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A Libyan coastguard vessel was reportedly shot at from the shore by people-smugglers, as it intercepted 700 migrants off Sabratha, in western Libya, near the Tunisian border.

Naval spokesperson Colonel Ayoub Qassem told AFP that as the coastguard vessel closed in on the two wooden vessels on to which the migrants had been crammed, it came under fire from people-smugglers on the beach, it was reported on Monday.

The coastguard returned fire causing the smugglers to flee. There were no reports of casualties among either the coastguards or the sub-Saharan migrants aboard the smuggling vessels.

Libya has been the point of departure for most of the tens of thousands of African refugees who flee to Europe, Italy being the arrival point for those desperately seeking a better life.

The Italian coast guard has rescued thousands of refugees over the last few years as the notoriously overcrowded vessels, often in poor condition, used by the smugglers regularly capsize and sink.

Hundreds more refugees have lost their lives during the sea voyage. The situation has become so desperate that the Italians have travelled to Libya to try and work out with the Libyan authorities ways to stem the flow from the north African country before the migrants even attempt to reach Italy.

Furthermore, the Libya Herald reported that the relationship between the Libyan coastguard and the smugglers has at times appeared ambiguous.

Last October a vessel with coastguard markings was filmed from a rescue ship attacking a raft with migrants and apparently trying to seize its outboard motor.

Panicking migrants capsized their craft and as many as 20 may have drowned. However, the navy denied that one of their vessels had been involved.

Further collusion between the people smugglers and the coastguard included one incident last May when the smugglers alerted the coastguard to a migrant vessel sinking.

Meanwhile, as vulnerable refugees continue to lose their lives off Libyas coast, some of the countrys most vulnerable battle to receive basic medical care on the main land.

Tripolis Al Jalaa Hospital, the largest state maternity hospital in western Libya, is so broke it has only managed to keep its emergency power generators working thanks to an anonymous donation of fuel, the Herald reported.

Two thousand patients, mostly low-income earners, are treated by the hospital every month. Wealthier Libyans avoid the hospital due to its plummeting standards of health care amid reports of unhygienic practices.

Due to the funding shortages, the hospital has been unable to pay all of its nurses and is desperately in need of a new post-natal unit, and laboratory and dialysis equipment. The possibility of it being forced to close remains a reality.

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Human traffickers fire at Libyan coastguard report - Citizen

A man stands on the deck of the Golfo Azzurro trawler after been rescued from a rubber boat about 24 miles north of Sabratha in Libya. Photograph: AP

Conditions for migrants and refugees in Libya are worse than in concentration camps, according to a paper sent to the German foreign ministry by its ambassador in Niger.

The German embassy in Niger has authenticated reports of executions, torture and other systematic rights abuses in camps on the refugee route in Libya, Die Welt cited the report as saying on Sunday.

The warning came as EU leaders prepare for a summit in Malta on Friday to discuss ways to control migration across the Mediterranean from Africa this summer, amid pressure from Italy to take decisive action.

Similar evidence of atrocities in Libya have been emerging from in a court case in Milan brought by the Italian state against a leading smuggler.

The situation in Libya underlines the need for the EU to persuade the countrys leaders to allow UN access to set up refugee processing centres before pressing ahead with a tougher policy of sending back migrants found on boats heading for Italy.

Leading Italian politicians have said action to stem the flow of migrants is critical if the country is to stave off the growth of populist parties.

The Germany embassy in Niger said in a diplomatic cable that authentic cellphone photos and videos substantiated reports of concentration camp-like conditions in private prisons operated by people smugglers.

There are executions of countless migrants, torture, rapes, bribery and banishment to the desert on a daily basis, the report says.

Witnesses spoke of five executions a week in one prison, designed to free up space for new migrants and increase smugglers revenues.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said the EU cannot strike a Turkey-style deal in which the Libyan government would be given substantial EU donations in return for keeping people in Libya.

The chaotic state of the UN-backed Libyan government in Tripoli makes such donations impossible at this stage

The UK foreign office has been concerned by reports of conditions in camps in Libya, but access is near impossible due to a lack of security and the failure of the UN-backed government to develop its authority outside a small part of Tripoli.

UK diplomats acknowledge the danger is that tens of thousands of Africans will be forced back into Libya, with no effective detention centres in place. One idea is for the EU to finance camps in Africa so the UN refugee agency and charities could process migrants and prevent them from trying to cross the Mediterranean.

At the summit the EU is proposing to train a Libyan military coast guard to operate inside Libyan coastal waters and force the boats back. Similar proposals have been tabled in the past.

It is not possible legally for EU patrols operating outside Libyan coastal waters to turn ships around once they are on the high seas. On Friday, the Italians rescued 1,000 people at risk of drowning.

The sea crossing from Libya to Italy has become the main access route for migrants and refugees. A record 181,000 people reached Italy on the route last year.

Italy fears another surge in crossings this year. Italian ministers have insisted they will not allow Italy to become a hotspot for refugees, and want agreements from other EU states that they will take some of the people who reach Italian shores.

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German report details Libya abuses amid pressure to stem migrant ... - The Guardian

ANKARA Turkey reopened its embassy in Libya on Monday, 2-1/2 years after closing it due to lack of security, becoming the second country to reopen its diplomatic mission in the divided country.

Turkey shut the embassy in Tripoli in 2014 as rival factions fought for control after the overthrow of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi. Italy became the first country to reopen its embassy in Tripoli earlier this month.

"The reopening of the embassy will allow Turkey to make stronger contributions to efforts to build peace and stability, as well as reconstruction in Libya," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

The road where the embassy is located close to Tripoli's seafront was closed on Monday, and there was a heavy security presence. The Turkish embassy is about 600 meters from the Italian embassy.

On Jan. 21, less than two weeks after the Italian embassy reopened, a car bomb exploded in a street between the two embassies. A local anti-terrorism unit blamed rival political factions in eastern Libya for the blast, which left two suspected bombers dead.

Both Libya and Tripoli itself are home to myriad armed groups with shifting and conflicting loyalties that have sought to fill the power vacuum created when Gaddafi was killed in 2011.

In 2014, fighting between armed alliances backing opposing political factions resulted in rival governments being set up in the capital and the east. Since March last year a third, U.N.-backed government has been trying to establish itself in Tripoli, but it has been unable to win support from all groups.

"Turkey will continue to support the territorial integrity and national unity of brotherly Libya," the statement said.

Turkey's ambassador had been based in Tunisia during the embassy's closure, while the Turkish consulate general in the western city of Misrata had remained open without interruption.

(Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz and Aidan Lewis; Writing by Nick Tattersall and Dominic Evans)

MEXICO CITY Israel should apologize for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's praise for U.S. President Donald Trump's plans to build a wall on the Mexican border, Mexico's foreign minister said on Monday, calling it an "aggression" against the country.

PARIS French election candidate Francois Fillon and his wife Penelope are being questioned by prosecutors as part of an investigation following press allegations that Penelope Fillon was paid for fake jobs, BFM television said on Monday.

ERBIL, Iraq KhudeedaNaif won refuge in the United States as a member of Iraq's Yazidi minority, but what he fears more than religious persecution is retribution for his brother's work as an interpreter for the U.S. army in Iraq.

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Turkey reopens embassy in Libya, vows to support unity efforts - Reuters

Tripoli - The Libyan coastguard said on Monday it had intercepted around 700 Europe-bound migrants in territorial waters off Sabratha in the west of the North African country.

"The coastguard intercepted 700 migrants on board two wooden boats on Friday three nautical miles from the town of Sabratha," some 70km west of Tripoli, coastguard spokesperson General Ayoub Qassem told AFP.

He said people smugglers on the beach in the area opened fire on coastguards, without causing any casualties.

"Fire was returned, causing the smugglers to take flight," Qassem said.

He said most of the people detained were from sub-Saharan Africa, but also among them were Egyptians, Syrians, Tunisians and Palestinians.

European countries are trying to curb the flow of illegal migrants, including by boosting their support for the Libyan coastguard.

Since Friday, more than 1 360 migrants have been rescued by the Italian coastguard, and three bodies recovered.

Despite winter conditions, dozens of makeshift boats packed with migrants still set off from Libyan shores bound for Italy.

People smugglers have exploited the chaos gripping Libya since the 2011 uprising that overthrew dictator Moammar Gaddafi to traffic migrants across the Mediterranean.

It is big business for the smugglers who cram migrants into boats that are small and unsafe for the perilous journey to Italy just 300km from Libya.

Thousands of migrants try each year to make the crossing, but many drown when their boats founder.

In the absence of an army or a regular police force in Libya, several militias act as coastguards but are often being accused of complicity or even involvement in the lucrative trade.

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Libyan coastguard intercepts 700 Europe-bound migrants - News24

Libya Herald

Remaining Americans in Libya ignore new US State Department warnings to leave Libya Herald The few remaining Americans in Tripoli say they have no intention of leaving the country despite fresh US State Department travel advice telling on Friday telling them to do so. The updated statement tells US citizens currently in Libya to depart ...

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Remaining Americans in Libya ignore new US State Department warnings to leave - Libya Herald