Category Archives: Libya

Teenage boy the latest to die in Libyan refugee detention centre

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The 16-year-old, from Eritrea, had been in the facility for more than a year and died of an unknown illness and lack of medical care

A 16-year-old is the latest person to die in a network of Libyan detention centres where refugees and migrants are locked up indefinitely after they are returned to the war-torn north African country by the EU-funded coastguard.

Fellow detainees in Sabaa detention centre, Tripoli, named the boy as Adal Debretsion, an Eritrean who had reportedly been locked up for more than a year. They said the teenager died on 12 January of an unknown illness and a lack of medical care.

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Libya oil production nosedives as Haftar ignores calls to end war

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Increasingly erratic general shows no sign of relenting despite international pressure

Libya’s oil production and exports have almost ground to a halt as the increasingly unpredictable Gen Khalifa Haftar, the military leader in the country’s east, ignores international calls to seek a negotiated political settlement to the civil war.

World leaders had convened in Berlin on Sunday to endorse plans to entrench, monitor and enforce a ceasefire intended as a precursor to the disarming of militias and political talks in Geneva to build a reunified government, and a fair distribution of oil revenues between the east and west of the country.

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Libya: Sanctions threatened against countries who break arms embargo

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Johnson says international peacekeeping force could monitor the proposed ceasefire

World leaders seeking an enduring ceasefire in Libya have agreed at a summit to impose sanctions on those breaking an arms embargo and are considering whether to send a multinational force to the country.

The conference in Berlin of 11 countries is aimed at bringing an end to the fighting between the UN-recognised government in Tripoli led by the prime minister, Fayez al-Sarraj, and the Libyan National Army in the country’s east led by Gen Khalifa Haftar.

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The Observer view on the EU’s weakness on the world stage | Observer editorial

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Its new commission is failing to enact its grand ambitions, as destructive global power games are played out by others

It has been a difficult start to 2020 for the EU and the new European commission, which took office last month. Ursula von der Leyen, who succeeded Jean-Claude Juncker as commission president, is not short of ambition. She believes Europe should take a leading “geopolitical” role in international affairs, reflecting the EU’s status as the world’s largest trade bloc. But turning words into deeds is proving problematic.

“The EU needs to be more strategic, more assertive and more united in its approach to external relations,” Von der Leyen told Josep Borrell, the newly nominated EU high representative for foreign and security policy, in a mission statement last autumn. “We must use our diplomatic and economic strength to support global stability and prosperity… and be better able to export our values and standards.”

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Libyan warlord Haftar leaves Moscow without signing ceasefire deal

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General had been in Russian capital seeking deal with head of Libya’s UN-recognised government

Libya’s eastern strongman Gen Khalifa Haftar has left Moscow without signing a ceasefire agreement to end nine months of fighting in the country, leaving the future of a fragile truce uncertain..

The commander’s abrupt departure in the early hours of Tuesday was a setback for an international diplomatic push in recent days, though Moscow insisted it would continue mediation efforts.

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Two refugees killed after leaving crowded UN facility in Libya

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Circumstances of deaths raise concerns about pressure on gathering and departure facilities

The fatal shooting of two Eritrean men in Libya has raised concerns about overcrowding in UN facilities for refugees there.

The pair were reportedly killed in Tripoli last Thursday, days after the UN refugee agency had pressed them to leave a so-called gathering and departure facility (GDF).

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Libya ceasefire in doubt as rival forces accuse each other of breaches

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Warring sides also plan to deploy more troops despite Russian-Turkish brokered deal

A Russian-Turkish brokered ceasefire between the two warring groups in Libya was struggling to take hold in Tripoli as both sides accused the other of breaches and laid out plans to mobilise more forces.

In a breakthrough on Saturday, both sides in the civil war – the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli, and the Libyan National Army (LNA) forces led from the east of Libya by Gen Khalifa Haftar – agreed to a ceasefire proposed last week by Russia and Turkey.

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Norway opens its doors to 600 people evacuated from Libya to Rwanda

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Refugees and asylum seekers who found respite in Rwanda camp after escaping conflict in Libya will be resettled in Norway

Hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers evacuated from Libyan detention centres to a transit camp in Rwanda are to be resettled this year in Norway, according to Rwanda’s foreign minister.

Speaking at a news conference in Kigali on Wednesday, Rwanda’s foreign minister Vincent Biruta said the African nation was currently hosting more than 300 refugees and asylum seekers at the Gashora transit centre south of Kigali, most of whom hail from Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea, according to CGTN Africa.

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Fresh attempt to sue Libya for supplying IRA with Semtex explosive

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Claims lodged in high court in Belfast on behalf of victims of bombings in Northern Ireland

A fresh attempt to sue Libya for supplying the IRA with the plastic explosive Semtex during the Troubles is being launched by victims and the bereaved in Northern Ireland.

Claims have been lodged with the high court in Belfast on Thursday on behalf of two men who are seeking compensation respectively for the 1993 Shankill Road bombing and a blast on the Falls Road, west Belfast, in 1988.

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‘They don’t help’: refugees condemn UN over failures that drove them to sea

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Pregnant women and children among dozens forced into perilous Mediterranean crossing to escape overcrowded centre in Libya

Dozens of people who were put under pressure to leave a failing EU-funded UN refugee agency centre in Tripoli have used smugglers to cross the sea to Italy in the last month, according to refugees and aid workers.

One Somali man who spoke to the Guardian said he was among a group of more than 50 who left Libya in November and December and were rescued by ships including the Ocean Viking, the Médecins Sans Frontières and SOS Méditerranée ship, in the Mediterranean. He is now in Italy.

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Confusion clouds international efforts to reach Libya ceasefire

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Erdoğan and Putin make call for ceasefire, as Italian PM hosts Libyan factions in Rome

An unprecedented drive involving Europe, Russia and Turkey has been launched to broker a Libyan ceasefire, and end the risk of the country collapsing into total all-out war.

However, it is unclear to which extent the joint Russian-Turkish call for a ceasefire by 12 January should be seen as complementary or in competition to an intensified Italian-led European push to end the fighting.

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Libya chaos intensifies with drone massacre and rebel advances

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Fears UN-backed government may be overrun as key territory lost to Libyan National Army

The nine-month assault on the UN-backed Libyan government has moved closer to a bloody climax, with the Tripoli administration reeling from the loss of key coastal territory to rebel forces, and a lack of international condemnation of a drone strike that massacred 30 of its military cadets.

Russia and the United Arab Emirates were continuing to pour arms into the country in support of the Libyan National Army rebel forces, led by Gen Khalifa Haftar.

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Steep rise in civilians killed or injured in Libya by explosive weaponry

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Data showing downward global trend in explosive harm comes amid fears over rising violence and threat of war in Middle East

Civilians killed or injured in Libya by explosive weapons rose by 131% last year, with the number of incidents at its highest since 2011, the year of the Benghazi uprising, according to new data seen by the Guardian.

Most of the 900 people who died or were hurt in explosions in the country in 2019 – up from 392 in 2018 – were victims of airstrikes, according to statistics from Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), a charity based in London.

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Libyan general Khalifa Haftar’s forces seize key city of Sirte

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Holding city would be a major gain for warlord in battle against Tripoli government

Libyan forces loyal to the eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar said they had taken control of the strategic coastal city of Sirte in a rapid advance preceded by airstrikes.

Holding Sirte would be an important gain for Haftar, who since April has been waging a military offensive on the capital, Tripoli, home to Libya’s internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

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Dozens killed in bombing of military academy in Libya

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The Tripoli-based government’s training centre came under attack from rebels as regional tension grows over civil war

At least 28 people have been killed in an attack on a military academy in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, the government’s health minister said.

Tripoli, which is under the control of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), is facing an offensive by Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) that began in April.

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Turkish MPs pass bill to send troops to support Libyan government

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Move meant as deterrent to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar raises fears of escalation in violence

Turkey’s parliament has approved by a large majority a bill that allows troops to be deployed to Libya in support of the Tripoli-based government in the country’s worsening civil war.

The vote, taken during a special sitting, comes amid fears that the threat of Turkish intervention, in addition to that by other regional competitors, could intensify violence in Libya. MPs voted 325-184 in favour of the deployment.

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Mercenaries flock to Libya raising fears of prolonged war

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Hundreds of fighters from Sudan joining anti-government Libyan National Army

A new wave of mercenaries from Sudan is fighting in Libya, deepening concerns that the conflict in the north African state has descended into an intractable international war that could destabilise much of the region.

Leaders of two different groups of Sudanese fighters active in Libya have told the Guardian that they had received hundreds of new recruits in recent months. Both groups were fighting with the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by General Khalifa Haftar against the internationally recognised government in Tripoli.

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US ‘very concerned’ as conflict intensifies in Libya

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‘This isn’t good,’ state department official says as Russian mercenaries backing Khalifa Haftar turn conflict into bloodier one

The United States is “very concerned” about the intensification of the conflict in Libya, with a rising number of reported Russian mercenaries supporting warlord Khalifa Haftar’s forces on the ground turning the conflict into a bloodier one, a senior state department official said on Saturday.

Related: Libyan government activates cooperation accord with Turkey

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Turkey renews military pledge to Libya as threat of Mediterranean war grows

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Ankara ready to defend government in Tripoli in latest policy to inflame tensions with US, EU, Greece and Middle East countries

The threat of a military clash in the Mediterranean has drawn nearer following talks in which Turkey has underlined its willingness to send troops to Libya to defend the country’s UN-recognised government.

Such a move would risk a direct military confrontation with General Khalifa Haftar, the eastern Libyan military warlord who is thought to be planning a decisive assault on the government of national accord in Tripoli, or GNA. Either the UAE or Egypt, which are supporting Haftar’s forces, might also become involved.

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Libya arms embargo being systematically violated by UN states

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Jordan, Turkey and UAE singled out for ‘routinely and blatantly’ supplying weapons

UN member states have systematically violated a Libyan arms embargo, according to a long-awaited UN report due to be published on Monday that will identify Jordan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates as the main culprits.

The report is expected to say these three countries “routinely and sometimes blatantly supplied weapons with little effort to disguise the source”. It is also likely to link the UAE to a bombing of a detention centre that has been described as a war crime.

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