US calls for ‘immediate withdrawal’ of foreign forces from Libya at G-7 meeting
LONDON: US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for the “immediate withdrawal of foreign forces” from Libya during a meeting of the Group of Seven nations on Tuesday. G-7 foreign ministers met in London for their first face-to-face talks in more than two years, with calls for urgent action to tackle the most pressing global issues. At the @G7, the U.S. renewed support for the Libyan government to hold December 2021 elections and for the immediate withdrawal of foreign forces. G-7 foreign ministers from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US also held a separate session on the war and humanitarian crisis in Syria. Britain currently holds the rotating G-7 presidency and is set to host a leaders summit in Cornwall next month.
Source:Libya Today
May 04, 2021 16:01 UTC
Egyptian delegation to visit Libyan airports in preparation for resumption of flights to Cairo airport
(Shutterstock/File)CAIRO - 4 May 2020: Director-General of African Airways, Khalil Al-Maji, announced that a delegation of the Egyptian authorities will visit Libyan airports in the coming days to resume flights, with 35 flights per week from the airports of Mitiga, Misurata, and Benina to Cairo airport. On Feb. 12, Libyan Airlines announced, the official agreement to resume operating Tripoli - Cairo, Tripoli - Benghazi, and Cairo - Benghazi flights, following consultations and contacts with the Egyptian civil aviation authorities. Alexandria’s Borg El-Arab International Airport received on Feb 18, the first flight operated by Libyan Airlines after more than one year of hiatus due to a procedural issue. The plane, coming from Benghazi’s Benina airport, breaks a hiatus that started in November for flights operated by Libyan Airlines to Egypt. Egypt, however, has received Libyan flights from Libya’s Afriqiah Airways.
Source:Libya Today
May 04, 2021 14:31 UTC
Muslim Brotherhood in Libya changes its name to "Revival and Renewal" to run elections
CAIRO – 4 May 2021: In a surprising move, the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya announced that it had transformed into an association called "Renaissance and Renewal," according to a statement published on its official page on Facebook. The step comes as a prelude to the Brotherhood’s running in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. The Brotherhood said that the Renaissance and Renewal Association will fulfill its mission in the Libyan society through tireless work in various fields. Adeeb also said the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine had dismantled their association with the Brotherhood in Egypt; Hamas announced this through its Basic Law after the disastrous failure of the Brotherhood in Egypt. Political analyst Faraj Al-Farkash considered that changing the name is an admission that the name "Muslim Brotherhood" has become a burden after it was classified in some Arab countries as a terrorist group, according to Al-Arabiya TV.
Source:Libya Today
May 04, 2021 13:18 UTC
Libya to be highlighted during the G7 Ministerial conference
According to the Italian news agency AKI, the situation in Libya, Afghanistan, and Syria, as well as the Iranian nuclear crisis, the fight against terrorism in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, ties with the Russian Federation, and the situation in Belarus, Ukraine, and the western Balkans, are all on the agenda of the G-7 ministerial conference. The G-7 foreign ministers’ conference this year, which started Monday and will end next Wednesday, is the first since the outbreak of the Covid-19, with the previous meeting taking place in Dinar and Saint-Malo in northwestern France in April 2019. Because of the Corona virus’s spread and the necessary spacing steps, discussions since have been conducted via video. The meeting was opened to India, Australia, South Korea, South Africa, and the Secretary-General of ASEAN. The G7 consists of Canada, Japan, Britain, the United States of America, Germany, Italy and France.
Source:Libya Today
May 04, 2021 12:33 UTC
Africa World Cup stadium ban plunges qualifiers into crisis
CAPE TOWN: Africa's World Cup qualifiers have been thrown into crisis after a ban on numerous stadia across the continent left many countries facing the prospect of hosting matches next month outside their borders. The list leaves a quarter of the 40 teams competing for places in Qatar 2022 without a venue to play their home qualifiers. Those affected include Senegal, who competed at the last World Cup in Russia in 2018, and Mali, who were among the top seeded teams for the preliminaries. The group phase of Africa's World Cup preliminaries has the 40 countries divided into 10 groups of four. But in March, a similar ban on several stadia across the continent for the last round of Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers was lifted at the last minute.
Source:Libya Today
May 04, 2021 12:22 UTC
Deaths at sea highlight failings in Europe migration policy
It was only at 2:11 p.m., more than four hours later, that Alarm Phone received a response from Italian authorities, asking the activists to inform the “competent authorities" without specifying who those were. Alarm Phone was only able to reach a Libyan officer five hours after the first alert, at 2:44 p.m. They were told that the Libyan coast guard was indeed searching for three boats in the area — but with only one vessel, the Ubari. A day after the wreck, Libyan coast guard spokesperson Masoud Ibrahim Masoud told the AP that his agency had found 106 migrants and two bodies from two other boats. “Frontex did exactly what it had to do and above and beyond,” the agency’s spokesman, Chris Borowski, told the AP on April 24.
Source:Libya Today
May 04, 2021 09:33 UTC
Over 600 Europe-bound migrants returned to Libya — navy
(MENAFN - Jordan Times) TRIPOLI — More than 600 migrants hoping to reach Europe from Libya have been stopped since Friday, the navy said, as the International Organisation for Migration warned Libya was "not a safe port". International agencies have repeatedly denounced the return to Libya of migrants intercepted at sea, due to the chaotic situation in the country and poor conditions in detention centres. "Today, 172 migrants, including women and children, were returned to Libya by the coast guard," it said. "Our teams provided emergency assistance to more than 600 migrants intercepted over the past 48 hours, it added. Libya is a major route for migrants trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean, and traffickers have thrived in the lawlessness that followed the 2011 overthrow of leader Muammar Qadhafi.
Source:Libya Today
May 04, 2021 03:24 UTC
Italy guards its fishing boats in the Mediterranean
The Italian Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence, Stefania Bucharelli, announced that a frigate of the Italian Navy intervened on Monday to rescue seven Italian fishing boats after they were threatened by a high-speed rubber boat coming from the eastern coast of Libya. Aki news agency quoted Boucharelli as saying that the Italian boats which were carrying out fishing activities in international waters are safe and are heading towards the central Mediterranean. "As I have had the opportunity to speak in recent days, we can no longer allow Italian fishing boats, which operate legally in international waters, to be threatened or seized by the Libyan authorities, as happened on September 1, 2020," the Italian official added in a press statement, referring to the incident of Sicilian sailors, who were released after Haftar's militia detained them in a prison in Benghazi for more than three months. "Thanks to the visit of Prime Minister Mario Draghi to Tripoli, which promoted dialogue with the newly elected executive authorities in Libya, I believe that the conditions for working on a possible agreement with Libya are available today to define the perimeter of international waters off the coast of Cyrenaica," Boucharelli added. He reiterated support for the Italian foreign ministry's call for a technical meeting to define the agreement to be proposed to Libya.
Source:Libya Today
May 04, 2021 00:33 UTC
France to sell Egypt 30 fighter jets in US$4.5 bil deal
PARIS: Egypt has signed a contract with France to buy 30 Rafale fighter jets, its defence ministry said in a statement early on Tuesday, in a deal that investigative website Disclose said on Monday was worth US$4.5 billion. France was the main weapons supplier to Egypt between 2013-2017, including the sale of 24 warplanes with an option for 12 more. Those contracts dried up, including deals for more Rafale jets and warships that had been at an advanced stage. Benedicte Jeannerod, Human Rights Watch Director for France, denounced the deal outright. French officials dismiss this and say Paris is following a policy of not openly criticising countries over human rights so as to be more effective in private on a case-by-case basis.
Source:Libya Today
May 03, 2021 22:52 UTC
Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Libya holds a series of meetings with Libyan and officials and actors from different backgrounds and affiliation - Libya
Tripoli, 3 May 2021 - Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya Ján Kubiš continued his meetings with Libyan officials, political and security actors. Special Envoy Kubiš renewed the UN and the international community’s readiness to continue to provide the necessary support to HNEC. On Saturday, Special Envoy Ján Kubiš met with the Commander of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces Khalifa Haftar. They further discussed national reconciliation and the contribution of both the UN and the African Union in this regard. Today, the Special Envoy also met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Çavuşoğlu, who is visiting Tripoli together with other high-level officials.
Source:Libya Today
May 03, 2021 21:56 UTC
Garneau to quarantine in hotel after returning from G7 ministers' meeting in U.K.
OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau will stay in a quarantine hotel for three days starting Wednesday after returning from the United Kingdom where he's attending the first in-person meeting of G7 foreign and development ministers in overOTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau will stay in a quarantine hotel for three days starting Wednesday after returning from the United Kingdom where he's attending the first in-person meeting of G7 foreign and development ministers in over two years. "There's no special treatment for Minister Garneau. She said the U.K. government decided to allow ministers participating in the G7 meetings and their staffers into the U.K. without staying in quarantine. U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is hosting the G7 foreign and development ministers' meeting in central London, where participants will follow strict COVID-19 measures, including daily testing and social distancing. The department said G7 ministers will look to align efforts on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring equitable access to vaccines.
Source:Libya Today
May 03, 2021 21:05 UTC
Libya ranks 165th in the Press Freedom Index
According to ‘Reporters Without Borders’, Libya has been ranked 165th in 2021, which is at the lower end of the list for the World Press Freedom Index 2021, which assesses the state of press freedom in 180 countries annually. According to the organization’s report, the press is paying a heavy price for the situation in which Libya has been going through over the past ten years, of instability at a political, economic, and social level. The organization stated that it recorded many violations, including violence, censorship, and intimidation, with a state of impunity in place towards violence and atrocities committed against journalists and the media in general. It noted that Libya needs laws that would guarantee freedom of speech and expression, the safety of journalists, and the right to access reliable information.
Source:Libya Observer
May 03, 2021 20:48 UTC
I outrage, therefore I am
Public outrage finds a virtual marketplace that has the reach and impact of an e-commerce platform. The outrage of individuals, driven by a common cause, finds an amplification that can even transcend the borders. Outrage RedefinedIn recent history, ‘Arab Spring’ demonstrated the organising power of ordinary individuals and how public outrage can be channelised into mass movements. India too saw public outrage spilling onto the streets. In most cases, the right-wing trolls unleash online outrage that takes the form of bullying.
Source:Libya Today
May 03, 2021 18:33 UTC
Libya's Health Ministry discusses cooperation with the UK
The Libyan Health Minister, Ali Al-Zanati, discussed with the United Kingdom's chargé d'affaires, Keith English, the Coronavirus pandemic issues in the two countries and possible cooperation in the healthcare sector. The UK chargé d'affaires said her country was ready to support Libya in the healthcare sector and that the UK was keen to develop health sector in Libya. The Libyan Health Minister hailed the UK support and readiness to assist Libya's healthcare sector, saying they are ready to cooperate in all relevant fields, including training programs, and reiterated that cooperation in psychological treatment will also be significant, especially after years of war and instability in Libya. Meanwhile, the British chargé d'affaires said they would be happy to see the Libyan Health Minister's vision for nationalizing medical treatment and expertise within Libyan medical institutions.
Source:Libya Observer
May 03, 2021 17:37 UTC
Libya is keen to establish distinguished relations with Turkey, Al-Mangoush says
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of National Unity (GNU), Najla Al-Manqoush, has affirmed Libya's keenness to establish distinguished relations with Turkey in the interest of both countries. In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuşolu in Tripoli, Al-Manqoush praised Turkey's support for the health sector in combating the Coronavirus pandemic, calling on Ankara to cooperate with the government to implement the ceasefire agreement and the outcomes of the Berlin conference. For his part, Çavuşolu said that their support for the legitimate government in Libya prevented a civil war and stopped the war between brothers, adding that they would support the Libyan government in the service files and the challenges it faces. In the same context, Çavuşolu referred to the formation of a Libyan-Turkish parliamentary friendship group within the Turkish National Assembly, explaining that his country has made an intense effort to bring about lasting peace, stability and prosperity in Libya. He also added that his meeting with the Prime Minister, Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah included a discussion on the maritime memorandum of understanding, its terms of reference, and the steps taken towards it in the future, in addition to the mechanism for the return of Turkish companies to resume their work in Libya.
Source:Libya Observer
May 03, 2021 17:36 UTC