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Libya: Death toll from recent migrant shipwrecks reaches 100
Italian coastguard rescues migrant boats near Lampedusa Italy's coastguard rescued about 170 migrants on two separate rubber oats in Mediterranean waters, news agency AGI reported Friday, hours after a crisis hotline signalled they were in distress. Some 79 migrants...
Podcast: Covid-19 in the Maghreb region as of mid-November 2020
In this brief podcast recorded on 12 November 2020, MEA Risk's Arezki Daoud provides an update on the Coronavirus in the Maghreb region. The state of the Covid-19 epidemic in the Maghreb looks rather bleak as we are reaching the mid-point of November 2020. As in...
Libya crisis: Talks in Tunisia show some progress
Libyans agreed in UN-led talks on Wednesday a plan to hold elections within 18 months, as diplomatic efforts grow to end a decade of violence in the North African country. Delegates from across Libya "reached a preliminary roadmap for ending the transitional period...
The Mediterranean Sea’s fishing wars
Domenico Asaro recalls the day in 1996 when Libyan forces began firing on his Italian fishing boat "Osiride" (Osiris), triggering a four-hour chase during which a bullet grazed his skull. The deep-sea trawler, which had been fishing for prized giant red shrimp in...
Libyan lawyer and media figure Hanan Al-Barasi murdered in Benghazi
A Libyan lawyer was shot dead in her car in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday, a security source told AFP, confirming local media reports. The lawyer, Hanan al-Barassi, "was shot dead in Road 20, one of the main commercial streets in Benghazi," said the security...
Immigration: Interceptions of migrants off the coast of Libya on the rise
A total of 575 migrants have been intercepted off Libya's western coast in just a week, the UN's migration agency said Tuesday. "In the period of 27 October to 2 November, 443 migrants were rescued/intercepted at sea and returned to Libya," the International...
Libya: New meeting in Ghadames to set up the basis of a ceasefire
Rival Libyan military officers arrived Monday for talks held for the first time on home soil following a ceasefire deal last month, an AFP reporter said. Formal talks will begin later on Monday evening, said the AFP reporter present, with discussions tackling the...
More North Africans die at sea in desperate effort to escape misery
At least 11 migrants died on Sunday when their boat floundered off the coast of Libya, the UN's migration agency said, days after 20 others died in desperate bids to reach Europe. "At least 11 migrants drowned after their boat capsized this morning, according to 10...
Libya: Tenuous ceasefire in Libya as foreign meddlers ponder what to do next
Libya's two warring factions signed a "permanent" ceasefire agreement on Friday after five days of talks at the United Nations, which hailed the deal as a historic moment following years of turmoil and bloodshed. "Today is a good day for the Libyan people," said...
Libya: Shipwreck off Libya coast claims lives of 15 migrants
A shipwreck off Libya has left at least 15 migrants dead, the UN's migration agency said Wednesday, the latest tragedy to strike people making desperate bids to reach Europe. "At least 15 migrants are presumed dead after their boat capsized off the coast of Sabratha,...
Libya: As Libyans hope of some normalcy, Afriqiyah Airways resumes Tripoli-Benghazi flights
Flights between the Libyan capital and Benghazi resumed Friday after an 18-month halt, amid an a easing of tensions between a Tripoli-based administration and rival authorities in the eastern city. "An Afriqiyah Airways plane... landed on Friday morning at Benina...
Prosecutors say ex French Prez Sarkozy was involved in criminal conspiracy, took money from Libya’s Muamar Gaddafi
French prosecutors said Friday that they had slapped criminal conspiracy charges on former president Nicolas Sarkozy over claims he used Libyan cash for his 2007 election campaign. The charge for "membership in a criminal conspiracy" was brought on Monday, the...
Libya: Another rogue official arrested in Libya for human trafficking
Libya's UN-recognised government on Wednesday announced the arrest of a former coastguard wanted by Interpol and under UN sanctions for alleged human trafficking. Abd al-Rahman al-Milad, also known as al-Bidja, was arrested by senior security operatives in Tripoli on...
Libya: Hopes for resolution of Libya crisis as rivals to meet and oil production resumes
Libya's state oil firm gave the green light Sunday for production to resume at a major oil field, as the UN announced 'face-to-face" talks between the country's rivals. Following the end of a blockade that was imposed in February, the National Oil Corporation lifted...
Libya: Tripoli authorizes reopening of mosques
Mosques reopened in and around the Libyan capital Friday almost seven months after they were ordered to close as part of strict curbs to rein in the Covid-19 pandemic. Libya, ravaged by a complex web of conflicts since the ouster of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi...
Libya: Financial challenges undermine UN’s rights agency’s work in Libya
The United Nations does not have enough funds to investigate rights violations in strife-torn Libya this year, the Human Rights Council decided Tuesday. In June, the UN's top rights body, with the support of Tripoli, adopted a resolution calling for a fact-finding...
Libya: After Morocco, Egypt gets its own Libya conference
Two days of talks between representatives of Libya's rival administrations that took place in Egypt this week were "positive" and pave the way for further face-to-face discussions, the UN said. The UN Mission in Libya, UNSMIL, "appreciates the efforts of both...
Libya: Armed militias clash in populated neighborhood of east Tripoli
The United Nations has condemned clashes between two armed groups in a residential suburb of the Libyan capital and the use of heavy weapons. UNSMIL, the world body's support mission in Libya, in a statement late Friday expressed "great concern" over the fighting in...
Libya: More tragedy at sea, with migrants dead, others missing
Tripoli, Sept 25, 2020 - The International Organization for Migration said Friday the bodies of three migrants whose boat went down off Libya were recovered from the Mediterranean but at least 13 others were missing. Twenty-two survivors were rescued late Thursday...
Libya: Amnesty Intl catalogs horrific abuses on migrants in Libya
Amnesty International on Thursday urged the EU to reconsider cooperation with Libya over "horrific abuses" of refugees and migrants in the North African country. Libya has become a key route for irregular migration to Europe in the chaotic years since the 2011...
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