Mediaboss Marketing

CAIRO The number of bodies washing up on Libyan shores is escalating as the refugee crisis worsens. But migrants also are facing perils even before they step into a boat.

On Thursday alone, Italys coast guard reported that about 970 people were rescued off the Libyan coast. Since January, more than 13,400 have landed on Italys shores, roughly a 50 percent increase over the same period last year.

Judging by the increase in the number of trips made by migrants, we can affirm that the crisis has worsened this year, said Mohammed al-Mosrati, a spokesman for the Libyan Red Crescent. This is all because of the intolerable economic, security and political conditions faced by those migrants in their countries.

An estimated 487 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean, most of whom departed from Libya, according to the Missing Migrants Project run by the International Organization for Migration. That is a 13 percent increase from last year, when an estimated 425 deaths occurred over the same period.

The deaths this year include at least 74 migrants whose bodies washed ashore last month on a beach near the city of Zawiyah in western Libya. More than 4,500 people drowned last year on the smuggling routes between Libya and Italy a record number, according to the European border-management agency Frontex. The United Nations Childrens Fund estimates that 700 of the victims were children.

[Where the worlds refugees live]

The Central Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe is among the worlds deadliest and most dangerous migrant routes for children and women, Afshan Khan, a senior UNICEF official working on migrant and refugee issues, said in a statement this week. The route is mostly controlled by smugglers, traffickers and other people seeking to prey upon desperate children and women who are simply seeking refuge or a better life.

Efforts by European nations to close the migrant sea routes between Greece and Turkey are believed to have played a role in the growing flows to Italy from Libya, particularly from its western shorelines, which are less than 200 miles from the Italian coast.

Smugglers are increasingly packing migrants into smaller, weaker boats to make more money, according to Frontex, adding that it expects drownings to increase this year as a result.

Meanwhile, children and women are routinely becoming targets of sexual violence and other abuses along the route from northern Africa to Italy, UNICEF warned in a report this week. During the journey, many end up in crowded detention centers in Libya, where they often also are denied access to medical care and legal assistance, and endure poor sanitation and a lack of nutritious food.

Some detention centers are run by Libyas U.N.-backed government, while others are controlled by armed militias.

Three-quarters of children interviewed said that adults had beaten or harassed them. Nearly half the women surveyed said they had been raped or sexually abused. The abuses were occurring in part because many children and women were under pay as you go arrangements with smugglers, leaving them in their debt and vulnerable to abuse, abduction and trafficking, the report said.

Children should not be forced to put their lives in the hands of smugglers because there are simply no alternatives, Khan said.

But any hope for alternatives is slim. The multibillion-dollar smuggling networks thrive on the chaos that has followed the ouster and death of Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi during the 2011 populist uprising, a chapter of the Arab Spring revolutions that swept across the Middle East and northern Africa.

That chaos shows no sign of disappearing. The oil-producing nation is riven by militias competing for oil, territory and influence. There are three competing governments, all of which say they are the legitimate authority in the country. Different regions are controlled by rival militias who make their own laws and regulations, control border crossings and exploit migrants at will.

That has brought obstacles for the Libyan Red Crescent and other humanitarian aid agencies. The fact that there are multiple authorities in Libya requires that we get permissions from different ones to even be able to perform our jobs, said al-Mosrati. It is crippling us.

The Libyan Red Crescent is already hard-pressed for funding and resources, and it runs itself largely with a volunteer force to assist migrants, said al-Mosrati. While a few international organizations provide some funding and aid, We do not get any support from the Libyan authorities, he said.

Add this to the increasing number of migrants, and you will understand how the situation has worsened, said al-Mosrati. Numbers are increasing, and we cannot assist the new immigrants. We fail to give them food, shelter or even the medical care they need.

The crisis will keep on worsening so long as there is no aid to humanitarian groups to face these challenges and provide the needed help to the migrants, he said.

Heba Mahfouz contributed to this report.

Read more:

The Waypoint: A visual journey through Lesbos, the gateway to Europe

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

Read the rest here:
Migrants face abuses in Libya even before they risk death at sea - Washington Post

The Libya Observer

Fuel smugglers from Russia and Ukraine released from Libya The Libya Observer The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry declared on Friday that 4 of its nationals have been released from Libya. The ministry said in a statement that 4 crewmembers of the Temeteron tanker were released by Libyan authorities on Thursday and they had returned ... and more »

The rest is here:
Fuel smugglers from Russia and Ukraine released from Libya - The Libya Observer

The Libya Observer

Uganda nationalizes Libya's share in UTL The Libya Observer The Ugandan government has taken over Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL), the country's national fixed line, mobile and internet provider, in which Libya a majority shareholder. Libyan Ambassador to Uganda Fawazi Abu Katif said the Ugandan government ...

Read this article:
Uganda nationalizes Libya's share in UTL - The Libya Observer

John Wight has written for newspapers and websites across the world, including the Independent, Morning Star, Huffington Post, Counterpunch, London Progressive Journal, and Foreign Policy Journal. He is also a regular commentator on RT and BBC Radio. John is currently working on a book exploring the role of the West in the Arab Spring. You can follow him on Twitter @JohnWight1

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs meeting in Moscow with Fayez al-Sarraj, prime minister of the Government of National Accord of Libya, reminds us that security and stability has yet to be restored in the war-torn country.

Though it may have slipped off the radar of global consciousness, Libyas central importance when it comes a region that has been mired in conflict and chaos over the past few years cannot be overstated. The countrys destruction and societal collapse will forever stand as a withering indictment of Western foreign policy towards the region and NATOs role, not as a defender of democracy, peace, and stability, but as an instrument of Western imperial power. The savage murder of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at the hands of a NATO-supported mob in October 2011 was a ghastly and despicable crime, one that stands comparison with the legal lynching of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2006.

This is without factoring in the refugee crisis that erupted in the wake of Gaddafis overthrow, the worst such crisis the world has seen since the end of World War II. It involved untold thousands of men, women, and children attempting a perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), over 5,000 perished in 2016 alone while attempting to cross the Mediterranean, evidence that this ongoing human catastrophe shows no signs of improving.

Perhaps the most grievous aspect of the military campaign in support of regime-change in Tripoli was the fact that for most of the previous decade, Libya under Gaddafi had been an economic and strategic partner of the West, ending decades of enmity and isolation, with Western oil companies in particular benefiting from Gaddafis volte-face where Western governments were concerned.

Writing in the Boston Globe in April 2011, writer and academic Alan J Kuperman reveals how President Barack Obama grossly exaggerated the humanitarian threat to justify military action in Libya. Later in the same article, he writes, It is hard to know whether the White House was duped by the rebels or conspired with them to pursue regime-change on bogus humanitarian grounds. In either case, intervention quickly exceeded the UN mandate of civilian protection by bombing Libyan forces in retreat or based in bastions of Khadafy (sic) support, such as Sirte, where they threatened no civilians.

Meanwhile, on the question of the character of the so-called revolution in Libya, as far back as August 2011, the BBC was reporting, Islamists have played an important part in the uprising against Col Muammar Gaddafi, sparking concern about what role they will play in the new Libya.

The BBC, one of the prime culprits among Western news organizations in making the case for humanitarian intervention in Libya in 2011, was more accurate than it could ever have imagined in reporting the danger of Islamist involvement and influence in this revolution.

Fast-forward to 2017, and the countrys predicament could not be grimmer. ISIS and Al-Qaeda retain a strong foothold in the country, to the point where both groups, though former enemies, are now actively cooperating in Libya on plans to mount a fresh wave of attacks this year. In this they are taking advantage of the lack of a strong central government and any semblance of stability in a country that was turned from a functioning state into a failed state as a direct result of the NATO-supported regime-change in 2011.

It is all a far cry from 2010, when Libya enjoyed the status of a High Development Country in the judgment of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In concrete terms, this status translates to a life expectancy of 74.5 years, a literacy rate of 88.4%, and foreign assets worth over $150 billion, among other favorable developmental and social indices.

This brings us back to the talks recently held in Moscow between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Mr. al-Sarraj. In advance of them taking place, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, Russia is interested in Libya finally becoming a working state after this barbaric intervention that was conducted from outside, that led to catastrophic consequences from the point of view of the Libyan state and the future of the Libyan people.

Though Mr. al-Sarraj heads one of three competing authorities currently established in the country that are vying for legitimacy, his Government of National Accord is currently the only internationally recognized one, a fact emphasized by his visit to Moscow.

On a wider note, Russias role in Syria since 2015 has brought with it requests from governments and leaders across the region for diplomatic support. In recent months, the Kremlin has hosted talks between the Hamas and Fatah Palestinian factions, out of which emerged a commitment to forge a unity government, while the Astana talks on Syria in Kazakhstan in January saw Russia sit down with Turkey, Iran, and representatives of the Syrian government and Syrian opposition to try and make diplomatic progress in resolving the conflict.

In Washington, meanwhile, the circus that is US democracy seems unrelenting, what with newly elected President Trump at war with the media and elements of the intelligence community, and a political establishment that appears to be a model of dysfunction and paralysis.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

See the rest here:
Why Libya's cry for justice must be heard - RT

By Ayman al-Warfalli | BENGHAZI, Libya

BENGHAZI, Libya An armed faction entered two major Libyan oil ports on Friday, pushing back forces that captured and reopened the terminals in September, officials and residents said.

The move risks increasing the fighting around the ports and casts new doubt over Libya's attempt to revive its oil production. The terminals at Es Sider and Ras Lanuf are two of Libya's largest, with potential combined production capacity of about 600,000 barrels per day (bpd).

It was unclear late on Friday to what extent the faction that attacked, the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), had gained control over the area. There was no statement from the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Tripoli, which restarted operations at the ports after the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) took them over seven months ago.

Since then the LNA's opponents have launched several unsuccessful attacks against the ports in Libya's eastern Oil Crescent, in a campaign linked to a broader conflict between factions based in eastern and western Libya.

The LNA had said the ports were well secured. But it said the BDB had launched a rapid, three-pronged attack early on Friday that pierced its defenses.

Air strikes repelled an attack targeting a third port, Brega, but the LNA withdrew men and equipment around Es Sider and Ras Lanuf to avoid a damaging fire fight, LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said.

Port engineers, oil sources and residents said the BDB entered both Es Sider and Ras Lanuf ports after the attack.

The BDB posted pictures of its fighters at Ras Lanuf's nearby air strip, though the LNA later said it had retaken control there.

At least nine men loyal to the LNA were killed and eight wounded in the fighting, a medical source said.

The LNA took Es Sider, Ras Lanuf, Brega and Zueitina oil ports in September. All but Brega had long been blockaded. After the NOC reopened them, Libya's oil production more than doubled.

The Benghazi Defence Brigades are composed partly of fighters who were ousted from Benghazi by the LNA, where LNA commander Khalifa Haftar has been waging a military campaign for nearly three years against Islamists and other opponents.

The LNA brands its opponents as Islamist extremists, and each side accuses the other of using mercenaries from Libya's sub-Saharan neighbors. Some in the east also accuse elements of the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli of backing the BDB and their allies.

The GNA's leadership strongly condemned Friday's escalation, saying in a statement that it "did not give any order to any forces to move towards that area". It suggested the attack could be an effort to scupper Libyan and international efforts to bring peace.

Libya has recently been producing about 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, more than double its output early last year but still far less than the 1.6 million bpd the OPEC member was pumping before the 2011 uprising.

The Oil Crescent ports suffered major damage in previous rounds of fighting and are still operating well below capacity.

Tankers have been loading at Es Sider since December, with the Amalthea due to arrive on March 7 to load 630,000 barrels for Austria's OMV, according to shipping sources.

The NOC has been lobbying foreign firms to return to Libya and invest in the oil and gas sector as it tries to push production to 1.2 million bpd later this year.

(Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli, and by Ahmad Ghaddar and Julia Payne in London; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Robin Pomeroy/Ruth Pitchford and Grant McCool)

SINGAPORE World's top crude exporter Saudi Arabia cut April prices of light crude it sells to Asia for the first time in three months in a bid to shore up demand in an oversupplied market, trade sources said on Friday.

SAO PAULO With electricity demand in Brazil slashed by the harshest recession in a century, the government is evaluating an innovative kind of power auction - to allow companies to bid for the right to cancel licenses to build plants.

LONDON China's "Air Pollution Control" regulation was formally approved on Feb. 20 and published on Feb. 28. It came into effect on Wednesday.

Go here to read the rest:
Armed faction enters major Libyan oil ports, putting output at risk - Reuters