Libya

TUNIS, Dec 27 (NNN-Xinhua) — Interior Minister of the UN-backed government of Libya Fathi Bashagha on Thursday revealed that a Turkish-Tunisian-Algerian alliance was formed to support the Libyan government.

“There will be a great cooperation with Turkey, Tunisia and Algeria, and we will be in one alliance,” said Bashagha at a press conference in Tunis.

The Libyan official didn’t give any details about the nature of this alliance. He stressed that this alliance “would serve the Libyan people, their security and stability.”

TUNIS, Dec 24 (NNN-TAP) — President Kais Saied met, on Monday at the Carthage Palace, with representatives of the Libyan Cities and Tribes Supreme Council “to explore possibilities for finding an initiative to end the crisis,” said a statement from the Presidency.

The meeting was held “following a call from the Libyan Cities and Tribes Supreme Council on the President of the Republic to intervene urgently to stop the bloodshed and reunify the people of the same country”, it added.

ROME, Dec 23 (NNN-ANSA) — Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj, whose Tripoli-based administration is recognised by the United Nations, has confirmed that he asked Italy for weapons to repel the offensive staged by Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar.

“We asked for weapons from many countries, including Italy, which has the right to choose the policy it likes most,” Serraj said in an interview published Monday in Milan’s newspaper Corriere della Sera when asked about the assistance being provided by Turkey.

23 Dec 2019; MEMO: Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) on Sunday slammed Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias’ surprise visit to Benghazi, Anadolu reports.

The visit violates the decisions of international institutions which consider the GNA the country’s only legitimate government, said Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Taher Siala in a statement released on the ministry’s social media account.

TRIPOLI, Dec 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Libya’s east-based army, seized a Grenada-flagged ship with Turkish crew, off the Libyan coast, local media reported today.

“A vessel under the flag of Grenada, with a team of Turkish citizens on board, was detained,” the east-based Libyan National Army Spokesman, Ahmad al-Mismari, was quoted by local media as saying.

The eastern forces stopped the ship in Libyan waters, off the eastern city of Derna and questioned three crew members, with Turkish passports, the spokesman said.

TRIPOLI, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 900,000 people in Libya will need humanitarian assistance in 2020, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Friday.

"An estimate of 897,000 people are considered to be in need of humanitarian assistance in Libya in 2020. This reflects the most vulnerable people that have been identified as having the most severe needs," OCHA said.

12 Dec 2019; MEMO: The chief of staff of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Farag Al-Mahdawi, yesterday announced his forces would sink any Turkish ship approaching the Libyan coast.

”I have an order, as soon as the Turkish research vessels arrive, I will have a solution. I will sink them myself,” Al-Mahdawi warned, noting that the order was coming from the retired Major General Khalifa Haftar.

TRIPOLI, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Interior Minister of the UN-backed government of Libya, Fathi Bashagha, issued Sunday an order to start an immediate investigation into "mistreatment" of a captured pilot of the rival east-based army.

On Saturday, the UN-backed government forces announced shooting down a fighter jet of the east-based army in the western city of Zawiya, some 45 km west of the capital Tripoli, and capturing its pilot.

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — The United Nations center in Libya was opened as an “alternative to detention,” a last, safe stop for migrants before they were resettled in other countries. Now, just a year later, it looks increasingly like the notorious Libyan lockups it was supposed to replace.

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Officials in Libya’s U.N.-supported government say they plan to confront Moscow over the alleged deployment of Russian mercenaries fighting alongside their opponents in the country’s civil war.

Libyan and U.S. officials accuse Russia of deploying fighters through a private security contractor, the Wagner Group, to key battleground areas in Libya in the past months.