Migrants aboard a Mediterranean Sea rescue ship denied entry to Italian ports set sail for Spain at 9 p.m. local time Tuesday night, according to the Sos Méditerranée NGO that operates the ship in collaboration with Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Their departure alongside two Italian military vessels ended a two-day…
Aid workers on the Mediterranean Sea, with more than 600 migrants from Libya aboard the rescue ship Aquarius, continued to search for a solution after Italy refused to accept the ship in one of its ports. The ship, operated by Sos Méditerranée with a medical crew from Doctors Without Borders…
Officials with the United Nations migration agency say the death toll has reached at least 112 after a boat on the Mediterranean Sea sank off the coast of Tunisia at the weekend. The boat was carrying an estimated 180 migrants, many of them from Tunisia, when it went down between…
Human traffickers in Libya reportedly killed more than a dozen people and wounded many others after a group of some 200 Eritreans, Ethiopians and Somalis attempted to escape captivity, UNHCR said on Friday. The United Nations refugee agency said the incident happened May 23 in Bani Walid, about 180 kilometers…
The head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) says that despite an attack earlier this month at the High National Elections Commission (HNEC) offices in Tripoli, the country continues to move toward elections planned for later this year. Ghassan Salamé, speaking to the UN Security Council, said the…
Global human rights organization Amnesty International is again pressuring European Union nations to change its policies on migration from Libya, where thousands of refugees and migrants are trapped in shocking conditions. That message comes as EU officials said Wednesday that the central Mediterranean transit numbers remain much lower, but the…
Libya’s Fayez Al-Sarraj, head of the Presidential Council for the Government of National Accord (GNA), called an emergency meeting with security leaders Wednesday following a terrorist attack on the national election headquarters in Tripoli. The head of the Presidential Council for the Government of National Accord (GNA) issued a statement…
Libya’s Khalifa Haftar has returned to Benghazi, where he addressed the nation in a televised broadcast following weeks of speculation about his health and the future of his Libyan National Army (LNA). Haftar assured Libyans of his good health, while admitting that he needed to be seated to speak rather…
Libya’s Khalifa Haftar is expected to return Thursday to Benghazi, where he will address the nation following weeks of speculation about his health and the future of his Libyan National Army (LNA). Libyan media outlets, citing spokesman and military leader Saqr al-Jaroushi, said Haftar will travel home from Cairo for…
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Wednesday that the condition of Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) in the nation’s east, has improved. That’s according to Radio France International, citing remarks Le Drian made to the Foreign Affairs Committee of France’s National Assembly while confirming that…
The condition of Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) in the nation’s east, still remained shrouded in mystery Friday amid conflicting reports on the severity of his health situation – or any acknowledgement of a critical illness at all. By late evening, the United Nations Support Mission…
The United States has lifted its travel ban for Chad, citing a positive review of the Sahel nation’s identity-management and information sharing practices. “Chad is a critical and vital partner to the U.S. counterterrorism mission. Chad has made significant strides and now meets the baseline criteria,” the U.S. Department of…
Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France long shadowed by allegations of improper campaign financing, denied Thursday that he betrayed the country by accepting illegal cash from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Sarkozy said during an extended TF1 interview that he was outraged and deeply wounded by formal indictments…
Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France long shadowed by allegations of improper campaign financing, was taken into custody by police Tuesday in connection with a case that ties him to the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. In a sudden but unsurprising turn of events, Sarkozy was being held at…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
A bottleneck for refugees fleeing Libya into Niger – and waiting to continue on to Europe – is threatening the success of an agreement to free migrants and refugees from Libyan detention centers and slave markets. The deal between the European Union (EU), African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN)…