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Last updated04:13, February 22 2017

David Ramos

Migrant deaths have risen to record levels along the Libya-Italy smuggling route across the Mediterranean Sea.

The bodies of at least 74 migrants have been found washed up on the shore in western Libya after the engine of their inflatable boat was stolen, coastguard and aid officials said on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ Time).

Red Crescent spokesman Mohamed al-Misrati said the corpses had been recovered on Monday (Tuesday NZT) near the city of Zawiya and the migrants appeared to have died during the past two days. They were all adults, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries, and all but three were men.

The Zawiya coastguard posted a video that showed the migrants' boat, with no engine, as the first bodies were recovered.

Joel Millman, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said a local staff member had reported that "traffickers came and removed the engine from the boat and left the craft adrift".

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"This is not a only horrible number of deaths in one incident but it strikes us as something that we haven't really seen much of, which is either deliberate punishment or murder of migrants," Millman said.

Libya is the main departure point for migrants hoping to reach Europe by sea. They generally attempt the crossing in flimsy inflatable craft loaded with small amounts of fuel which are intended to get them only as far as European rescue vessels stationed in international waters.

Most leave from the stretch of Libyan coast between Tripoli and the Tunisian border to the west. The bodies of those who drown are frequently found washed up on Libyan shores.

The Red Crescent published pictures of the bodies laid out in white and black body bags along the beach. Some of the images showed a semi-deflated grey rubber boat of the kind typically provided by migrant smugglers, with wooden boards inserted to reinforce the floor, pulled up half-way onto the beach close by.

Some bodies were still inside the boat. A local volunteer said the toll could rise, as some bodies had been spotted in the sea but aid workers had not yet been able to recover them.

Last year a record 181,000 migrants crossed between Libya and Italy. More than 4500 are known to have died. The IOM said the latest incident raised the total number of deaths this year to more than 365.

Having largely closed off sea crossings between Turkey and Greece last year, the European Union is searching for ways to stem the flow of migrants from Libya.

This month European leaders offered Libya money and other assistance to try to reduce the numbers departing across the Mediterranean. Aid groups criticised the move, saying such plans exposed migrants to further risks and abuses within Libya.

-Reuters

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Migrant bodies wash ashore in Libya - Stuff.co.nz

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.

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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