NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES
- The Interior Minister of the Libyan Government, Major General Issam Abu Zariba, described the recent events in Zawiya west of Tripoli as shocking and painful for everyone, commenting on a military operation launched by the Government of National Unity (GNU) in Zawiya, for what it said was targeting the hideouts of smugglers, drug dealers and human trafickers.
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Nearly 500 migrants who tried to cross the central Mediterranean have been brought back to Libya, according to a UN spokesman, two days after charity groups lost contact with the boat carrying them, Reuters reported. “Libya is an unsafe port where migrants should never be brought back,” Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the UN’s International Organisation for Migration wrote on Twitter.
NATIONAL POLITICS AND SOCIAL ISSUES
- Last Thursday, at the Ras Jedir border crossing between Libya and Tunisia, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport for Ministerial Affairs, Wissam Khalifa Al-Idrisi, held a meeting to follow up on the progress of work at the border crossing. In an interview with Libya Herald, the Director of the Information Office at the Ministry of Transport, Siraj Al-Hamal, said the meeting came to solve bottlenecks, especially overcrowding, and work to provide the best services to citizens at the crossing.
- The Libyan 6+6 Joint Committee for Preparation of Electoral Laws stressed the need to form a unified government that paves the way for holding elections throughout the country. The committee, currently holding its meetings in Morocco, said in a statement that the next legislative authority is the National Assembly, which consists of two chambers; the House of Representatives and the Senate.
- Mohammed Al-Menfi, chairman of the Presidential Council, held talks with the Chief of the General Staff of the western Libya forces, Lieutenant General Muhammad Al-Haddad, to discuss “strengthening the role of the military institution in maintaining security, and extending state control, especially in the border crossings,” according to a statement by the council.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) said that Libya’s ambassador to Austria and permanent representative to international organizations, Osama Abdel-Hadi, discussed with an Austrian delegation, headed by the Director General of Vienna International Airport, the possibility of opening airspace, the return of air traffic between the two countries, and the operation of 3 flights per week.
- Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh will visit Rome in June, announced the premier himself. Dbeibeh made the revelation during the inauguration of “Libya Build”, a construction and building trade fair in Tripoli. In the event, he visit the Italian pavilion and spoke with Romano Baruzzi, the director of the Italian Trade Agency’s office in Libya.
- Libyan Foreign Minister, Najla Mangoush held talks with her Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi. According to the Jordanian foreign ministry, the meeting covered ways to enhance relations between the two countries in various fields, and consolidate cooperation in economic, trade and other fields, in a way that benefit the two countries.
