NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES
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Italy welcomed on Wednesday 114 migrants from Libya as part of a ‘humanitarian corridor’ organised by Christian charities, with members of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s rightist administration saying they supported legal migration channels. The migrants landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport weeks after a furious spat between Italy and France, triggered by Rome’s refusal to take in a charity-run migrant rescue boat with more than 200 people onboard.
- Some 114 refugees will travel from Libya to Italy on Wednesday, November 29, and be received by Italy’s national reception system, the Sant’Egidio Catholic lay peacemaking community, and Evangelical Churches, the Italian interior ministry said Tuesday. The refugees will arrive at the airport of Rome Fiumicino, thanks to an evacuation operation.
- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said a total of 20,842 were rescued and returned to Libya so far in 2022. The rescued migrants include 19,075 men, 1,089 women and 678 children, IOM said. Also, 514 migrants died and 865 others went missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean route, IOM added.
- At least two people from the same family died as a result of the torrential rains that have fallen in the last 24 hours in the northwestern Libyan city of Gharyan, local media reported. According to the press reports, the two fatalities (two men) were found in their vehicle after it was swept away by water in a ditch in the center of Gharyan, located 75 south of the capital, Tripoli.
- Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Ahmad Khan is seeking a number of arrest warrants against Libyan nationals over war crimes, crimes against migrants and crimes against human rights. And while the names of the people concerned are still covered by confidentiality, Italian newspaper Avvenire reports that some of the names concerned may well embarrass a number of governments – including Malta – which have had dealings with them.
- Tunisian customs units at the Ras Jedir crossing on the border between Tunisia and Libya have managed to thwart an attempt to smuggle 21.5 tons of agricultural material subsidized by the unknown state inside a truck with a foreign license plate, Tunisian customs authorities reported in a press release. The seized subsidized materials are prohibited for export and subject to special procedures by the Ministry of Agriculture for storage and distribution.
NATIONAL POLITICS AND SOCIAL ISSUES
- Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), Ali al-Hibri, has denied accusations of corruption made by the House of Representatives against the Stabilization Committee of Benghazi and Derna. In a lengthy letter released, Al-Hibri responded to the parliament’s reports that led to his dismissal, saying that most of the notes reveal the extent of incorrect “fabrications and allegations” by listing inaccurate and misleading information.
- Libya’s Government of National Unity and the High National Election Commission (HNEC) are ready to hold elections “in the logistical and technical aspects,”announced the Tripoli-based government. This came following a meeting between GNU’s premier Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh and HNEC’s director, Imad al-Sayah, at the latter’s headquarters. During the meeting, the two agreed on “the necessity of coordinating the implementation of programs and activities that contribute to supporting efforts and holding elections.”
- “Foreign interventions and the absence of free national will are among the causes of Libya’s instability,” State Council member Ahmed Langhi confirmed. “We hope that the House of Representatives Committee and the State Council will succeed in expediting the completion of the constitutional rule and referring what they reach to the Electoral Commission directly,” Langhi said, in press statements.
- Libya’s Presidential Council, Mohamed al-Menfi, met on Sunday with tribal and community leaders of the country’s eastern region to discuss the council’s efforts on national reconciliation. This is according to a brief statement by the council, which also noted that Menfi expressed praise for the representatives’ position towards “national issues in this exceptional circumstance to achieve national reconciliation”.
- Interior Minister-designate Emad Trabelsi held talks on Sunday with Oil and Gas Minister Mohamed Aoun to discuss “cooperation in different areas”, according to the Interior Ministry of the Government of National Unity. In a brief statement which merely affirmed, without providing further details, that the meeting, held at the Ministry of the Interior, discussed some issues of public interest, cooperation in various fields, the “application of laws and decisions regulating the work of the government in various Libyan state institutions and insurance operations, as well as a number of important topics.”
- Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aqila Saleh, said the executive authority represented in the government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh had certain duties in a certain period of time, but it failed. “During the coming few days, agreement with the State Council on the file of sovereign positions would be made,” Saleh confirmed in a press conference held at the Arab League headquarters in Egypt after his meeting with the Secretary-General of the League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni received in the Italian capital, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in the government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, Najla al-Mangoush. “Just finished a great meeting with HE Italian PM Giorgia Meloni . Really impressed by her progressive approach and perspective,” al-Mangoush tweeted.
- Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abdel Hamid al-Dabiba’s government, Naglaa al-Mangoush, on the sidelines of the “Mediterranean Dialogues” conference held in Rome. “Italy is at the forefront for the stabilization of Libya and for combating human trafficking and illegal immigration” Tajani tweeted.
- Athens has officially condemned the new Memorandum of Understanding signed on October 3 between Ankara and the Libyan government of Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, in a letter written by the Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations, Maria Theofili, to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “Greece protects all its rights under international law. Libya and Turkey are required to respect Greece’s sovereign rights and avoid any action that would violate these rights and destabilize the region,” Theophilly stated in the letter sent to Guterres.
- French Ambassador to Libya, Mostafa Mihraje, held talks on Thursday with Libyan Attorney-General Al-Saddiq Al-Sour. According to Mihraje, Al-Sour informed him during the meeting about ”his tremendous task to build a strong rule of law and to put citizens under the protection of the law”. The French diplomat said that his country “fully supportive” of Al-Sour’s action “through training and sharing experience”.
- Dbeibah to the Tunisian President: I came to Tunisia to facilitate the procedures of Libyan citizens and businessmen. The outgoing head of the national unity government, Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, met with Tunisian President Kais Saied, at Carthage Palace.
- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met today with the U.N. Special Envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, in Cairo where they discuss the Libyan political process, according to spokesman of Egyptian Foreign Ministry Ahmed Abu Zeid. During the meeting, Shoukry stressed “the importance of the UN role in supporting the political process, constitutional process, legal frameworks and encouraging the Libyan dialogue,” as per brief statement by Abu Zeid via Twitter.
