current actions to reinforce the Libyan coastguard through the provision of training and boats might save lives at sea. But without meaningful efforts to stop the automatic detention of refugees and migrants intercepted at sea by the coastguard and their systematic ill-treatment in Libya, and to provide access to protection for those seeking asylum, such measures are a double-edged sword.

With every agreement announced, European leaders send a clear signal that they are not really concerned about protecting desperate women, men and children by keeping them out of Libya. By donating boats to a coastguard accused of colluding with smugglers and beating those intercepted at sea and by supporting centres where people are arbitrarily detained and tortured, their true intention is revealed. Indeed, stopping people arriving irregularly in Europe is now so high on their agenda that any price is seemingly worth paying. The horrific consequences to this blinkered attitude are - as Issa knows all too well - very real.

Libya is in the depths of a humanitarian crisis, with much of the country under the de facto control of armed groups and criminal gangs. With a weak judiciary, lawlessness has become the norm, and civilians are at grave risk of human rights abuses. In this context, refugees and migrants face the risk of arbitrary detention, abduction, ill-treatment, sexual violence and exploitation. Although detention centres where refugees and migrants are kept are nominally managed by the Libyan government, they are in fact mostly run by armed groups. These groups use pressure and intimidation to get officials to grant them free reign in smuggling and trafficking networks.

If EU leaders really cared about the abuses refugees and migrants face in Libya, they would offer them safe and legal routes to Europe, in particular by making humanitarian admission to Europe available to the thousands of people in need of protection. Crucially, cooperation with Libyan authorities would focus on supporting measures to protect the human rights of refugees and migrants in the country starting with an end to their arbitrary detention and ill-treatment.

Women, men and children are being jailed, exploited, tortured and raped after their rescue. That decisions being taken by the European governments are resulting, directly or indirectly, in fueling these abuses, should horrify us all.

Matteo de Bellis is Amnesty Internationals migration researcher

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The human cost of European hypocrisy on Libya - Amnesty International

A new report last weekend has revealed that a force of several dozen armed private security contractors from Russia had operated in a part of Libya controlled by regional strongman Khalifa Haftar.

Coming just days after the Pentagons top Africa official warned the Senate that Moscow was trying to do a Syria in the North African nation, the report of Russian mercenaries in the war-torn country once again raises questions about the government of Vladimir Putins intentions in Libya and its United Nations-backed government, which Western countries see as the best chance of restoring stability to war-torn Libya.

Russia is trying to exert influence on the ultimate decision of who and what entity becomes in charge of the government inside Libya, General Thomas D. Waldhauser, the chief of the Pentagons Africa command, said in a testimony to the Senates foreign relations committee last week.

Russia has already irked numerous Western governments with its support of the brutal regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and, despite assurances from Oleg Krinitsyn - owner of private Russian firm RSB-group that the mercenaries were sent to Libya as a commercial arrangement, it is unlikely that the Kremlin did not grant Krinitsyn its approval, according to Reuters.

Krinitsyn told Reuters that his firm did not work with the Russian defense ministry, but was "consulting" with the Russian foreign ministry.

RSB-group sent the contractors to eastern Libya last year and they were pulled out in February having completed their mission. The task of the security contractors was to remove mines from an industrial facility near the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, in an area that Haftar's forces had liberated from Islamist rebels.

Krinitsyn did not say who hired his firm, where they were operating or what the industrial facility was. He did not say if the operation had been approved by the U.N.-backed government, which most states view as the sovereign ruler of Libya.

Earlier this month Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks in Moscow with Fayez Seraj, the head of the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, where he reaffirmed the Russian Federations support of working toward a united government in the oil-rich nation.

"Moscow confirmed its readiness to work closely with all sides in Libya with the aim of seeking mutually acceptable solutions to create the grounds for the stable development of Libya as a united, sovereign and independent state," the ministry said in a statement.

Despite the Lavrovs promises, actions by the Kremlin indicate that it is strongly in favor of Haftar taking control of the country and not just the eastern section currently under his control. In February Reuters reported that around 70 soldiers fighting for Haftar have been sent to Russia for treatment and Haftar has publically met with Russian officials at least three times twice in Moscow and once aboard a Russian aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean where he spoke with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Over the weekend, Haftars forces launched a series of airstrikes against the western Libyan city of Sidra, the countrys biggest oil port which has recently been the scene of intense between Haftars troops and militias in the west.

In another worrying step, the eastern parliament last Tuesday voted to withdraw support from the United Nations peace deal that created the Tripoli government in January 2016 in hopes of ending years of chaos in the North African country. The withdrawal of support further undermines the government, which has had difficulty asserting authority even in Tripoli.

Hafter, an army general, former CIA asset and U.S. citizen who lived nearly 20 years in American exile, is the most powerful figure in the east, touting himself as the champion against Islamic militants in Libya though his enemies accuse him of aiming to become a new dictator like Moammar Gadhafi, who was overthrown and killed in the country's 2011 Arab Spring revolt. He has talked of marching to take Tripoli to unite the country, hinting that he aims to rule. He opposed the government set up by the U.N. peace deal because it would have pushed him out as head of the military.

The general is backed by Egypt and Russia, but Washington under the Obama administration kept him at arm's length. One key question in Haftars future will be whether the U.S. warms up to him under President Donald Trump.

Hafter's forces seized the oil facilities last year. The Obama administration had joined the U.N. in calling on him to hand them over to the Tripoli government.

But now that they have been wrested from him by force, he may resort instead to an all-out fight against Tripoli. His army says it is massing forces east of the terminals, awaiting orders. Their strength is unclear but they can call on reserves of thousands of eastern Libyan fighters and tribesman and are backed by Libyan and foreign air support. Hafter travels regularly to Cairo and insiders have said he flew there shortly after losing control of the terminals.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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US general warns of Kremlin interference in Libya amid reports of Russian mercenaries - Fox News

Al-Sarraj was planned to arrive in Khartoum for a two-day visit for talks on bilateral relations

home > todays headlines, middle east, africa 15.03.2017

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Prime Minister of Libyas unity government Fayez al-Sarraj

By Mohammed Amin

KHARTOUM

Prime Minister of Libyas unity government Fayez al-Sarraj cancelled a scheduled visit to Sudan on Wednesday due to the security unrest in the capital Tripoli, according to the Sudanese foreign ministry.

Al-Sarraj was planned to arrive in Khartoum for a two-day visit for talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on bilateral relations.

The Libyan leader, however, has postponed his visit due to insecurity in Tripoli, which has made his movement very difficult, the ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, the Libyan foreign minister has conveyed al-Sarrajs apology to the Sudanese president over cancelling the visit.

Violence flared in Tripoli in recent days amid clashes between forces loyal to the unity government and a rival militia.

Last month, al-Sarraj survived an assassination attempt when his convoy came under fire in Tripoli.

Libya has been wracked by turmoil since 2011, when a bloody uprising ended with the ouster and death of Muammar Gaddafi after 42 years in power.

In the wake of the uprising, the countrys stark political divisions yielded two rival seats of government, one in Tobruk and the other in Tripoli.

In an effort to resolve the political standoff, Libyas rival governments signed a UN-backed agreement in late 2015 establishing a government of national unity.

Continued here:
Libya PM cancels Sudan visit over Tripoli violence - Anadolu Agency

File: Oil pipelines belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation that were destroyed with dynamite. The country is expected to produce about 1.43 million barrels per day, down from 1.54 million in December. Photo: PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP

LONDON - When Opec reached a deal last year to cut oil output, the decision to exclude Nigeria and Libya from the restrictions was seen as a risk to the group's efforts to curb a global crude glut.

An oil price rally has already stumbled since the deal, but Nigeria and Libya are not to blame. Output from both nations has slipped since December and violence in the two African states makes their ambitions to hike production look optimistic.

"The success of these cuts, debatable as they may be, will not hinge on Nigeria and Libya," said ING analyst Hamza Khan.

Opec members and non-Opec producers agreed to cut output by 1.8 million bpd for six months from 1 January. Opec has broadly cut the amount pledged, while others have not delivered in full.

After rallying above $58 a barrel in January, Brent has now slipped to around $51, under pressure from bulging US inventories and rising US shale production.

Since the Opec deal, Libyan production has dipped to 615,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 630,000 bpd in December, as militias battle to control export sites in the east of the country. Libya was producing 1.6 million bpd in 2011.

READ:Libyan faction takes fight to eastern commander, exposes oil port defences

In Nigeria, militant attacks in the oil-producing Niger Delta have hobbled output, forcing the closure of the Trans Forcados Pipeline for all but a few weeks since February. Maintenance on the Shell-operated Bonga field has also weighed.

Nigerian output in March is now expected to be about 1.43 million bpd, down from 1.54 million bpd in December, after February's brief rise to 1.65 million bpd. Nigeria is chasing a target of 2.2 million bpd, last achieved in 2012, according to Reuters calculations.

Morgan Stanley forecasts Libyan production could rise to 900,000 bpd in the second half of 2017, while Nigeria could produce 1.6 million bpd in the same time frame. But the U.S. bank says unrest could undermine both those targets.

"It is possible that unplanned disruptions increase further," Morgan Stanley said in a March 10 research note.

Unpredictable

Libya's prospects look particularly unpredictable. Since Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011, the North African nation has fractured as militias battle for power.

"With three rival governments, extremely weak state institutions, and an abundance of armed actors, Libya is anything but a stable and reliable producer," Royal Bank of Canada analysts wrote in a note.

In Nigeria, industry sources have told Reuters that repairs are nearing completion on the Trans Forcados Pipeline, which could swiftly add 250,000 bpd to output.

But attacks have repeatedly put the pipeline out of action and could do so again if peace talks with militants seeking a bigger share of oil revenues fail.

Even if Nigeria and Libya deliver on production goals -adding a combined 550,000 bpd, based on the most optimistic forecasts - it will still pale compared to the challenge OPEC faces from U.S. shale oil producers, who are adding capacity.

Buoyed by the price revival since Opecagreed cuts, US shale firms are expected to add 79,000 bpd of extra production in March alone, reaching total output of 4.87 million bpd.

Meanwhile, rising US inventories are overshadowing Opec's efforts, with the US Energy Information Administration reporting a rise in the week to March 3 of 8.2 million barrels to a record 528.4 million barrels.

"Storage numbers out of the United States, that's what would be keeping the bulls up at night," said ING analyst Khan.

Reuters

10 March 2017

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for April delivery, slid $1 to $49.28 a barrel, its first close under $50 since December 7.

15 February 2017

US gasoline stocks also hit a record, rising 2.8 million barrels to 259.1 million barrels.

13 February 2017

OPEC and non-OPEC producers including Russia agreed late last year to reduce output by about 1.8 million barrels per day in a landmark deal that followed a sharp drop in oil prices

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Libya and Nigeria still on slow oil-recovery path - eNCA