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Tunis - The presidents of Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia will hold a summit soon to try to find ways to reconcile neighbouring Libya's rival political factions and stem the country's chaos, diplomats said on Monday.

The summit was announced in Tunis after a new round of diplomatic efforts for Libya, where two rival administrations are jockeying for power and where the Islamic State group and other extremists have prospered amid the political vacuum.

Libya's neighbours are highly concerned about spillover of extremist violence.

Diplomats meeting in Tunis released a statement declaring their "attachment to Libya's sovereignty and territorial integrity," arguing against foreign intervention or any military solution to Libya's crisis.

US warplanes have conducted airstrikes on suspected extremists in Libya, which hasn't emerged from chaos since the killing of Muammar Gaddafi in a 2011 uprising and ensuing civil war.

The diplomats announced the Libya summit among Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, but said the date would be set after meetings with the Libyan parties.

Libya's most powerful army commander, Khalifa Hifter, is expected in Tunis in the coming days, according to Tunisia's foreign minister Khemaies Jihnaoui.

Jihnaoui met with the Egyptian foreign minister and Algeria's African and Arab affairs minister Sunday and Monday in Tunis.

A new health scare on Monday for Algeria's leader threw a shadow over the upcoming summit, planned in Algiers.

The Algerian leader canceled a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the last minute because of what his office called acute bronchitis, raising new concerns about his health after a 2013 stroke.

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North African diplomats seek solutions for chaotic Libya - News24

BBC News

Libya's eastern authority bans women travelling solo BBC News Military officials controlling eastern Libya have banned women under 60 from travelling abroad on their own. The ban is said to be for "national security reasons" and not driven by religious ideology. BBC North Africa correspondent Rana Jawad says it ... East Libya issues women travel ban over alleged spyingMiddle East Eye Eastern Libya ban women from traveling without male guardianNews24 Libyan females barred from traveling abroad unguarded - Al Arabiya ...Al-Arabiya International Business Times UK -Al-Bawaba all 10 news articles »

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Libya's eastern authority bans women travelling solo - BBC News

The Libyan people are still suffering because Western powers continue to fuel the ongoing conflict there, the cousin of slain leader Muammar Gaddafi has said on the sixth anniversary of the Arab Spring, adding that the West should apologize and leave Libya alone.

It is clear to everyone what is now happening in Libya: total destruction, people fleeing their homes, mass hunger. Our country has descended into total darkness, and our people are enduring suffering, Ahmed Gaddaf al-Dam, the cousin of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, told RT in an exclusive interview.

On this anniversary of the Arab Spring, we must demand an apology to all Libyans those whose homes were destroyed, those who were humiliated. On their behalf, I demand that the UN Security Council and the leading world powers apologize for what happened in 2011.

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Friday marked six years since the start of the Arab Spring, a wave of violent and non-violent protests that engulfed the Middle East and North Africa.

The civil unrest that broke out in Libya on this revolutionary tide came after the US-backed bombing campaign of the country toppled its long-time leader Gaddafi.

The nation has since been torn apart by fighting between different armed gangs and factions seeking control, including terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), as well as two rival governments the internationally-recognized government in Tobruk (GNA) and the Tripoli-based General National Congress (GNC) formed by Islamists. The two bodies agreed to form a unity government under an agreement proposed by the UN in December 2015, yet there still are numerous stumbling blocks which the sides have so far failed to overcome.

Gaddaf al-Dam stresses that the conflict was stirred up by the West, and that it should be held accountable.

The war, the destruction of Libya, all that, in their own words, was a mistake. [The West] recognized that they caused the overthrow of a revolutionary regime in Libya. All of them, first of all, should apologize and correct all that theyd done. But the suffering Libyan people, living in basements, forced to flee their homes, see nothing of the sort six years on. No one even talks about it today. What is happening in Libya is a crime from all points of view, Gaddaf al-Dam said.

READ MORE:US misjudged appeal of Western democracy for Middle East during Arab Spring CIAs Brennan

He believes the international community was not only wrong to interfere in Libya in the first place, but must now stop its meddling to let Libya deal with the crisis itself.

Unfortunately, the international community is still trying to manage the conflict in Libya and doesnt want to step aside. We are caught in a swamp. Every day there are meetings, in Tunisia, in Geneva How much more of this? We are not children, he stated, noting that the conflict in his view can only be solved through negotiations between representatives of all rival factions in Libya including those who are now in prison, like Gaddafis son and former prominent political figure Saif al-Islam and without foreign intervention.

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Despite his calls to the West to let Libya manage the conflict on its own, Gaddaf al-Dam says the international community does not really want the crisis to end, seeing the war in Libya as only a part of the Wests bigger plot to destabilize all the Muslim states of the Middle East and North Africa.

Ever since the 1980s Muammar Gaddafi warned of an existing conspiracy of Western countries against Libya. In fact, the plot was directed not only against Libya, but against all Muslim states. The implementation of this plan began with Afghanistan. Then came the destruction of Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya []

This hell, which was organized by Western countries in the region, aims to split the countries, and it is not only about Libya. [] Gaddafi in this regard was not an astrologist he had the information and facts on his desk. He knew the history and was a revolutionary figure who tried to carry the values and principles of the 1969 revolution through the years. The aim of the revolution was to unite the Muslim Ummah [religious community] and the entire African continent, but as Gaddafi knew about [the Wests] plot and fought with it, he was killed, Gaddaf al-Dam said.

The Libyan revolution of 1969, known as the al-Fateh Revolution or the 1st September Revolution, was a military coup that led to the overthrow of King Idris. It was carried out by the Free Officers Movement, a group of rebel military officers led by Colonel Gaddafi.

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'West must be held accountable for Libya, apologize & leave it alone' Gaddafi's cousin (EXCLUSIVE) - RT

The assessment broadly echoes statements made by the UN's Libya envoy, Martin Kobler, who told BBC Newshour over the weekend that efforts to deliver services to Libyans "is getting from bad to worse."

Kobler's comments follow the EU's announcement last month to channel some 200 million into Libya-centric migration and border projects throughout much of north Africa.

It is not yet clear how much of that budget will go to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli.

An European Commission official said on Monday (20 February) that they are still in the "identification phase".

With over 180,000 disembarking from the Libyan coast last year to reach Italy, the EU and its leadership are largely seeking to offload the problem onto the war-torn country.

The EU wants to manage the flows through the southern Libyan border and within its territorial waters by working with Libyan authorities.

Libyan border management and migration is carried out by the ministry of the interior, the minister of defence, and the ministry of finance.

The ministry of the interior is riddled with "militias and religiously motivated stakeholders," notes the report.

The ministry of defence "has little or no control of the Armed Forces."

It also oversees a land border guard force composed of 18,000 soldiers. Loyalties are mostly aligned with local battalions or other larger militias.

The EU Border Assistance Mission in Libya was also unable to gather insights into the ministry of finance "pending further research."

Of the 49,000 working for all three institutions, no more than one third are thought to be trained professionals.

The headquarters of the department inside the ministry of the interior charged with securing border crossing points is occupied by a militia.

Another department at the same ministry, in charge of 'combating illegal migration', oversees some 20 detention centres. Militia members count among its staff.

Other centres are run by armed groups, local community or tribal councils, criminals, or smugglers.

Libya has around 1,500 different militias.

"The trafficking of migrants for organs has also been reported," notes the report.

Big issues over security also remain, with carjackings and shootings in broad daylight that are reportedly common in the capital.

The report states that human rights defenders, journalists, and judges are the target of assassinations.

People who object to certain views are killed either by government forces or armed groups and this is "tolerated by the government."

Women won't approach the police out of a fear that "they could be murdered or raped".

The situation with security is bad enough that the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNCHR) doesn't send international staff.

The main police force in Tripoli is mostly composed of "legalised" armed groups.

The criminal justice system has collapsed, with prosecutors and their staff becoming the target of threats and killings across Libya.

The Libyan National Police "is dysfunctional, understaffed and under-equipped".

The issue has pushed Libya's prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj to ask for Nato's help to rebuild its defence and security institutions.

Sarraj's rival, a Russian-backed warlord by the name of general Khalifa Haftar, commands an army composed of militias and former units from the Gaddafi-era.

Haftar's role has also unsettled EU foreign ministers with Malta's government telling reporters in January that his advances towards Tripoli could trigger another civil war.

Haftar has so far refused to meet with the UN.

Asked if the EU has made any direct contact with Haftar, an EU commission spokesperson declined to comment.

Instead, the spokesperson repeated statements made by the EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini earlier this month that the EU supported efforts "to facilitate dialogue" between Sarraj and Haftar.

"I won't go further than that," said the commission representative.

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Internal EU report exposes Libya turmoil - EUobserver

MUNICH Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Seraj of the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli said on Sunday he would like Russia to help overcome deadlock in the country, which is struggling with divisions among militias and an Islamist militant threat.

In an interview with Reuters, Seraj expressed hope that Moscow might act as an intermediary between him and Khalifa Haftar, a military commander who is supported by factions based in the east of Libya.

Seraj's Government of National Accord has been trying to formulate plans for unified Libyan security forces since arriving in Tripoli in March, but has made little progress.

Neighboring Egypt talked this month to the Tripoli and eastern factions, which are both vying for control of the whole country. However, it failed to engineer a meeting between the two key figures, Seraj and Haftar.

Haftar was given a tour of a Russian aircraft carrier in theMediterranean last month in a show of Kremlin support. Russia also expects Seraj to visit Moscow soon.

Asked whether Moscow could become a useful intermediaryto pass on political messages or pressure to Haftar, Seraj said"Yes".

"We hope that Russia will play a positive role in resolvingthe Libyan crisis," he said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. "We hope that anyone getting involved in Libya will have a positive effect in the sense that the message that I want to sit down with the other Libyan parties reaches them."

Seraj has already held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Moscow's ambassador in Libya.

Referring to these meetings, he said: "We sent a clear message, we don't want to exclude any military leaders. We want to unite the military forces, we want to fight against terrorism together, we want military forces to come under a political umbrella."

Egyptian sources had said Seraj and Haftar agreed to honor a plan for creating a joint committee to negotiate reconciliation and elections by February 2018. But Seraj said:"There was no agreement in Cairo... Unfortunately the other side remains stubborn in rejecting dialogue."

Western officials see the U.N.-backed government as a way to stabilize Libya, which has been caught in fighting since the 2011 civil war that toppled veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi. The country has also become a major departure point for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

Italy and the European Union promised this month to finance migrant camps run by Seraj's government as part of a wider drive to stem immigration from Africa, but Seraj said help was not sufficient yet to provide good humanitarian help.

He reiterated Libya's refusal to take back any migrants who have already reached Europe, adding that the EU needed to make good on promises to help Libya monitor its southern border electronically and return migrants back to their countries.

"We are talking about people who are coming today from Africa and who end up in Libyan (camps) and would then try to go to Europe.... We are not talking about the return of migrants in Europe to Libya, that would be unacceptable," he said.

"We're not talking about soldiers on the ground. We're talking about economic support, support with medical drugs, humanitarian aid, to provide medical services, doctors until the migrants return to their countries of origin."

(Reporting By Shadia Nasralla; editing by David Stamp)

BAGHDAD The U.S. military is not in Iraq "to seize anybody's oil", Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump before arriving on an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Monday.

QUITO Leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno was within striking distance of winning the first round of Ecuador's presidential election on Monday, as the Andean country's electoral body counted ballots late into the night.

MADRID More than 300 African migrants jumped the border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Monday morning, the second mass push since Friday, the emergency services said.

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Libya's Seraj sees Russia as possible intermediary with eastern commander - Reuters