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CAIRO Scores of bodies of African migrants washed ashore in Libyas western city of Zawiya on the Mediterranean, a spokesman for the Libyan Red Crescent said Tuesday the latest tragedy at sea after migrant deaths rose to record levels along the key smuggling route over the past months.

At least 74 bodies were found in Zawiya, according to Rec Crescents spokesman Mohammed al-Misrati, who feared an even higher death toll. He said that a torn rubber boat was found nearby and that he expected more bodies to surface as such boats usually carry up to 120 people.

Al-Misrati told The Associated Press that the bodies were found on Monday morning and that the Red Crescent workers retrieved them between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The aid agency posted on its Twitter account photographs of dozens of bodies in white and black body bags, lined up along the shore. Al-Misrati said the local authorities would take the bodies to a cemetery in the capital of Tripoli that is allocated for unidentified persons.

Libyan coast guard spokesman Ayoub Gassim said over 500 migrants were rescued at sea on Friday and Saturday off the shore of the city of Sebratha, which is to the west of Zawiya. The migrants boats were 5-7 miles from the coast of Libya.

Gassims aid the coast guard is seeing the smugglers use larger rubber boats in order to pile more migrants into the weak vessels some taking on 180 people and dramatically increasing the risk to the migrants.

We are seeing the new boats, which are not equipped with anything, but they carry more people, he said. This is going to be even more disastrous to the migrants.

Last week, Fabrice Leggeri, director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, said the Libya-Italy smuggling route across the Mediterranean has seen record numbers of migrant drownings in 2016.

According to Leggeri, migrant deaths along the central Mediterranean route stood at 4,579 for last year, which still might be much less than the true loss of life. Thats compared to 2,869 deaths in 2015 and 3,161 in 2014.

There is little sign of the surge is abating, even during wintertime. There were 228 recorded deaths in January, by far the biggest monthly toll in recent years. Leggeri blamed the very small dinghies and poor vessels used by the smugglers for the high death rate.

Overall, central Mediterranean migrant crossings increased by 17 percent last year to 181,459 people, according to statistics.

In Libya, the turmoil engulfing this North African country has become a death trap for thousands of migrants, most of them from sub-Saharan African countries, seeking to escape poverty and find a better life in Europe.

Libya is split by competing governments and many militias rule on the ground, many of them profiting from smuggling and human trafficking. Rights groups have documented migrants horror journeys involving torture, rape, and forced labor inside Libya.

The country sank into lawlessness following the 2011 uprising that turned into a full-blown civil war that led to the toppling and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Since then, human trafficking has thrived amid Libyas chaos.

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Bodies of 74 migrants wash ashore in Libya - New York Post

An oil refinery in Zawia, Libya. The country is keen to boost oil production with the help of foreign companies. Photograph: Ismail Zetouni/Reuters

Russia has significantly boosted its involvement in Libya by signing a potentially major contract to help redevelop Libyan oilfields.

The head of the Libyan national oil corporation (NOC) signed a cooperation agreement with Rosneft, the Russian oil giant, which NOC said on Tuesday lays the groundwork for investment by Rosneft in Libyas oil sector.

The agreement envisages the establishment of a joint working committee of the two partners to evaluate opportunities in a variety of sectors, including exploration and production, an NOC statement said.

Russia had extensive investments in Libya before the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and is eager to recover as many of them as possible in a country still plagued by violent conflict but keen to boost oil production with the help of foreign companies.

In recent months Vladimir Putin has become increasingly embroiled in the country as western-backed efforts to end the long-running political impasse have failed to soothe disagreements between factions in the east and the UN-recognised government of national accord (GNA) in Tripoli.

Russia is increasingly seen as a key player in persuading Khalifa Haftar, the head of the self-styled Libyan National Army based in the east of the country, to compromise over a future role in a new consensus government. Haftars forces control most of Libyas oil resources.

Efforts to secure a new political future for Libya have stalled after the failure of an Egyptian-led process, which saw Haftar travel to Cairo but refuse to meet the leader of the GNA, Fayez al-Sarraj.

Despite the snub, Sarraj has agreed to changes in the composition of his government but, in a sign of the countrys fragility, he survived an assassination attempt on Monday in Tripoli along with two of his senior aides.

Haftar has sought Moscows help to battle Islamic State, but European diplomats fear he could join what has been described as Putins axis of secular authoritarians in the Middle East alongside the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

Libya is one of a handful of Opec members who have been spared the need to reduce crude oil production in the first half of this year. Opec and 11 independent oil producers have agreed to cut output by a total of 1.2m barrels per day. However, Iran, Nigeria and Libya were permitted not to cap and even to increase oil production due to their complicated political environments.

Italys Eni and Frances Total are working in Libya and Schlumberger , the worlds largest oilfield services company, resumed operations in the country about three months ago.

Mustafa Sanalla, the chairman of NOC, one of the few functioning, bipartisan technocratic bodies in Libya, signed the agreement with the Rosneft chairman, Igor Sechin.

We need the assistance and investment of major international oil companies to reach our production goals and stabilise our economy, said Sanalla. This agreement with Russias largest oil company lays the foundations for us jointly to identify areas of cooperation. Working with NOC, Rosneft and Russia can play an important and constructive role in Libya.

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Russia increases involvement in Libya by signing oil deal - The Guardian

AIDAN LEWIS

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