Magreb

Universal goodwill messages to Libya’s new interim leadership indicate how complex the Libyan file has become for all foreign actors in the country ahead of potentially clamorous elections in December.

While Russia’s preferred candidates lost in last week’s vote for interim leadership in Libya, Moscow still has a strategy for reinforcing its influence in the country.

2020 was a deadly year for people fleeing Libya for Europe, according to data from the UN’s International Organization for Migration. Nearly 1,000 people fleeing to Europe by boat from Libya were stopped and sent back to shore this week. People seeking to cross the Mediterranean continue to risk death …

The 74-members of the UN-led Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) have selected an interim Prime Minister and President of its new executive council, marking what the UN Special Representative called another “historic moment” on the road to unification of the war-torn country and national elections in December.

Under a UN-backed ceasefire signed October 23, foreign troops and mercenaries were to pull out of Libya within three months. That deadline passed on Saturday with no movement announced or observed on the ground.

Libya entered 2020 in midst of full-blown war between rival GNA and Haftar’s National Libyan Army (AFP/File photo) Russia-backed Wagner Group mercenaries are digging an enormous trench in war-torn Libya, potentially threatening to derail a UN-brokered peace deal, CNN reported.

Saida Garrach, a former adviser to the late President Beji Caid Essebsi, reacted to Harouni’s statements by saying that “the state protects Tunisians, not the militias of parties and their offshoots.” The head of Ennahda’s Shura Council Abdulkarim Harouni drew angry reactions from politicians this week after calling on “sons …

Sources say the GNA leader is coordinating with warlords and militia leaders after the failure of his recent visit to Rome. The head of the Libyan presidential council of the Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez al-Sarraj, sent a clear message Monday to Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha and the UN …

The meeting in the Moroccan coastal town of Bouznika, south of the capital Rabat, brings together 13 representatives from the Tobruk-based House of Representatives, and 13 from the Tripoli-based High Council of State, which advises the GNA.

A fire, followed by an explosion at an ammunition warehouse at a naval academy in western Libya killed three people, including two officers, a Libyan spokesman said Wednesday.