NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES
- Rescue group Sea-Watch International has condemned the European Union’s migration policy after posting a video showing a migrant and refugee boat in the Mediterranean coming under attack by the Libyan coastguard. The video, recorded on board Sea-Watch’s twin-engine Seabird, shows most of those on the vessel fall into the water and are seen swimming desperately to a nearby Libyan ship for safety. Dozens or so were reportedly on the dinghy when it was hit, Sea-Watch said.
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The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported that the number of displaced children in eastern Libya as a result of the floods that accompanied Storm Daniel exceeded 17,000 children. The organization said in a report on Friday that estimates by the International Organization for Migration indicate that the number of people displaced due to the floods has reached at least 43,000 displaced people, including 17,000 children.
- At least 64 Palestinians were killed, with 10 others still missing, in the deadly floods that hit eastern Libya, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said. In a statement, Ahmad al-Deek, a political adviser at the ministry, said that “we are following the conditions of the Palestinian community in the affected areas in Libya to determine the extent of the suffering and the great damage that befell it.” “We extended our deepest condolences to their (the victims’) families and relatives, hoping that the missing persons would be found alive,” al-Deek added.
NATIONAL POLITICS AND SOCIAL ISSUES
- Libya’s chief prosecutor said he ordered the detention of eight current and former officials pending his investigation into the collapse of two dams earlier this month, a disaster that sent a wall of water several meters high through the center of the city of Derna and left thousands of people dead.
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UN Special Envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, met in Benghazi with several families who have been displaced by floods that swept parts of the country’s eastern region earlier this month. Bathily expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and “heard their harrowing stories from the night of the floods,” said the UN diplomat via X. “I assured them that the UN will continue to advocate for the reconstruction of the devastated communities and for the return to normal life,” he added. The families took temporary shelter in Talaie Al-Nasr School in Sidi Khalifa (20 Km east of Benghazi) after the floods devastated their homes on September 10.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- The Libyan Emergency Medicine and Support Center (EMSC) said the Algerian search and rescue team is one of the most prominent international teams working in Derna. This came during the farewell of the Algerian team after completing its search and rescue missions in Derna.
- Italy and Libya resumed commercial flights for the first time in a decade , authorities in the Libyan capital said. Flight MT522, operated by the Libyan carrier Medsky Airways, departed Mitiga International Airport in Tripoli for Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, according to Libyan airport authorities.
