NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES
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At least 22 Syrian migrants detained for more than five months in Libya began a hunger strike to demand their release, a Libyan rights group said. The group of migrants included three minors and have been held in a prison in the western town of Zawiya in appalling conditions, the group Belaady said. They were detained in October in the town of Ajaylat, which is some 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of the capital of Tripoli, said activist Tarik Lamloum.
- Police in Benghazi raided criminal gangs in the city’s Majouri neighborhood, according to a brief statement by Benghazi’s Security Directorate. The Security Directorate did not disclose any further details pertaining the raid. Instead, it released a number of pictures, some of which showed dozens of men arrested.
- The security services in Cyrenaica (eastern Libya) continued their campaigns to pursue organized crime gangs that profess all kinds of smuggling, especially weapons, and drugs, and dealt them a new blow, by seizing large quantities of weapons that were about to be smuggled to Egyptian territory. The campaign, which is described as the largest of its kind in the last 10 years, began with a raid on a neighborhood where drugs are sold openly in the city of Benghazi. This ignited what looked like a short street war between drug dealers and the army and police forces, followed by a campaign to collect unlicensed uncontrolled weapons. the campaign has achieved satisfactory results so far, according to a statement and photos issued by the Ministry of the Interior.
- The Libyan Internal Security Agency confirmed the continuation of its campaign to detect and seize unlicensed weapons, which it started a few days ago in Benghazi. “Gun control is the guarantee of the people’s security,” said the Agency’s Media Office. “The plan drawn up by the Chief of the Agency is still being implemented by our brave soldiers, amid great joy by the people,” it added. “The Internal Security Agency detects unlicensed weapons in the city, and will not stop until it achieves this popular demand that everyone has long been waiting for,” it pointed out.
- About 12 Sudanese are believed to be dead while dozens are missing when their overloaded boat sank in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast, the Sudan Tribune reported. Citing a Sudanese aid worker, the Sudan Tribune stated that 95 Sudanese migrants and 10 others from African countries used a rubber boat last Tuesday at dawn in the Al-Alous neighbourhood of Khoms seeking to cross the sea to Europe.
- Security forces in the eastern city of Benghazi have launched a widespread campaign to confiscate unlicensed weapons, according to a statement by Libya’s Internal Security Agency on Sunday, February 19. After the fall of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, arms flows in the country rose significantly. Since 2011, looting of weapons stockpiles led to a spread of arms within the country, particularly Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) proliferated to West African conflict zones and terrorist groups.
NATIONAL POLITICS AND SOCIAL ISSUES
- The UK has de-listed former Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi, who served under the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, according to a financial notice released by the UK government on Friday. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation of UK Treasury stated in its notice that Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi “has been removed from the consolidated list and is no longer subject to an asset freeze.”
- Libya’s House of Representatives is scheduled to convene a session in Benghazi as per an announcement last week by House Speaker Aguila Saleh. This session comes after the House unanimously approved the thirteenth constitutional amendment, which concerns elections, on on February 7.
- Libya is reported among the worst countries in Africa in 2022 in terms of governance, and ranked at 45 the 2022 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, which examined the status of governance across 54 countries in the continent over the past ten years. The latest report on African governance by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation rates the continent as less secure than it was a decade ago. Africa is considered more vulnerable to the effects of the war in Ukraine.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- Aguila Saleh, the Speaker of Libya’s House of Representatives, affirmed his country’s “solidarity with Syria” after meeting Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus today. Saleh visited the Syrian capital alongside from the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union.
- The Chief of Staff of military forces based in western Libya, General Mohamed Al-Haddad, met with a British diplomatic delegation to discuss joint cooperation, support for the Libyan army and the provision of training in all sectors, according to a statement by the Libyan General Staff on its official Facebook page.
- Emad Trabelsi, Interior Minister of Libya’s Government of National Unity, and his Italian counterpart Matteo Piantedosi launched in Rome the work of joint task force between the two countries to coordinate on security and immigration, according to a statement by the Italian interior ministry. In a brief statement via Twitter, the Italian ministry described the task force as “an operational tool for sharing common actions”.
- Chairman of Libya’s Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Menfi, held talks with Pakistani ambassador to Libya, Rashad Javid, as the latter prepares to leave his post, according to a statement by the Libyan council. During the meeting, Al-Menfi “praised the efforts made by the Pakistani ambassador to strengthen Libyan-Pakistani relations, his government’s support for the Presidential Council, and the cooperation and support he and the diplomatic mission showed in facing political, security and economic challenges.”
- The African Union is organising a national reconciliation conference for Libya, AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat told AFP on Sunday, February 19, the latest bid to restore stability to the conflict-wracked nation. “We have met with the different parties and we are in the process of working with them on a date and place for the national conference,” he said after a press conference wrapping up a two-day AU summit. The meeting will be chaired by the African Union’s pointman on Libya, Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Faki said.
