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Italy looks to Niger for deal on Libya migration Libya Herald The Italian government is looking to seal a deal with Niger that it hopes will dramatically cut back migration from sub-Saharan Africa through Libya and from there across the Mediterranean to Italy and elsewhere in Europe. After the deal with Libya ... People-smugglers kill 22 African migrants for refusing to board a boat from Libya in bad weatherDaily Mail 22 migrants killed, 100 injured as smugglers battle for supremacy in Libya's power vacuumRT 22 Migrants Shot Dead as Gang Warfare Between Traffickers Breaks out in LibyaBreitbart News Press TV -News24 -ANSAmed all 23 news articles »

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Italy looks to Niger for deal on Libya migration - Libya Herald

By Ayman al-Warfalli | BENGHAZI, Libya

BENGHAZI, Libya An oil guard official appointed by Libya's U.N.-backed government said on Tuesday that he had been tasked with protecting oil ports by an armed faction that took over Es Sider and Ras Lanuf terminals last week.

Idris Bukhamada, recently named by the Government of National Accord as the head of the Petroleum Facilities Guard, told local TV that export operations at the ports were continuing and that the oil was for all Libyans.

He was speaking after east Libyan forces carried out air strikes for a fifth day against the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), the faction that overran the ports. The eastern-based Libyan National Army and the BDB have been battling for control in Libya's eastern Oil Crescent since Friday, threatening output from oil ports that the LNA seized in September.

A senior official from Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Monday that production had dipped by 35,000 barrels per day (bpd) due to the latest unrest, leaving national production at just over 660,000 bpd.

OPEC member Libya was producing more than 1.6 million bpd before a 2011 uprising led to political turmoil and conflict that slashed output to a fraction of earlier levels.

"We have been tasked by the BDB to protect the oil ports," Bukhamada said, adding his oil guard belonged to the state and had no military mission.

"I reassure all companies and NOC partners that export operations are continuing and have not stopped," he told Libyan TV channel Al Nabaa.

Since the BDB attacked on Friday, a front line has formed at the center of the Oil Crescent, between the ports of Ras Lanuf and Brega. The Libyan National Army still controls Brega as well as a fourth port, Zueitina, which lies to the northeast.

It says it is using air strikes to prepare the ground for a counter-attack.

Libyan National Army spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said the latest strikes had hit targets from the BDB at Ras Lanuf and at Nawfiliya, 75 km (45 miles) to the west.

A resident and a military official in Ras Lanuf confirmed the air strikes, but said there had been no change to the positions of the rival factions on the ground.

A social media account used by the BDB said the group "is protecting all its positions, and controls the area from Nawfiliya to beyond Ras Lanuf".

The Libyan National Army ended long blockades at Zueitina, Ras Lanuf and Es Sider when it took them over seven months ago, leading to a sharp boost to oil production.

Es Sider and Ras Lanuf were badly damaged in previous rounds of fighting and are still operating well below capacity.

The current battle threatens to enflame a long-running, low intensity conflict between political and military factions based in eastern and western Libya, which the U.N.-backed government has failed to solve.

The BDB is partly made up of fighters who were ousted from Benghazi by the Libyan National Army, whose commander Khalifa Haftar has been waging a three-year military campaign in the city against Islamists and other rivals.

On Tuesday 39 members of Libya's eastern parliament, which is aligned with the LNA, voted to withdraw from a U.N.-backed dialogue process following the BDB attack.

(Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli and Aidan Lewis in Tunis; Editing by Alison Williams)

BEIRUT U.S.-backed Syrian militias said on Thursday they have enough forces to capture the city of Raqqa from Islamic State with support from the U.S.-led coalition, underlining their opposition to any Turkish role in the attack.

SHANGHAI/SEOUL Pressure in China on travel firms forced airlines and cruise operators to cut routes to South Korea, as the fallout spread on Friday from a diplomatic row over Seoul's plans to deploy a U.S. missile defense system against Beijing's objections.

ISTANBUL A helicopter carrying an executive of the Turkish Eczabicasi group and four Russians, including the firm's Russian operations chief, crashed in Istanbul on Friday, killing five of the seven people on board, the company's chairman said.

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Libyan oil guard head says asked to protect oil ports after clashes - Reuters

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Libya's eastern parliament calls for elections next year The San Luis Obispo Tribune Libya's eastern-based parliament has called for elections to be held early next year, after it backed out of a United Nations-brokered peace deal with rival authorities in the capital, Tripoli. The widening split has stoked concerns that violence could ... Libya's eastern parliament quits UN peace deal with TripoliABC News Libya militias who seized oil terminals aim to take BenghaziNew Jersey Herald all 15 news articles »

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Libya's eastern parliament calls for elections next year - The San Luis Obispo Tribune

Libyan militias that occupied two key oil terminals last week said Monday they intend to take the eastern city of Benghazi and unseat Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter, who controls the area.

Col. Mustafa Alsharksi, leader of the so-called Benghazi Defense Brigades, said more than 3,000 men are poised to continue eastward now that they have taken over the oil terminals of al-Sidra and Ras Lanuf.

The move threatens to escalate the conflict between Libya's two competing parliaments and governments, each backed by a set of militias, tribes and political factions, and potentially damage the contested oil installations.

"Our main goal is to return our city," Alsharksi said at a news conference in Misrata. "Our main goal is to reject and say no to oppression, say no to military rule (of Hifter),"

The militias are comprised of Islamic militants and former rebels recently defeated by Hifter's forces in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city. They were joined by militiamen from the western city of Misrata.

Alsharksi, who described Hifter as a "criminal," said his forces will continue to ensure oil revenues go to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli.

The Hifter-allied army units say they have deployed more forces in preparation for a counterattack to drive out the militias, describing the militias' recent advances as "a war against a whole region" that "they will not win."

Hifter's army is allied to the internationally recognized parliament based in eastern Libya, while the internationally recognized government based in the capital, Tripoli, opposes Hifter. The latter has condemned the fighting and says it has no role in it, according to a statement released by the Presidency Council, the United Nations-brokered body that was given the task of forming the government and that has presidential powers.

Libya descended into chaos with its 2011 civil war, which ended with the killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi and led to the current split.

The oil terminals have changed hands several times in the past three years, and the latest seizure has hurt production that was finally increasing and had reached 700,000 barrels a day in February.

Alsharksi described his forces as "revolutionaries" who took part in the uprising against Gadhafi. He said they attacked the oil terminal areas because Hifter's side had been using airports there to launch airstrikes against their allies.

He said his troops are comprised of "civilians and military officers not affiliated to any political party or groups" who "fight terrorism in Libya."

In a joint statement, the ambassadors from Libya of France, the United Kingdom and the United States condemned the escalation of violence and called for an immediate cease-fire.

?"We recall the urgent need for a unified national military force under civilian command in order to preserve the security and prosperity of all Libyans," they said. "We reaffirm the need to keep oil infrastructure, production, and export under the exclusive control of the National Oil Corporation acting under the authority? of the Government of National Accord."

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Libya militias who seized oil terminals aim to take Benghazi ...

Libya's eastern parliament voted Tuesday to withdraw its support for a United Nations peace deal and Government of National Accord, an escalation in the fractured country's split that stokes concerns recent violence could intensify.

Abdullah Ablaihig, spokesman for the Tobruk-based, internationally recognized House of Representatives, said the body voted to annul its previous acceptance of a presidential council and the U.N.-backed government currently led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj in Tripoli.

The decision comes as Libya's rival power centers are sliding closer to open conflict, with breakaway militias backed by western Libyan factions seizing oil terminals from the east's strongman general, whose forces have vowed to take them back.

The Tobruk body called on all Libyan parties to condemn militias that occupied the two key terminals in what it described as "terrorist attacks," saying it was suspending its participation in peace talks until they did so. The militias, which oppose the parliament, say they intend to take the eastern city of Benghazi and drive Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter from the area. Hifter's army is allied to the parliament, while the Tripoli government opposes him.

"The GNA unity government is not legitimate any more, as well as its presidential council and anything to do with this entity," Ablaihig said, urging the international community to lift an embargo on weapons sales to the Libyan army under Hifter.

His forces have deployed more troops in preparation of a counterattack to drive out the militias, known as the Benghazi Defense Brigades, which are comprised of Islamic militants and former rebels recently defeated by Hifter's forces in Benghazi, Libya' second largest city. They are also joined by militiamen from the western city of Misrata, and a day earlier announced their intentions from there.

Later in the day, the Tripoli government said that the oil terminals had been abandoned by the Benghazi Defense Brigades and that its forces were moving to occupy the facilities. It denied it had any relationship with the Brigades, saying they were involved in a separate fight with Benghazi that should be negotiated peacefully.

"We officially took control of the oil terminals," Brig. Gen. Mohamed Algosri told The Associated Press. "Now the forces will be formed and deploy to the oil terminals momentarily."

The Italian Embassy tweeted its support for the move, describing the deployment as "a step in the right direction" that should end the fighting.

Troops under the command of Hifter who were driven out of the oil facilities said they had redeployed to the east around the town of Brega and had been fighting skirmishes in recent days as they attempted to reconnoiter the opposing lines under air support.

An official at nearby Ajdabiya hospital said seven more of Hifter's troops were killed in fighting near Ras Lanuf on Tuesday, bringing that side's total losses to 39 killed over the past four days.

Libya descended into chaos with its 2011 civil war, which ended with the killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi and led to the current split.

Western ambassadors have condemned the escalation of violence and called for an immediate cease-fire. Egypt on Tuesday condemned the seizing of the oil installations more singularly, saying that "elements linked to al-Qaida" were involved in the attack, which it said posed "serious risks" for Libya.

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Libya's eastern parliament quits UN peace deal with Tripoli - ABC News