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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

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

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

Sirte municipal member, Haniya Bukharis, said several members suspended their memberships at the municipality to protest the unilateral style adopted by Sirte mayor, Mukhtar Al-Maadani, in making decisions without consulting the members. She added that the mayor gave fake promises and ordered several appointments in violation of law 59) of the executive codes list of Libyas municipalities.

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A delegation from High Council for Reconciliation and elders from different cities managed to reach a temporary truce between Tarhouna and Garabulli after the last clashes between them. The truce urges for immediate ceasefire and shutdown of the main road temporarily, sources said, adding that delegates are trying to make the truce last longer.

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Zintans Military Council said in a statement that all of its armed forces in the area from Al-Aziziya and Zintan have withdrawn, stressing that it is not responsible for any checkpoints outside the citys administrative borders following the growing number of crimes and theft in Jafara district. It added that it refuses to blame Zintanis for the deeds of the outlaws.

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Tobruk-based House of Representatives failed to convene Mondays meeting as sources said a secret meeting has taken place between the second deputy speaker of the HoR, Ahmid Houma, and southern HoR boycotting members. The meetings details were not made public, while other sources said southern MPs refused to attend any HoR session until the Prime Minster of the eastern government, Abdullah Al-Thanni, is sacked.

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Eastern military governor, Abdelraziq Al-Nathori sacked Benghazi mayor, whom he appointed in the place of the elected one, and appointed the Gaddafi-regime Attorney General, Abdelrahman Al-Abar, as the new mayor, sources from the city said.

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Residents of Hay Al-Andalus reopened the main roads of the district after closing them in protest of the presence of armed groups in the area. The reopening came after a deal with the security departments, which vowed to evict t those groups.

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Libyas Basketball Cup final will take place in Tripolis Grand Hall between Al-Itihad and Al-Naser. Al-Itihad is looking for its fifth title, while Al-Naser will be looking for its third one so that it can add it to the title of the Libyan Basketball League, which it won two weeks ago.

Link:
News Roundup - Mon, Jan 30, 2017 - The Libya Observer