CAIRO: Providing resettlement options for illegal migrants trying to reach Europe is unacceptable for many Libyans and could further aggravate the civil conflict there, Libyan sources have said.
However, these sources warned that some warring parties may, for political or financial gains, exploit any proposal to provide migrants and refugees with resettlement options.
Ministers and representatives from 13 European and African countries met on Monday in Bern, Switzerland, to discuss ways to deter illegal immigration, especially through Libya; they also called for improved resettlement options for refugees along the migration route.
“The Libyans fear that Europe will seek to solve its migrant crisis at Libya’s expense through taking advantage of the absence of security and authority in many Libyan territories to provide options that range from establishing camps for detaining or sheltering refugees to resettlement, especially in southern Libya,” said a Libyan media source linked to the illegal immigration issue whose name was withheld for security reasons.
In September 2017, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urgently called for resettlement places for 40,000 of the most vulnerable migrants and refugees stranded in 15 countries along the so-called Central Mediterranean route, which includes Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mali, Sudan, Egypt, Mauritania, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Niger.
In 2016, the UNHCR said that resettlement opportunities were offered to only 6 percent of refugees in the 15 countries, where total needs were estimated to be 277,000.
The representatives of the 13 countries, the Central Mediterranean Contact Group, who held their third meeting this year in Bern, pledged to improve conditions in detention centers in Libya.
“The participants agreed, in close cooperation with Libyan authorities, to develop a system that monitors the situation of migrants and refugees inside detention centers in Libya to improve their conditions and ensure the respect of international human rights and humanitarian standards,” the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police said in a statement.
Ministers and representatives of Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Mali, Niger, Chad, Austria, Italy, Germany, France, Malta, Slovenia and Switzerland signed a “declaration of intent” that included securing priority release from detention of vulnerable refugees and migrants, in particular children and torture victims, as well as supporting authorities and organizations that provide humanitarian assistance to migrants and refugees.
The Contact Group held meetings in Rome in March and in Tunisia in July. The Bern meeting followed the UN’s evacuation of 25 vulnerable Eritrean, Ethiopian and Sudanese refugees from Libya to Niger.
Addressing the Contact Group’s meeting in Bern, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said: “The UNHCR hopes to evacuate another 400 extremely vulnerable refugees from Libya before the end of this year.”
On Tuesday the UN Human Rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, said: “The suffering of migrants detained in Libya is an outrage to the conscience of humanity,” describing the situation as “catastrophic.”
Al-Hussain said that the monitoring system revealed a rapid deterioration of the migrants’ situation in Libya.
From Nov. 1 to 6, UN human rights monitors visited four Department of Combating Illegal Migration facilities (detention centers) in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, where they interviewed detained migrants and refugees.
Al-Hussain attacked Europe’s policy of helping Libyan authorities to intercept people trying to cross the Mediterranean and returning them to prisons as “inhuman.”
“The international community cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the unimaginable horrors endured by migrants in Libya and pretend that the situation can be remedied only by improving conditions in detention,” he said.
Divergent European stances
“There are many people with divergent views on the matter,” said the Swiss justice minister, Simonetta Sommaruga, emphasizing that despite this, all had vowed to improve the conditions of migrants and refugees, especially in Libya.
Libyan writer and journalist Omar Al-Kadi said that the Libyan authorities’ lack of financial resources is the main cause of poor conditions for detained migrants, but said that European approaches to deterring illegal immigration were not united.
He said that while some European countries’ stances were based on their commitment to human rights principles, as in the case of Switzerland, others, especially Italy, were motivated by their desire to rid themselves of the illegal immigration problem.
He said the Italian government had bribed human smugglers in western Libya to stop smuggling refugees and migrants to the Italian coast without caring for their fate or how this policy would aggravate the civil conflict between different parties in Libya.
Several international media reports referred to a secret deal between the Italian interior minister, Marco Minetti, and Ahmed Ahmed Al-Dabbashi (nicknamed Al-Amo), a human trafficking and smuggling leader in Sabratha, 70 km west of Tripoli, which grants him $5 million every three months to stop migrant boats headed for the coast of southern Italy.
Al-Dabbashi’s group, an armed militia of 500 militiamen, controls three main detention camps for illegal migrants in western Libya and has been repeatedly mentioned in UN and EU reports as one of the main human smuggling and trafficking groups in Libya.
The number of illegal immigrants arriving in Italy dropped by almost 80 percent in July and August 2017, but these numbers quickly rocketed after news of the deal sparked a major conflict to gain influence over the city of Sabratha, which ended with the ousting of Al-Dabbashi’s group.
Omar Al-Kadi said that containing smuggling groups could not be achieved without increasing reconciliation efforts inside Libya, as well as re-establishing the state and restoring its authority.
He criticized any further European attempts to take advantage of the chaos in Libya to achieve their interests, saying this would only worsen the situation in Libya and threaten its unity and security as well as the security of the eastern Mediterranean region.
And an anonymous Libyan media source stressed that the situation of illegal migrants inside Libya could not be improved without real efforts to restore the Libyan state and secure its authority over the whole country.
He cast doubt on any European efforts to deter illegal immigration through operating inside Libya, as seen in the recent meeting in Bern. “If nothing is done to improve the political, economic and security situation in the countries exporting migrants in sub-Saharan Africa, any efforts to deter human trafficking in the Libyan desert will be exceedingly absurd,” he said.
The 13 countries committed to facilitate procedures for voluntary return, develop alternatives to illegal immigration and combat human trafficking through pilot projects that provide Africans with legal access to Europe such as scholarships and apprenticeship programs.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), about 156,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe by sea since January 2017 (compared to 341,000 in the same period in 2016). Italy has received 73 percent of the migrants since the beginning of 2017, while 3,000 died crossing the sea.
Omar Al-Kadi said that the interim Libyan government, the House of Representatives and the Haftar-led Libyan National Army were indifferent to the outcomes of the Bern meeting. “The illegal immigration problem is more concentrated in western Libya than in eastern Libya,” he said.
“The distance between the eastern coast of Libya and Europe makes it unsuitable for human smuggling activities, unlike the western coast of Libya, which is very close to Italy and Malta,” he said. “The Libyan National Army is not present in the main smuggling areas in western Libya and therefore the army is not concerned with any measures taken in this regard, at least at the current stage.”
The anonymous Libyan media source said: “The interim government and the House of Representatives reject these agreements signed by the Government of National Accord in Tripoli and deem them an attack on Libya’s sovereignty.”
“The two conflicting parties’ presence in southern and southwestern Libya is very weak, and therefore any real effort to control the border in those regions cannot be achieved through Libya’s neighboring countries,” he said, emphasizing that the task would be very difficult.
Concerns over Europe seeking to solve its migrant crisis at Libya’s expense
Concerns over Europe seeking to solve its migrant crisis at Libya’s expense
Missile launched from Yemen into Israel intercepted, Israeli army says
CAIRO: The Israeli army said in the early hours of Saturday that a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory.
Sirens sounded in a number of areas in Israel following the launch, the Israeli army added in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, who have been launching attacks against Israel as well as ships they perceive as affiliated to Israel, in what they say is to support the Palestinians in Gaza against the Israeli offensive on the enclave.
Former Lebanese PM Diab questioned over Beirut port blast
- Investigation gains momentum as French official files transferred to Judge Tarek Bitar
- Lebanese President Aoun reiterates importance of judiciary in securing broader reform
BEIRUT: Former Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab appeared before Judge Tarek Bitar on Friday for questioning related to the devastating Beirut port explosion of Aug. 4, 2020.
Diab was interrogated for two and a half hours before being remanded for further questions. The session came a week after Bitar questioned former Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk.
In recent weeks, former General Security Chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and former Head of State Security Maj. Gen. Tony Saliba also appeared before the judge.
The explosion devastated the capital’s waterfront, resulted in thousands of casualties, and has been compared in scale to a nuclear bomb.
It prompted widespread outrage both at home and abroad due to the long-term neglect in safely storing large quantities of ammonium nitrate at the port.
Diab, who was prime minister at the time of the explosion, had previously failed to attend hearings into the disaster for various reasons, notably claiming that “the investigative judge lacked jurisdiction to question” him, or stating that he was abroad.
For more than 18 months, several individuals contested their summons, arguing that Bitar was not the appropriate authority to investigate them.
They also initiated lawsuits against Bitar, whose work was suspended for a significant period due to political pressures and legal challenges.
During their unexpected appearances before the investigative judge, these individuals all expressed their intention to cooperate.
In Lebanon, political and judicial powers are intertwined, contrary to the constitution’s separation of powers principle.
The judiciary is mostly subject to political pressure, starting with judicial appointments, as with other institutions and administrations, which hinders reform efforts and the full independence of the judiciary.
A ministerial source told Arab News that President Joseph Aoun had always stressed two key pillars essential for the state’s recovery are security and the judiciary.
“The security appointments have been finalized, and measures are in place to restore security.
“The minister of justice and the High Judicial Council are actively working on judicial appointments to restore processes free from political interference and corruption.
“These procedures have started to affect the justice system, and everyone has begun to understand that the authority of the judiciary is not negotiable; the previously accepted method is no longer valid.”
The source emphasized that gaining political support for the judiciary is essential to shield it from interference.
This should be prioritized, particularly in light of the president’s commitment to maintaining judicial independence.
Additionally, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is dedicated to implementing the ministerial statement that received unanimous support through the vote of confidence in his government, said the source.
Political authorities are still debating the law on judicial independence, but it remains unapproved and is currently stalled in joint parliamentary committees.
Aoun has previously stressed his belief in the judiciary as a cornerstone of reform.
In a recent meeting with the Bar Association, he noted that the challenge is not the coubtry’s laws themselves, but their implementation and accountability for violations.
“Too often, laws are interpreted for personal gain and interests. By working together, individuals committed to justice and accountability can address imbalances, fight corruption, and promote responsibility,” he said.
“Only the judiciary has the authority to deter offenders and corruption,” the president added.
Currently, the High Judicial Council is investigating bribery cases involving several judges and has issued a preliminary arrest warrant for one of them, who was arrested and transferred to the prison run by the General Directorate of Internal Security Forces.
The council recently set up three bodies to investigate cases against judges.
Lawyer Ghida Frangieh — who represents victims of the Beirut port explosion — told Arab News that the “renewed cooperation between the Public Prosecution and investigative Judge Bitar is a crucial development.
“It will help revive the port explosion case and allow the investigation to continue until an indictment is issued and, ultimately, a trial takes place,” Frangieh said.
“The election of the republic’s president, setting up a functional government instead of a caretaker government, and the political will for reform would collectively help reactivate Lebanon’s judicial system.
“This should have been the scenario in the port investigations three years ago, and all pending judicial cases should now be addressed and resolved in due order,” Frangieh added.
A French delegation is set to arrive in Beirut next Monday, following the transfer of judicial summons from the Public Prosecution at the Court of Cassation in Lebanon to France.
Bitar has requested access to French investigations regarding the port explosion, and the French judiciary has expressed willingness to support the judge by providing all necessary files and documents for his investigation.
Several French nationals were among those killed and injured in the Beirut port explosion.
US says blast near UNESCO world heritage site caused by Houthi missile
- A Houthi official was quoted by the New York Times as saying the American denial was an attempt to smear the Houthis
WASHINGTON: The US military said a blast on Sunday near a UNESCO world heritage site in Yemen’s capital city of Sanaa was caused by a Houthi missile and not an American airstrike.
The Houthi-run Health Ministry said a dozen people were killed in the US strike in a neighborhood of Sanaa. The Old City of Sanaa is a recognized UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The US ordered the intensification of strikes on Yemen last month, with officials saying they will continue assaulting Houthis until they stop attacking Red Sea shipping.
A US Central Command spokesperson said the damage and casualties described by Houthi officials “likely did occur,” but a US attack did not cause them.
The spokesperson said the closest US strike was more than 5 km away that night.
The US military assessed that the damage was caused by a “Houthi air defense missile” based on a review of “local reporting, including videos documenting Arabic writing on the missile’s fragments at the market,” the spokesperson said, adding the Houthis subsequently arrested Yemenis.
A Houthi official was quoted by the New York Times as saying the American denial was an attempt to smear the Houthis.
Recent US strikes have killed dozens, including 74 at an oil terminal on Thursday in what was the deadliest strike in Yemen under Trump so far, according to the local Health Ministry.
The US military says the strikes aim to cut off the Houthi militant group’s military and economic capabilities.
Rights advocates have raised concerns about civilian killings, and three Democratic senators, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen, wrote to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth on Thursday, demanding an accounting for the loss of civilian lives.
The Houthis have taken control of swaths of Yemen over the past decade.
Since November 2023, they have launched drone and missile attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, saying they were targeting ships linked to Israel.
Flow of Sudan war refugees puts Chad camp under strain
- Chad has taken in more than 770,000 of them, according to the UN refugee agency — with many more likely on their way
IRIBA, Chad: Nadjala Mourraou held her haggard two-year-old son in her henna-tattooed hands for the medics to examine. Then came the painful diagnosis: little Ahma, like many of his fellow Sudanese refugees, was severely malnourished.
The pair were toward the front of a long line snaking out of the doctors’ tent at an already overcrowded refugee camp in east Chad, creaking under the strain as more and more people fleeing the civil war across the nearby border with Sudan turn up.
“We’re suffering from a lack of food,” complained the mother, who fled the fighting in Nyala, in Sudan’s South Darfur region, with Ahma more than a year ago.
Since their arrival at the Touloum camp, Mourraou added that all she and Ahma had to eat each day was a bowl of assida, a porridge made from sorghum.
Yet, as with other conditions at the camp, this meagre ration could deteriorate further as the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces drags on.
Besides killing tens of thousands, the two-year conflict has uprooted 13 million people, more than three million of whom have fled the country as refugees.
Chad has taken in more than 770,000 of them, according to the UN refugee agency — with many more likely on their way.
Between 25,000 and 30,000 Sudanese refugees already live in the makeshift sheet metal and white canvas tents, packed together across the arid Touloum camp, according to sources.
Recently, more and more of them have become malnourished, said Dessamba Adam Ngarhoudal, a nurse with medical charity Doctors Without Borders, or MSF.
“Out of 100 to 150 daily consultations, nearly half of them deal with cases of malnutrition,” said the 25-year-old medic.
The worst cases are sent to the Iriba district hospital, around half an hour’s drive away.
But the hospital was powerless to stop the first Sudanese infant dying of malnutrition under its care.
“Since the beginning of the month, we have already exceeded the capacity of the malnutrition ward at the hospital,” said MSF nurse Hassan Patayamou recently.
“And we expect admissions to continue to rise as the hot season progresses and temperatures rise above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).”
With the fighting set to grind on, Chad’s government fears the number of Sudanese refugees in the country could soon reach nearly a million.
That burden would be too heavy for impoverished Chad to bear alone, argues the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The refugee agency was seeking $409 million in aid to help the Sahel country — only 14 percent of which it had received by the end of February.
“The Chadian people have a tradition of welcoming their Sudanese brothers in distress,” said Djimbaye Kam-Ndoh, governor of Wadi Fira province where the Touloum camp is located.
“But the province’s population has practically doubled, and we’re asking for major support.”
Humanitarian groups are worried about the impact of US President Donald Trump’s move to freeze America’s foreign aid budget, while other donors, notably in Europe, have also made cuts to their financing.
“Hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake,” Alexandre Le Cuziat, the UN’s World Food Programme deputy director in Chad, said in a phone call.
Nearly 25 million people are suffering from acute food insecurity in Sudan itself, according to the WFP.
And with the rainy season just under two months away, medics fear outbreaks of diseases.
“We’re preparing for an explosion of cases of malnutrition and malaria,” said Samuel Sileshi, emergencies services coordinator for MSF in Central Darfur state.
“This year, we are also facing measles epidemics in Darfur,” he said.
That unhealthy cocktail of diseases, he warned, “could have devastating consequences,” not least for children.
WFP says has depleted all its food stocks in Gaza
- Entry of all humanitarian aid has been blocked by Israel since March 2
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: The UN’s World Food Programme on Friday warned it has depleted all its food stocks in war-ravaged Gaza, where the entry of all humanitarian aid has been blocked by Israel since March 2.
“Today, WFP delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meals kitchens in the Gaza Strip. These kitchens are expected to fully run out of food in the coming days,” WFP said in a statement.
