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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

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UN-proposed governments Interior Ministry issued a statement to deny media news about the resignation of the minister-designate, Aref Al-Khouja, saying he underwent a heart surgery last December in Tunisia and went back to work after he recovered.

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Agreement between Wirshiffana tribesmen and Janzour notables was put off until a further notice upon the latters will, said the spokesman of the Fursan Janzour Brigade, Abdelhamid Ganis. He added that they asked for time to consider the agreement, whose points were of mutual consensus by the two parties.

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Labreg airports deputy head of passports control department said they started implementing the order of the eastern governor, Abdelraziq Al-Nathori that bans Libyan women from traveling abroad without a man-of-kin.

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The body of a man, named Ahmed Al-Naeli, was found on the road in Wirshiffana after being kidnapped from in front of his house in Sayad district by a Wirshiffana gang, who demanded a huge ransom and when his family failed to pay, they killed him.

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Vaccination campaign for ninth graders in Tripoli was launched Saturday in all healthcare centers. The Tripoli medical services department called on parents to head to the nearest centers to make sure their children get the vaccines.

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Algerian humanitarian aids arrive in Ghat and Ubari via the Libyan-Algerian border checkpoints of Dabdab and Teen Al-Koum on the Algerian side. According to Algerias army, 30 tons of foods were brought on a flight from the capital to southern Algeria, and then they entered Libya via the land border crossing.

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Members of the aviation authority held a sit-in in front of Sabha municipality urging for the reopening of the citys airport and calling on the officials to work on solving the issues in order to reopen the airport, which was shut in 2014 due to security issues, but it is ready now for flights.

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Libyan Beach Soccer Federation announced the death of Libyan player Essam Al-Sharif to pay tribute to his remarkable contribution to Libyas beach soccer team in regional and continental competitions.

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IOM said it had hired a plane and helped deport 334 illegal immigrants to Senegal and Nigeria from Mitiga airport in Tripoli. On the first flight to Nigeria, 162 migrants: 101 women, 43 men, and 18 children were repatriated, whereas on the second flight to Senegal, 172 migrants including one woman were sent back home.

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News Roundup - Sun, Feb 19, 2017 - The Libya Observer

Libyas imports have shrunk by 45% over the last couple of years in comparison to the normal ratio of the countrys imports, confirmed the Head of the media office of the Libyan Ports Company, Mohammed Al-Gweri.

Al-Gweri added that in 2016, the imports decreased by 17% compared to 2015 due to the financial hiccup in Libya.

Shipped goods and commodities to Libya reached 5.3 million tons in 2016, while they reached 6.4 million tons in 2015. Al-Gweri explained.

He remarked that the drop in imports affected the basic goods such as grains, whose imports amounted to 2.6 million tons last year compared to 3 million tons in 2013.

Difficulties facing businesspersons to open letters of credit, and the shortage of foreign currencies at commercial banks are two reason behind the decrease of imports ratio. Al-Gweri indicated.

Late in 2016, the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) in Tripoli allocated 750 million dollars for the letters of credit for businesspersons to use in importing foods and medicines in the first two months of 2017.

Libyan operating ports are in Tripoli, Al-Khums, Misrata, Brega and Tobruk, while Ras Lanuf port is barely operating and Benghazi and Derna ports are shut. Al-Gweri pointed out.

Libyans are currently suffering from a loud-out market with prices of basic goods and foods soaring day in and day out amid very deteriorated living standards and economic conditions in the country.

Libya is 85% dependent on importation to cover the needs of the people in all kinds of goods and commodities, which has become a nightmarish business as the dollar keeps leaping in the black market reaching $1=LYD7 before resting at around $1=LYD6 in the black market, when its official rate is $1=LYD1.4.

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Libya's imports plummet by 45% in two years - The Libya Observer

February 19, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Second son of the late leader of Jamaat Ansar al Sunnah in Sudan, Abu Zaid Mohamed Hamzah, has been killed during an air raid against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Sirte town, 500 kilometres east of the Libyan capital Tripoli.

Mohamed Khalifa Siddig, an expert on Islamic groups told Sudan Tribune Sunday that Mohamed Abu Zaid Mohamed Hamza, 27 and his wife were killed in Sirte, saying his family received the news and will set up a mourning tent at their home in Khartoums twin city of Omdurman.

He added that some Libyan humanitarian groups have received the three sons of the slain Islamist in order to transfer them to Sudan.

According to Siddig, Mohamed left Sudan to join ISIS ranks in Libya six months after his older brother, Abdul-Ilah travelled to join the group in 2012.

It is noteworthy that Abdul-Ilah was killed in clashes in Sirte in 2015.

Also, their third brother Abdel Raouf was sentenced to death for killing an employee from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Khartoum on 2008 New Years Eve.

Earlier this month, Al-laithi Youssef, father of Aya Youssef who joined ISIS in December 2015 and was killed in Sirte alongside her husband Ahmed Gasm al-Sid after she delivered a baby daughter, arrived in Khartoum from Libya accompanied by his baby granddaughter.

He told reporters that the Sudanese security in coordination with the Red Crescent have orchestrated a complex operation to hand over the baby in Libya, saying they conducted the necessary tests to establish her descent as well as her health and safety.

In 2015, the Ministry of Interior in Khartoum announced that about 70 Sudanese had gone to join the ISIS franchises, both in Libya and Syria.

However, experts on Islamic groups put the total number of the Sudanese fighters within ISIS at 150 Jihadists, saying that 56 of them had traveled to join the extremist organization from countries other than Sudan.

They say that 35 of them have been killed in Iraq and Syria while 20 others have died in Libya.

Following the fall of Muammar Gaddafis 40-year-rule in 2011, Libya has slid into chaos and has become the most important transit country of illegal migrants to Europe.

Also, ISIS presence in Libya has become a source of threat not only to its neighbouring countries but also to Europe.

(ST)

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Second son of Sudanese prominent Salafi leader killed in Libya - Sudan Tribune

February 19, 2017 - 19:47

A patrol for the Libyan Coast Guard has saved 185 illegal migrants onboard a big dinghy off northern Sabratha shores.

They were rescued at dawn about 5 miles off the shore. The spokesman of the Libyan Navy, Ayoub Qassim remarked.

He explained that a third of the migrants were women and there were several children as well, pointing out that they were from different African countries.

Human traffickers have started using big dinghies to accommodate more migrants and because they are relatively stronger in the water. Qassim explained, saying those inflatable boats are unseaworthy in terms of equipment or safety.

That is why the dinghies pose a life threat to the immigrants especially if the sea was angry with high waves and beating winds coupled with panic-driven movements by the migrants onboard. The Navy official added.

He said that the Libyan coastguards drove the boat to the Al-Zawiya refinery and after providing the migrants with the necessary assistance, they were sent to the Al-Zawiya Illegal Immigration Fight Authoritys shelter center.

Likewise, Al-Zawiya coastguards rescued Saturday a number of illegal migrants aboard a dinghy, thus making the number of immigrants rescued off the Libyan coast reach 305 in three days.

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Libyan coastguards rescue 185 immigrants off Sabratha coast - The Libya Observer