The Municipal Council and Emergency Room of al-Kufra, the southeastern Libyan city, condemn national and international media allegations of the city’s involvement in the conflict in Sudan. “We deplore the propaganda and lies by the Libyan media, including the Libya Al-Ahrar TV channel, the Libya Press platform, and all the Libyan media outlets that adopt these lies launched by international media to serve malicious colonial policies and ambitions,” the statement pointed out. “We consider that these actions aim to increase international interference in Libya, violate its sovereignty and confiscate its decision, as we call on all local media contact the media spokesman for the Kufra Municipal Council to obtain accurate information,” it added. “We affirm that LNA’s Subul Al-Salam Brigade is the one that guards the borders and combats crimes of human smuggling, drugs and weapons, and that the southeastern borders of the Libyan state are fully secured, the statement stressed. “We also deny the presence of any mercenaries or armed groups in al-Kufra, and we will take all legal measures against those who harm the city and distort its history,” it concluded.

The Chairman of the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC), Farhat Bengdara, discussed with the Head of the outgoing Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, the NOC’s development plan for the year 2023, according to NOC. During the meeting, Bengdara stressed that the plan to stabilize oil and gas production and increase it to 2 million barrels requires the solidarity of all state institutions, praising the Council of Ministers’ decision to approve an exceptional budget for the sector in the year 2022, which contributed to addressing bottlenecks that the corporation suffers from, whether in the conditions of workers or obligations or previous projects for the benefit of international companies, and the implementation of a number of developmental maintenance projects to stabilize production, NOC said in a statement. For his part, Dbeibeh praised the efforts of the Central Bank of Libya, the Audit Bureau, the Supreme Council of Energy, the Extraordinary Budget Follow-up Committee, the Board of Directors of the Corporation and all workers in the sector, for their continuous efforts to support the sector and maintain its stability, stressing the need to reach production to the target rate in the Corporation’s approved plan approved by the Supreme Council of Energy, the statement pointed out.

It is not the first time Prigozhin has raged about ammunition shortages and blamed Russia’s military, with which he has long been in conflict. And in a counterpoint to Prigozhin’s visibility, Shoigu was shown Friday inspecting military equipment and weapons destined for Russian troops in Ukraine. During the war in Ukraine, he has publicly accused some top Russian military officials of incompetence — behavior that is highly unusual in Russia’s tightly controlled political system. “Because of the lack of ammunition, our losses are growing exponentially every day.”Hanna Maliar, the deputy head of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, said Friday that Ukrainian artillery had destroyed some Wagner ammunition depots. Prigozhin has already threatened to withdraw from Bakhmut once before, in an interview with a Russian military blogger last week.

A threat by the leader of private Russian military company Wagner to withdraw his fighters from the battle to seize a city in eastern Ukraine is another episode in his dispute with Russia’s regular military over credit and tactics

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The owner of Russia’s Wagner Group military contractor threatened today to pull his troops out of the protracted battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut next week, accusing Russia’s military command of starving his forces of ammunition and causing them heavy losses. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a notorious millionaire with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed that Wagner had planned to capture Bakhmut by May 9. But, Prigozhin said, his force hasn’t received enough artillery ammunition supplies from the Russian military since Monday. It is not the first time Prigozhin has raged about ammunition shortages and blamed Russia’s military, with which he has long been in conflict. He has already threatened to withdraw from Bakhmut once, in an interview with a Russian military blogger last week, if the situation with ammunition doesn’t improve.

Libya, Meloni meets General Haftar: migrants and Sudan on the tableThe meeting at Palazzo Chigi between the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloniand the Libyan general Khalifa Haftar served for an exchange of views on some topics, in particular the unprecedented growth of migration phenomenon towards Italy. Haftar has been in Rome since yesterday to continue the dialogue on stabilization in Libya and North Africa, while the premier was in Tripoli on 28 January. Today’s conversation, which lasted two hours, was also an opportunity for Meloni, according to what has been learned, to confirm the Italian support to the action of the United Nations in Libya for the revitalization of a political process that could lead to presidential and parliamentary elections by the end of 2023. The Prime Minister also took the opportunity to discuss the destabilizing situations in Libya and neighboring countries, expressing particular concern, again according to the same sources, for the conflict in Sudan. Subscribe to the newsletter

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida address a joint news conference with Kenyan President William Ruto during his official visit to Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday he hoped to see closer ties between Japan and Africa as he seeks to win over the "Global South" ahead of a Group of Seven (G7) summit he will host later this month. "Many countries of the so-called Global South are hurt and suffering from high food and energy prices. The cause of this issue should be traced to Russia's invasion of Ukraine," Kishida told a news conference carried live by Japanese NHK television held during a visit to Mozambique's capital Maputo. Kishida was in Maputo after visiting Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya as part of a trip that started on Sunday and will be concluded with a stop in Singapore on Friday.

This was arguably one of the largest quantity of uranium ore concentrate that had ever been misplaced. RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty ImagesUranium ore concentrate, popularly known as ‘yellowcake’, is a type of uranium concentrate powder obtained after uranium ore has been milled and chemically processed. Yellowcake has very low radioactivity, equivalent to the radioactivity of uranium ore found in nature, and it is produced by all countries where uranium ore is mined. Nevertheless, the news of missing Libyan uranium ore concentrate did highlight serious problems with the national and global governance structures for managing uranium. Based on my experience in nuclear non-proliferation and politics, I believe that the missing Libyan uranium debacle illustrates two things.

TRIPOLI, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Thursday said it evacuated 179 asylum-seekers and refugees to Niger from Libya. "Today, 179 asylum-seekers and refugees were evacuated on the first flight to Niger in 2023. During their stay in the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) in Niger, the asylum-seekers and refugees were provided with accommodation as well as medical care, psychosocial support and language classes, it said. The UNHCR added that it aims to help the evacuees to find durable solutions such as resettlement to third countries. More than 4,200 asylum-seekers and refugees have been evacuated to the ETM since 2017 by the UNHCR, which has also helped 5,800 others to resettle in third countries, according to the UN refugee agency.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) evacuated today 179 migrants from Libya to Niger. The group included children, women at risk, survivors of violence, people with serious medical conditions, survivors of trafficking and some who had recently been released from detention, according to UNHCR. “During the stay in the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) in Niger, UNHCR provides asylum-seekers and refugees with accommodation, assistance and services, including medical care, psychosocial support, and language classes,” the U.N. agency said in a statement via Facebook. “UNHCR aims to help them to find durable solutions such as resettlement to third countries,” it added. Since 2017, UNHCR has assisted more than 4,200 people to depart to the ETM in Niger, in addition to assisting departure to third countries through resettlement, evacuation, and complementary pathways for another over 5,800 asylum-seekers and refugees.

Major General Al-Fitouri Grebeel, the Chief of Staff of Western Libya’s Ground Forces, met in Tripoli yesterday with U.S. Defense Attaché, Navy Capt. Mark A. Imblum, to discuss “enhancing relations between the Libyan and American armies”, according to a statement by the Ground Forces via Facebook. During the meeting, Grebeel “praised the role played by the AFRICOM forces” while Imblum “commended the precision, commitment, and determination of the military institution’s officers and personnel,”as per the Ground Forces’ statement. Imblum and his delegates were then invited by Grebeel to tour military camps run by the Ground Forces.

Khalifa Haftar, the General Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), met today with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome where they discussed a number of topics including “unprecedented increase” of the migratory flow towards Italy, according to multiple reports by Italian press. According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Haftar and Meloni also discussed the ongoing conflict in Sudan during their two-hour conversation at Palazzo Chigi. During the meeting, Meloni confirmed her country’s support for the United Nations’ plan to revitalize the political process that could lead to presidential and parliamentary elections by the end of 2023 in Libya, according to Italian news agency Ansa. Italian news agency Nova reported that Meloni’s meeting with Haftar was originally scheduled to take place in January, but had been postponed.

The Libyan general Khalifa Haftar, a strong man from Cyrenaica, is in Rome for discreet meetings with the Italian government. Yesterday evening he saw the foreign minister, Antonio Tajaniand today at noon he met the premier for two hours Giorgia Meloni at Palazzo Chigi. Among the topics covered was “the unprecedented growth of the migratory phenomenon towards Italy”, according to the official note released immediately after by the Italian government.

Turkiye’s Erdogan faces tough election amid quake, inflationANKARA: Early in his political career, a devastating earthquake and economic troubles helped propel Recep Tayyip Erdogan to power in Turkiye. Most opinion polls point to a slight lead by his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who heads the secular, center-left Republican People’s Party, or CHP. The political party founded by Erdogan in 2001 came to power amid an economic crisis and the Izmit quake. In the upcoming election, six parties have united behind his main opponent, Kilicdaroglu, despite their disparate political views. Some also are questioning whether Erdogan would agree to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose.

EventThe security situation will likely remain unstable nationwide through at least late May, primarily due to intermittent fighting and armed clashes between various rival militia groups across the country. Competing governmental institutions, as well as geopolitical rivalries, have profoundly complicated the security situation in Libya. Security ServicesThere is no unified, professional security force operating in Libya. Local militias - which often have conflicting and evolving allegiances and political and territorial objectives - are generally responsible for providing security. Do not attempt to bypass security checkpoints; even an accidental breach of the security cordon near a checkpoint may prompt security forces to respond aggressively.