Tag: Libya

North Africa
sfax

Intercepted migrants disappear in Tunisia

More than 600 asylum seekers and migrants have gone missing after being intercepted by the Tunisian Coastguard in the Mediterranean Sea. The group was picked up while trying to make it to Europe last month, along with 18 dead bodies, and hasn’t been heard from since. Monitoring groups suspect they were dumped in Tunisia’s desert border regions with Libya and Algeria—a common practice. The EU has supported Tunisia in recent years to crack down on migration, even as reports of abuse have multiplied. (Map: Google)

North Africa
libya

Libya expels aid groups amid xenophobic backlash

Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (one of two rival governments) has accused aid groups of planning to settle African migrants in the country, to “change the demographic composition of the country” and threaten “the balance of Libyan society.” The government reportedly has ordered them to stop work. There are more than 824,000 refugees and migrants in Libya, and more than 240,000 Sudanese refugees have arrived in the country since the civil war broke out in Sudan two years ago. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

Africa
Africa

Trump tariffs ‘inexplicably cruel’ for Africa

Some of the world’s poorest countries, including nations grappling with protracted humanitarian crises, are among those most affected by President Donald Trump’s new trade tariffs regime, which has compounded pre-existing economic strains and debt woes. Among the worst effects will likely be felt in Africa, where Trump’s decision has created an “inexplicably cruel situation,” according to the Center for Global Development (CGD). “It is hard to fathom that the administration set out to destabilize poor African countries and unclear what they hope to gain,” wrote CGD researchers. The tariffs have effectively tanked the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allowed duty-free imports to the US for 32 countries and was credited with helping economic growth. Amid existential financial worries in the international aid sector—triggered by Trump’s closure of USAID—economists have also raised the possibility of a global trade war, with far-reaching ramifications for inflation and the cost of living worldwide. (Photo: Down To Earth)

North Africa
libya

Italy arrests, releases Libyan war crimes suspect

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a video released on social media that she has been placed under investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office over her government’s surprise release of a Libyan national who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.Italian police arrested Osama Najim, the head of the Tripoli government’s Judicial Police, in the city of Turin. Najim, popularly known as “Almasri,” serves as director of a network of detention centers where systematic abuse and human rights violations have been repeatedly documented in a reports by the UN Human Rights Council. Mediterranea Saving HumansNGO stated that the arrest “came after years of complaints and testimonies from victims, which were sent to the International Criminal Court.” Yet Najim was released after just one day, and arrived at Tripoli International Airport. Queried about the release, Italian authorities cited “procedural irregularities” in his arrest. However, media commentators have widely pointed to Rome’s arrangements with Tripoli to block migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean to reach Italy’s shores. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

Africa
Sudan

Sudan war drives continued refugee exodus: UN

The war in Sudan is driving continued refugee flight, leading to a deepening humanitarian crisis in the greater region, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported. The agency said that more than 3 million people have fled Sudan, seeking safety in neighboring countries, since the war began in April 2023. The refugees are faced with challenges of food shortages and continued rights violations such as killings, sexual violence and looting, as well as natural disasters such as flooding. In October, around 60,000 Sudanese escaping the escalated fighting in Darfur arrived in Chad, which is facing a resource shortage due to its increasing refugee population, now at over 1.1 million. The refugees there face an overwhelmed healthcare system, scarce food, and no education for their children who have already been out of school for two years. (Map: PCL)

Palestine
Gaza

UN human rights chief: Gaza faces ‘darkest moment’

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that “the darkest moment of the Gaza conflict is unfolding in the north of the Strip.” Calling for urgent action by the international community, Türk stated: “Unimaginably, the situation is getting worse by the day. The Israeli Government’s…practices in northern Gaza risk emptying the area of all Palestinians. We are facing what could amount to…crimes against humanity.” Türk asserted that under the Geneva Convention, member states have “an obligation to act when a serious violation of international humanitarian law has been committed.” (Photo: badwanart0/Pixabay via Jurist)

North Africa
libya

Libya: pressure on Haftar’s forces over ‘disappeared’

Amnesty International urged the self-proclaimed Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) to reveal the whereabouts of former defense minister al-Mahdi al-Barghathi and 18 of his relatives and supporters who were abducted in Benghazi, the principal LAAF stronghold, one year ago. Al-Barghathi, who served as minister of defense from 2016 to 2018, strongly condemned the LAAF offensive on Tripoli from April 2019 to October 2020. On Oct. 7, 2023, after his return to his hometown of Benghazi, he and 38 of his family and supporters were abducted by LAAF followers. Some of them have been released, and six are reported dead, including al-Barghathi’s son. But the fate of the other 19 remain unknown. There are suspicions that some of them may have been extrajudicially executed. Al-Barghathi himself has also been reported to be dead. However, his family has never received his body, and demands that the LAAF disclose the burial site and identify his remains through DNA testing. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

Palestine
ICJ

Chile files intervention in genocide case against Israel

Chile filed a declaration of intervention in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The South American country submitted its declaration under Article 63 of the Statute of the ICJ, which gives states a right to intervene in the interpretation of a multilateral convention. Chile’s intervention focuses on the duty to prevent and punish genocide under the Genocide Convention. (Photo: ICJ)

North Africa
Sharara

Unrecognized Libya government suspends oil exports

Libya’s unrecognized eastern government announced the suspension of oil exports in response to attacks on employees of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL). The oil-field shutdown comes amid an ongoing dispute between the eastern government and the UN-recognized government in Tripoli over the leadership of the CBL. The CBL earlier this month suspended its operations after several employees were abducted by unidentified parties. (Photo: Libya Observer)

North Africa
libya

More mass graves discovered in Libya

A mass grave containing two dozen bodies was discovered in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, once controlled by ISIS. The National Authority for Searching & Identifying Missing People, a body of the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, said its team is recovering the 24 bodies found under destroyed buildings in the district of al-Kambo. A mass grave was similarly uncovered in the city in October 2022. Another mass grave is meanwhile reported to have been found in the desert along the Libya-Tunisia border, the UN Human Rights Commission confirmed. This was the second such mass grave found on Libya’s borderlands this year. In March, the International Organization for Migration reported the discovery of the bodies of at least 65 presumed migrants in southwest Libya. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

North Africa
abu salim massacre

Survivors of Libya prison massacre demand justice

A group representing families of the victims of Libya’s Abu Salim Prison Massacre protested in Tripoli on the 28th anniversary of the killings, decrying the failure to achieve justice in the case. The association urged “that the secrets of the crime be revealed, justice be established, retribution be imposed, and that everyone who participated in this horrific massacre receive their deserved punishment.” Thirteen years after the fall of Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi’s regime, there has still been no legal judgment or even serious investigation in the case. It is believed that over 1,000 were killed by prison guards in the 1996 incident, sparked by an inmate protest over poor conditions. (Photo: Libya Observer)

Palestine
almawasi

Hamas accepts ceasefire; Israel strikes Rafah

Hamas has announced that its leaders have told Egyptian and Qatari mediators that they accepted the most recent Gaza ceasefire proposal. Israel’s war cabinet responded by voting to continue the planned military operation in Rafah, and the IDF announced air-strikes on targets in the southern Gaza city. The strikes came as Palestinians in Gaza were celebrating Hamas’ announcement, and Israeli protestors joined families of the hostages to demand that Israel accept the deal. (Image: Workers set up tents donated by the Qatari Red Crescent in al-Mawasi, an Israeli-designated “safe zone” in Gaza. Credit: Mohamed Soulaimane/TNH)