NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES
- Ocean Viking, a European rescue ship operated by SOS Mediterranee, saved 92 migrants who were on board an overcrowded and deflated rubber boat in international waters off Libya. The rescued migrants included 9 women and around 40 unaccompanied minors, according to SOS Mediterranee, which added that its team, alongside a team from the Red Cross, are taking care of the survivors who are “generally exhausted, some with fuel burns and injuries.”
- Amnesty International has released its annual report, which monitors the state of human rights in the world. The part on Libya showed the existence of flagrant violations of human rights “Several countries, including Russia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates, violated the UN arms embargo, established since 2011, by retaining foreign fighters and military equipment in Libya.” said Amnesty International’s 2022/2023 report.
- “Terrorism really exploded on the African continent due to the Libyan crisis in 2011, which encouraged the arrival of thousands of foreign fighters to the Sahel region, and led to the uncontrollable proliferation of weapons,” said Comoros President and current African Union chairperson Azali Assoumani. “The circle of terrorism continues to expand in almost all regions of Africa, and the continent continues to take great steps forward to find solutions to its various security challenges,” Assoumani added in press statements.
- The Nigerian government, in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), evacuated 151 stranded Nigerians from Benghazi, Libya as the government resumed its voluntary evacuation in Libya. Kabiru Musa, Charge D’affiares en titre of the Nigerian Mission in Libya, made this known in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. According to Musa, the evacuees who included 71 female, 54 male, 14 children and 13 infants are expected to arrive at the Murtala Mohammed Airport Lagos at 8 p.m.
- “The Libyan people will take revenge through the ballot box against all the corrupt political class that rules the country,” confirmed a member of the House of Representatives, Jaballah Al-Shaibani. “The dramatic game of international intelligence has become evident in the Libyan scene, including the polishing of certain figures who have greatly offended Libya and the Libyans, in preparation for their leadership in the next scene under international auspices,” Al-Shaibani said in a press statement.
NATIONAL POLITICS AND SOCIAL ISSUES
- “Nothing prevents Libya from holding elections this year except for lack of political will or unwillingness to compromise among key leaders,” said Barbara Leaf, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. Speaking to journalists during online briefing, Leaf talked about her recent travel to Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia and Libya, where she met with an array of key officials in both Tripoli and Benghazi.
- The current agreement between the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, and the President of the State Council in Tripoli, Khaled Al-Mishri, regarding the formation of a joint committee to try to agree on the election law this year is “a fragile agreement that will not last long,” said member of the State Council, Idris Boufayed.
- The Council of State invited representatives of the House of Representatives in the 6+6 committee to meet in Tripoli next week. This came during a meeting held by SC Speaker Khaled Al-Mishri on Wednesday with six representatives of the State Council in the committee concerned with preparing referendum and election draft laws, in partnership with the House of Representatives.
- The Center for Humanitarian Dialogue in Switzerland is preparing to hold “an informal brainstorming session with key Libyan stakeholders and members of the international community on 5 April in Geneva.” “The session will focus on reassurances and guarantees about the period before and after the elections,” the director of the Middle East and North Africa region at the Center, Romain Grandjean, told the Asharq Al-Awsat.
- UN Envoy to Libya Abdoulaye Bathily urged the House of Representatives and the State Council to “fulfill their obligations towards the Libyan people to hold elections within a clear time frame.” During his meeting on Monday with Khaled Al-Mashri, Head of the State Council in Tripoli, Bathily called for the necessity of naming representatives of the State Council for the 6+6 Technical Committee, which was established under the 13th Amendment and entrusted with drafting election laws.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- Libya’s Minister of Justice, Halima Ibrahim Abdel-Rahman, met in Tripoli with the French Ambassador to Libya, Mostafa Mihraje, for talks on human rights and national reconciliation, according to a brief statement released today by the Ministry of Justice. The two also reportedly discussed issues of “common interest” in relation to “the judicial and legal field, and the development of cooperation between the two countries.”
- The Italian Council of Ministers decided, based on a proposal by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, to nominate minister counselor Gianluca Alberini as Italian ambassador to Libya to succeed the current ambassador Giuseppe Buccino Grimaldi, sources confirmed to the Italian news agency Nova.
- A delegation from the Libyan Parliament headed by the Second Deputy Speaker, Abdul-Hadi Al-Soghair, met in Moscow with Russia’s Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, in the presence of the Russian President’s envoy to Libya and Moscow’s former and current ambassadors to Libya.
- The Minister of Justice of the Interim Government of National Unity, Halima Ibrahim Abdel-Rahman, received the French Ambassador to Libya, Mostafa Mihraje. The meeting discussed “the prospects for cooperation between France and Libya,” the French ambassador announced via Twitter.
