Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Between 90 and 100 migrants were missing after their makeshift boat sank in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya, the country’s navy said late Tuesday. The inflatable boat was carrying more than 100 people when it went down, according to navy spokesman Ayoub Kacem, who …
Read More »Libya strongman says backs 2018 elections
Benghazi, Libya | AFP | Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar has said he will support 2018 elections in the war-torn country but also implied he would seize power if the polls did not occur. Late Thursday, Haftar said presidential and parliamentary elections were “a fundamental solution” to Libya’s crisis and should …
Read More »‘10,000 refugees’ to be relocated from Libya to EU in 2018
Rome, Italy | AFP | Up to 10,000 people stranded in refugee camps and detention centres in Libya could be relocated to Europe in 2018, the Italian government said on Sunday. The initiative would be part of an attempt by EU countries to address the deteriorating conditions in Libya, where …
Read More »Refugees directly flown from Libya to Italy in ‘historic’ first
Rome, Italy | AFP | A group of 162 “vulnerable” refugees were flown directly from Libya to Italy on Friday for the first time, a day hailed as “historic” by Interior Minister Marco Minniti. “For the first time a humanitarian corridor has been opened from Libya to Europe. It’s a start,” …
Read More »36,000 child migrants need aid in Libya: UN
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Around 36,000 child migrants, including 14,000 who are unaccompanied, need help in Libya, a major transit hub for migrants trying to reach Europe, UN agencies said Monday. Out of about 400,000 migrants in Libya, nine percent are children, the UN children’s agency UNICEF and the International …
Read More »UTL sale proceeds to pay creditors, Libyan investors
Kampala, Uganda | ISAAC KHISA | Uganda government plans to use the money it will get from the sale of a stake in the embattled telecom firm, UTL, to settle Libyan government and other debts. The Libyan government through a private company, Libyan Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology Holding Company (LPTIC) …
Read More »Libya oasis town offers rare ‘Safe House’ for migrants
Bani Walid, Libya | AFP | For migrants who escape torture and starvation at the hands of people traffickers, a “Safe House” in an oasis town offers a rare commodity in Libya: shelter and medical care. Bani Walid, on the edge of the desert 170 kilometres (110 miles) southeast of …
Read More »Libya, Italy to join forces against people traffickers
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Italy and Libya will set up a joint commission in a bid to fight back against people traffickers and tackle the problem of illegal migration, the Tripoli government said Saturday. The announcement was made after talks in the Libyan capital between Italian Interior Minister Marco …
Read More »From Libya’s migrant hell to Italy’s handbag fashion world
LAMA DI RENO, Italy | AFP | From forced labour in Libya to a job as a founding member of an Italian fashion start-up, Bassirou has come a long way in two years, thanks to his skills with scissors. The 26-year-old Burkina Faso native is the star student of a …
Read More »HRW denounces attacks on Sufi shrines in Libya
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Human Rights Watch on Thursday denounced a series of attacks against shrines of the mystical Sufi branch of Sunni Islam in Libya by “extremist” militias. “Sufi religious sites are under assault in Libya,” the New York-based rights watchdog said after two attacks in the capital Tripoli …
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