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The EU is pressing ahead to provide a Libyan land border authority, said to be "in complete disarray", with vehicles, surveillance, intelligence and other technologies, according to a document seen by EUobserver.

In a letter ahead of Thursday's EU summit in Brussels, Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat, whose country holds the EU presidency, said that the EU is ready to "do its utmost" to stabilise Libya in a broader effort to stop people from exiting the war-torn country towards Europe.

Muscat outlines the plans and money needed to help people stuck in Libya and prevent others from entering or leaving the country.

The letter, addressed to European Council president Donald Tusk, provides an overview of EU-led efforts in Libya, following a declaration signed five weeks ago among heads of state at a summit in Malta and will be presented to other EU leaders when they discuss migration at the summit.

It says the European Commission has earmarked 20 million to help improve conditions in detention centres, which are mostly run by armed militia groups.

Part of that money will also go towards sending around 5,000 people home in assisted voluntary return schemes, organised by the Geneva-based International Organisation of Migration (IOM).

One senior EU diplomat told reporters in early March that migration was just a side-issue to the real problems facing the country.

"Libya is totally out of control," he said, noting that the ties among local communities and tribes were shattered in the wake of Muammar Gaddafi's downfall as leader in 2011.

But EU leaders in Brussels, at a summit on Thursday, intend to endorse all efforts in resolving the migratory challenges faced in Libya, according to draft conclusions seen by EUobserver.

Among the biggest problems is trying to control a southern Libyan border that spans across vast tracks of lawless desert.

The aim is to crack down on migrant smuggling in a country where some 1,500 armed militia groups operate with near total impunity.

The task is further complicated by inter-tribal disputes and a UN-backed government of national accord in Tripoli that has little to no control over most the country.

The difficulties were highlighted by the EU's border and surveillance mission in Libya, EUBAM, which in an internal report from February, said Libya's ministry of the interior is being infiltrated "by militias and religiously motivated stakeholders."

It had also described Libyan border security and management as being "in complete disarray at present".

The Muscat letter says EUBAM will support the ministry to tackle organised crime and human smuggling.

It also offloads big tasks against smugglers in Libya to EU agencies like Europol, the European Border and Coast Guard, European Maritime Safety Agency, European Fisheries Control, and the European Satellite centre.

One idea includes disrupting supplies to smugglers by somehow liaising with "manufacturers, suppliers, retails of dinghies and engines, etc".

Another proposal involves "information sharing between military and law enforcement capacities deployed in the region."

Despite the plans, big questions remain on how exactly they will be carried out and whether the Libyan factions in control are willing to work with the EU.

Local authorities from Tripoli and Zintan, a city in the north-west of country, told EUobserver in February that they opposed the EU plans to keep migrants inside the country.

"It is not acceptable and it is not logical that we should solve the problem of Europe by keeping the migrants and refugees in Libya," said Mostafa Al-Barooni, Zintan's mayor.

The EU is carrying out missions in order to train the Libyan Coast Guard to return people caught within the territorial waters back to the country. In February, a first group graduated in Malta's capital city Valletta.

A second training mission has since begun in Crete, with Malta planning to host another two training modules between March and April.

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EU leaders to discuss Libya migrant plans - EUobserver

Britains multimillion-pound aid program in Libya is being used to indefinitely detain and mistreat migrants in the conflict-ridden country, the governments official aid watchdog has warned.

In a report published Friday, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICIA) says Britains aid to Libya risks causing unintended harm to migrants and could prevent them from reaching a place of safety.

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The UK devotes 5 million (US$6.08 million) to Libya as part of a program to tackle the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, with that money intended for improving the capabilities of the coastguard.

A further 4 million is for detention centers, improving health services for migrants, human rights training for guards and enabling the assisted voluntary return of detainees to their home countries.

While reducing the number of deaths at sea is vital, we are concerned that the program delivers migrants back to a system that leads to indiscriminate and indefinite detention and denies refugees their right to asylum, the report says.

All irregular migrants detained by the Libyan government including those intercepted or rescued at sea within Libyan territorial waters are held in detention centres, often indefinitely, where they face overcrowded conditions and are at risk of abuse and extortion.

The ICIA refers to a United Nations report, Detained and Dehumanized, which describes beatings, malnutrition, dirty water and such severe overcrowding that inmates are unable to lie down.

Libya is the main departure point for migrants attempting the sea crossing to Europe and is home to 1 million migrants and refugees, according to the ICIA. The country does not recognize the right to asylum and the United Nations does not consider it safe for refugees.

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The aid watchdog, set up and funded by the government to report on the efficiency of Britains aid budget, also criticizes ministers for deciding on a funding plan without studying the human rights implications in a country struggling to contain its long-running civil war.

We have not seen evidence that the responsible departments and implementing partners have analyzed the economic and political conditions surrounding Libyas system of detention centres in sufficient detail, it says.

This is important because there are credible reports that some Libyan state and local officials are involved in people smuggling and trafficking, and in extortion of migrants in detention.

The report concludes there is a risk that providing financial support, or even neutral humanitarian support, to detention centers breaches the do no harm principle in aid and so puts migrants at risk.

A government spokesperson told the BBC: Cross-government efforts are tackling the root causes of migration by building opportunity and stability for people in their home regions so they dont need to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.

Were also getting help to vulnerable migrants who have already started their treacherous journey.

The spokesperson said UK vessels had saved more than 13,000 lives in the Mediterranean Sea since May 2015.

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British aid money used to 'indefinitely detain' migrants in Libya - RT

Daily Mail

Italy looks to Niger for deal on Libya migration Libya Herald The Italian government is looking to seal a deal with Niger that it hopes will dramatically cut back migration from sub-Saharan Africa through Libya and from there across the Mediterranean to Italy and elsewhere in Europe. After the deal with Libya ... People-smugglers kill 22 African migrants for refusing to board a boat from Libya in bad weatherDaily Mail 22 migrants killed, 100 injured as smugglers battle for supremacy in Libya's power vacuumRT 22 Migrants Shot Dead as Gang Warfare Between Traffickers Breaks out in LibyaBreitbart News Press TV -News24 -ANSAmed all 23 news articles »

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Italy looks to Niger for deal on Libya migration - Libya Herald

Arab News

Libya's eastern parliament calls for elections next year The San Luis Obispo Tribune Libya's eastern-based parliament has called for elections to be held early next year, after it backed out of a United Nations-brokered peace deal with rival authorities in the capital, Tripoli. The widening split has stoked concerns that violence could ... Libya's eastern parliament quits UN peace deal with TripoliABC News Libya militias who seized oil terminals aim to take BenghaziNew Jersey Herald all 15 news articles »

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Libya's eastern parliament calls for elections next year - The San Luis Obispo Tribune

By Ayman al-Warfalli | BENGHAZI, Libya

BENGHAZI, Libya An oil guard official appointed by Libya's U.N.-backed government said on Tuesday that he had been tasked with protecting oil ports by an armed faction that took over Es Sider and Ras Lanuf terminals last week.

Idris Bukhamada, recently named by the Government of National Accord as the head of the Petroleum Facilities Guard, told local TV that export operations at the ports were continuing and that the oil was for all Libyans.

He was speaking after east Libyan forces carried out air strikes for a fifth day against the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), the faction that overran the ports. The eastern-based Libyan National Army and the BDB have been battling for control in Libya's eastern Oil Crescent since Friday, threatening output from oil ports that the LNA seized in September.

A senior official from Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Monday that production had dipped by 35,000 barrels per day (bpd) due to the latest unrest, leaving national production at just over 660,000 bpd.

OPEC member Libya was producing more than 1.6 million bpd before a 2011 uprising led to political turmoil and conflict that slashed output to a fraction of earlier levels.

"We have been tasked by the BDB to protect the oil ports," Bukhamada said, adding his oil guard belonged to the state and had no military mission.

"I reassure all companies and NOC partners that export operations are continuing and have not stopped," he told Libyan TV channel Al Nabaa.

Since the BDB attacked on Friday, a front line has formed at the center of the Oil Crescent, between the ports of Ras Lanuf and Brega. The Libyan National Army still controls Brega as well as a fourth port, Zueitina, which lies to the northeast.

It says it is using air strikes to prepare the ground for a counter-attack.

Libyan National Army spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said the latest strikes had hit targets from the BDB at Ras Lanuf and at Nawfiliya, 75 km (45 miles) to the west.

A resident and a military official in Ras Lanuf confirmed the air strikes, but said there had been no change to the positions of the rival factions on the ground.

A social media account used by the BDB said the group "is protecting all its positions, and controls the area from Nawfiliya to beyond Ras Lanuf".

The Libyan National Army ended long blockades at Zueitina, Ras Lanuf and Es Sider when it took them over seven months ago, leading to a sharp boost to oil production.

Es Sider and Ras Lanuf were badly damaged in previous rounds of fighting and are still operating well below capacity.

The current battle threatens to enflame a long-running, low intensity conflict between political and military factions based in eastern and western Libya, which the U.N.-backed government has failed to solve.

The BDB is partly made up of fighters who were ousted from Benghazi by the Libyan National Army, whose commander Khalifa Haftar has been waging a three-year military campaign in the city against Islamists and other rivals.

On Tuesday 39 members of Libya's eastern parliament, which is aligned with the LNA, voted to withdraw from a U.N.-backed dialogue process following the BDB attack.

(Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli and Aidan Lewis in Tunis; Editing by Alison Williams)

BEIRUT U.S.-backed Syrian militias said on Thursday they have enough forces to capture the city of Raqqa from Islamic State with support from the U.S.-led coalition, underlining their opposition to any Turkish role in the attack.

SHANGHAI/SEOUL Pressure in China on travel firms forced airlines and cruise operators to cut routes to South Korea, as the fallout spread on Friday from a diplomatic row over Seoul's plans to deploy a U.S. missile defense system against Beijing's objections.

ISTANBUL A helicopter carrying an executive of the Turkish Eczabicasi group and four Russians, including the firm's Russian operations chief, crashed in Istanbul on Friday, killing five of the seven people on board, the company's chairman said.

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Libyan oil guard head says asked to protect oil ports after clashes - Reuters