Aid worker claims refugees are being denied food to motivate them to leave
The UN has been accused of trying to starve out refugees and asylum seekers who are sheltering for safety inside a centre run by the UN refugee agency in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
One group of about 400 people, who came to the Tripoli gathering and departure facility in October from Abu Salim detention centre in the south of the country, have apparently been without food for weeks.
Continue reading...No link found between number of Mediterranean crossings and level of NGO rescue ship activity
No valid statistical link exists between the likelihood that migrants will be rescued at sea and the number of attempted Mediterranean crossings, a study has found. The findings challenge the widespread claim in Europe that NGO search and rescue activity has been a pull factor for migrants.
Fear that the NGOs’ missions attract immigrants has been the basis for measures restricting humanitarian ships including requiring them to sign up to codes of conduct or simply blocking them from leaving port.
Continue reading...US urges Khalifa Haftar to end offensive on Tripoli amid concerns about unofficial Russian influence
Fears that Russian mercenaries, unofficially backed by Moscow, are tipping the scales in Libya in favour of the military leader Khalifa Haftar appears to have prompted the US to issue a strong warning to the general to pull back.
The US has been accused of taking little interest in the eight months of fighting on the outskirts of Tripoli that began when Haftar’s Libyan National Army mounted an assault on Tripoli, provoking a fierce counter-offensive by militia forces supporting the Government of National Accord (GNA).
Continue reading...Foreign minister says deal has reduced number of arrivals and deaths at sea
Italy is to renew its deal with the UN-backed government in Libya under which the Libyan coastguard stops migrant boats at sea and sends their passengers back to the north African country, where aid agencies say they face torture and abuse.
The foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, told the lower house of parliament that it would be “unwise for Italy to break off its agreement with Libya on handling asylum seekers and combating human trafficking”.
Continue reading...Fake networks in eight nations are connected to man allegedly behind disinformation empire
Facebook has taken down accounts linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin – the businessman allegedly behind Russia’s notorious troll factory – which were actively seeking to influence the domestic politics of a range of African countries.
The company said on Wednesday it had suspended three networks of “inauthentic” Russian accounts. The Facebook pages targeted eight countries across the continent: Madagascar, the Central African Republic (CAR), Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Sudan and Libya.
Continue reading...Arrest warrant issued for Abd al-Rahman Milad, suspected of drowning dozens of people
The UN-backed government in Libya has ordered the arrest of a man described as one of the world’s most notorious human traffickers who was this month revealed to have attended meetings between Italian officials and a Libyan delegation to discuss controls on migration flows from north Africa.
In a note released on Monday by the interior ministry in Tripoli, authorities said Abd al-Rahman Milad, described by the UN security council as a ruthless human trafficker suspected of drowning dozens of people, was “a wanted man and an arrest warrant was issued against him”.
Continue reading...Vessel carrying people from sub-Saharan Africa hit rough seas near island of Lampedusa
At least 13 women have died and eight children are missing after a boat capsized in rough seas off the Italian island of Lampedusa on Sunday night as a patrol vessel attempted to save it.
Italian authorities have rescued 22 survivors from the boat, which was carrying about 50 people. Only four of the 13 recovered bodies have been identified by surviving family members, including that of a 12-year-old girl.
Continue reading...Abd al-Rahman Milad attended 2017 talks between intelligence officials and Libyan coastguard
One of the world’s most notorious human traffickers attended a meeting in Sicily with Italian intelligence officials to discuss controls on migrant flows from Libya.
Abd al-Rahman Milad, known as Bija, took part in a meeting with Italian officials and a delegation from the Libyan coastguard at Cara di Mineo, in Catania, one of the biggest migrant reception centres in Europe, on 11 May 2017.
Continue reading...First group expected to leave dire detention centres in days, as UN denies reports that plan is part of EU strategy to keep refugees from Europe
Hundreds of African refugees and asylum seekers trapped in Libyan detention centres will be evacuated to Rwanda under a “life-saving” agreement reached with Kigali and the African Union, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.
The first group of 500 people, including children and young people from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, are expected to arrive in Rwanda over the coming days, out of 4,700 now estimated to be in custody in Libya, where conflict is raging. The measure is part of an “emergency transit mechanism”, to evacuate people at risk of harm in detention centres inside the county.
Continue reading...Strike in Murzuq last week, blamed on Haftar forces, killed at least 45 people
An air war in Libya is intensifying as rival forces in the divided country try to break a military stalemate, heightening significantly the risk of civilian casualties.
At least 45 people were killed and dozens wounded in an airstrike last Sunday that targeted a town hall meeting in south-western Libya. The forces of Khalifa Haftar, the 75-year-old military strongman who controls much of the east of the country, have been blamed.
Continue reading...Explosion shattered Libyan conflict ceasefire agreed during Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha
A car bomb explosion in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi killed three UN staff members and two other mission members on Saturday, the United Nations said.
The UN is trying to broker a truce in the capital Tripoli, where the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) launched a surprise attack in April. A Reuters reporter at a Benghazi hospital where casualties of the blast were taken saw a list of names of those killed identifying them as part of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).
Continue reading...Vessel allowed entry under agreement that other countries will look after those onboard
A group of 40 migrants rescued by a German charity ship have landed in Malta and will be taken care of by other EU member states after a deal negotiated by Berlin.
The 40 people were rescued on Wednesday from a small boat off the Libyan coast by the ship Alan Kurdi, which belongs to the NGO Sea-Eye. The NGO then sailed them to southern Italy, saying the port of Lampedusa was the closest and safest harbour.
Continue reading...Seham Sergiwa was taken by armed men after she criticised Haftar offensive in Tripoli
The family of a Libyan member of parliament and campaigner abducted by armed men two weeks ago fear she may have been subjected to torture and sexual violence.
Seham Sergiwa, who is also a prominent women’s rights activist, disappeared from her home in the eastern city of Benghazi on 17 July and has not been heard from since.
Continue reading...Up to 150 have died in what is thought be deadliest incident in Mediterranean this year
Dozens of bodies have been recovered from the Mediterranean, a day after the shipwreck that caused the deaths of up to 150 migrants.
Eyewitnesses described harrowing scenes in the sea, in what a senior UN official called the “the worst Mediterranean tragedy” so far this year.
Continue reading...Defence ministry denies supplying weapons in breach of UN arms embargo
France has said some of its missiles were found at a Libyan base used by forces loyal to the military strongman Khalifa Haftar – an embarrassing admission that raises new questions about its role in the conflict.
Confirming a report in the New York Times, the French defence ministry said it had purchased the US-made Javelin missiles that were subsequently discovered at a camp south of Tripoli.
Continue reading...As deadly airstrikes prompt plans to release detainees, fears rise for those trapped in the country amid claims of serious abuses
Kosofo was hiding in the bathroom when a deadly airstrike ripped through the ceiling of the hall he was locked inside, in Tripoli’s Tajoura migrant detention centre last week.
“I saw the hell with my eyes. I saw things that I had seen during the Darfur war,” says the Sudanese man in his 20s, who has asked to go by a nickname for his own safety.
Continue reading...Mediterranea’s Italian-flagged Alex arrives in Lampedusa with 41 shipwrecked migrants
A charity rescue vessel brought 41 shipwrecked migrants into port in Lampedusa on Saturday, the second boat to defy far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini’s bid to close Italian ports to them.
Mediterranea’s Italian-flagged Alex arrived in port where a strong police presence was waiting for them but everyone remained on board after spending two days with the rescued migrants and asylum-seekers on the sailboat.
Continue reading...Malian was one of four out of over 80 people on board who were rescued after raft sank
One of only four survivors after an inflatable raft carrying more than 80 people capsized off the coast of Tunisia has recounted his ordeal as 54 rescuees from a separate shipwreck headed to Malta.
Soleiman Coulibaly, from Mali, said he had spent two days clinging to a piece of wood after the engine caught fire and the inflatable sank.
Continue reading...Four men were pulled from sinking vessel with one later dying in hospital, says official
More than 80 people trying to reach Europe from Libya are feared dead after their boat capsized off the coast of Tunisia, according to the UN migration agency.
The boat sank on Wednesday off the port town of Zarzis and 82 of the migrants who had been onboard were missing, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. Fishermen pulled four men from the sinking boat, said Lorena Lando, the agency’s head in Tunisia. One of the four died later in hospital.
Continue reading...Reports suggest guards shot at refugees as they tried to flee after first missile hit
Libya’s government is considering closing all migrant detention centres in the wake of an airstrike that killed 53 people after it was reported that guards shot at detainees trying to flee the attack.
Overnight the air force of Gen Khalifa Haftar kept up its bombardment of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, mounting raids on the international airport.
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