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Tripoli - More than 120 migrants, including women and children, were rescued by Libyan coastguards on Sunday off the coast of Tripoli after their boat ran into trouble.

The migrants set off Friday from Sabratha - a town 70km west of Libya's capital that has become a staging ground for traffickers - but their boat's engine failed, a coastguard official said.

An AFP photographer at the scene of the rescue said the vessel was intercepted by a coastguard patrol boat around 20 nautical miles northeast of Tripoli.

The official said those on board were of various African nationalities and included 10 women and five children, including a baby.

Libya said on Saturday it had intercepted more than 400 migrants bound for Europe in recent days.

The announcement followed a meeting of European Union leaders in Malta where they agreed moves to curb mass migration from Libya.

The plan includes funding and training Libya's coastguard to make it better able to intercept migrant boats and helping neighbouring countries to close routes into Libya, according to a draft statement seen by AFP.

Lawlessness in Libya since a 2011 uprising that ousted longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi has allowed smuggling networks to develop a lucrative trafficking trade.

Italy's coastguard said Thursday that more than 1 750 migrants had been rescued in the Mediterranean within 24 hours.

Around 230 people have died en route to Europe since the start of 2017, according to the United Nations.

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Libya rescues 120 migrants off Tripoli coast - News24

SAVED FROM THE SEA: A medic tends to the baby of a migrant after she was arrested by Libyan coastguards in Tripoli yesterday Picture: REUTERS

More than 120 migrants including women and children were rescued by Libyan coastguards off the coast of Tripoli yesterday after their boat ran into trouble.

The migrants set off on Friday from Sabratha a town 70km west of Libyas capital that has become a staging ground for traffickers but their boats engine failed, a coastguard official said.

A photographer at the scene said the vessel was intercepted by a coastguard patrol boat around 20 nautical miles northeast of Tripoli.

The official said those on board were of various African nationalities and included 10 women and five children, including a baby.

Libya said on Saturday it had intercepted more than 400 migrants bound for Europe in recent days.

The announcement followed a meeting of European Union leaders in Malta where they agreed on moves to curb mass migration from Libya.

The plan includes funding and training Libyas coastguard to make it better able to intercept migrant boats and helping neighbouring countries to close routes into Libya, according to a draft statement.

Lawlessness in Libya since a 2011 uprising that ousted longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi has allowed smuggling networks to develop a lucrative trafficking trade.

Italys coastguard said on Thursday more than 1 750 migrants had been rescued in the Mediterranean within 24 hours.

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Libya rescues 120 migrants off Tripoli - Herald live

Ukraine and Libya will be in focus when EU foreign affairs ministers meet on Monday (6 February).

The fighting in eastern Ukraine escalated last week, in what many fear was a Kremlin test to see how the new US president would react.

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Donald Trump vowed on Saturday to work with both Kiev and Moscow to restore peace "along the border", even though fighting is taking place deep inside eastern Ukraine.

Uncertainty over future US policy will weigh on the EU ministers' discussion of the implementation of the EU-backed Minsk ceasefire agreement, which aims to stop Russian-controlled forces from waging war in eastern Ukraine.

They will also review Ukraine's efforts to fight corruption ahead of a meeting between Ukrainian prime minister Volodymyr Groysman and council president Donald Tusk on Thursday.

The foreign affairs council will review the political situation in Libya, one year after the formation of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).

Ministers will discuss how to work with Libya to stop migrants from trying to cross the Mediterranean after EU heads of state on Friday pledged to pay the GNA 200 million to reinforce its coastguard.

The European Parliament will also discuss Ukraine on Monday, as the subcommittee on security and defence hosts the country's deputy PM, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.

The EU special envoy to south Caucasus, Herbert Salber, and Georgia's EU ambassador, Natalie Sabanadze, will come to discuss the increasing Russian influence in the region.

On Thursday, the Dieselgate scandal will feature in two committee meetings, held simultaneously in the European Parliament.

EU industry commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska will discuss how the cheating was made possible with members of the parliament's special inquiry committee into the affair.

Meanwhile, in the internal market and consumer affairs committee, MEPs will vote on a plan, tabled a year ago by Bienkowska, to increase EU oversight on national car approval systems.

More EU involvement is hoped to prevent further scandals, but it is unclear how far the European Parliament's committee intends to go. The vote has been delayed several times in an attempt to find compromises.

Also on Thursday, the parliament's civic liberties (Libe) committee will hold a discussion on the Schengen free-travel area.

Austria, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Norway have asked to prolong for a further three months the temporary internal border checks they introduced in May 2016 in response to growing migration flows.

In the sidelines, the parliament's political groups will prepare for next week's plenary session, which will feature ratification of the controversial EU-Canada trade agreement (Ceta).

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Ukraine, Libya and Dieselgate on EU agenda This WEEK - EUobserver

Nelson Garcia, KUSA 9:46 PM. MST February 04, 2017

Hanan Isweiriis working on her doctorate at Colorado State University.

FORT COLLINS - The home of Manar Buhalfaya was not complete as long her mother and infant brother remain stranded trying to return from Libya during the travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump.

"It was hard especially like as a teenager girl like finding out it was gonna be awhile till her mom came back," Manar said.

HananIsweiri and her one-year-old son traveledback to Libya to attend her father's funeral and help care for her sick mother in Benghazi. She is a doctoral student at Colorado State University living in Fort Collins since 2010 with her four children and husband Ahmed. Isweiriis studying in CSU's Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture.

"We've gotten a lot of support from my friends and other families around us, but it's just not the same when your mom is like halfway around the world," Manar said.

PREVIOUS STORY:CSU student affected by travel ban hopes to be back in U.S this weekend

PREVIOUS STORY:CSU Ph.D. student stranded abroad with baby following travel ban

She was stuck in foreign airports from Jordan to Turkey to Germany trying to find any way to return to Colorado. Friday afternoon, the family got the news it was waiting for when a federal judge issued a temporary halt to the travel ban.

"Yesterday, when they like halted it, I was like, oh my gosh, it happened," Manar said.

The court's actions created a window for Isweirito come back to the United States. She flew to Boston on Saturday where she was detained by immigration officials and no guarantee that she could come home.

"I kinda really got scared that she wasn't gonna come back," Manar said.

Saturday night, Manar and her family receive word that Isweiriis leaving the Boston airport to stay in a hotel. She is clear to return to Colorado Sunday morning.

"I am happy now. I am very happy," Ahmed Buhalfaya, husband, said.

Ahmed Buhalfaya shows his emotions upon hearing the news that his wife is cleared to return to Colorado from Libya. (Photo: Chris Cheline)

Instead of more waiting, Manar started celebrating. Her mother is almost home.

"The fact that my mom is now in the U.S. and is able to move from Boston, Massachusetts to Denver, Colorado in a matter of a plane ride is extravagantly amazing," Manar said.

( 2017 KUSA)

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CSU student returns from Libya during travel ban stoppage - 9NEWS.com

Libya's coast guard intercepted at least 1131 migrants near the western city of Sabratha over the course of a week, a spokesman says.

Ayoub Qassem said 431 migrants had been intercepted on four inflatable boats off Sabratha's coast on Thursday and some 700 had been picked up on January 27 from three wooden vessels in the same area.

"The illegal migrants are from various sub-Saharan countries and include a big number of women and children," Qassem said of those intercepted on Thursday.

Those intercepted on January 27 also included migrants from Syria, Tunisia, Libya and the Palestinian territories, he said, and smugglers had attempted to block the coast guards from taking those migrants from their boats.

"Smugglers had tried to foil the process of arrest by opening fire on our coast guards but the coast guards fired back and that forced the smugglers to withdraw."

Libya has become the main point of departure for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean by boat to Europe since a route between Turkey and Greece was largely closed off last year.

People smugglers generally operate with impunity, launching migrants in flimsy vessels that sometimes break down or sink before they are spotted by rescue boats operated by an EU naval mission and by non-government organisations. More than 4500 died attempting the crossing last year.

Libya's coastguard sends migrants back to detention centres that rights groups have criticised for their inhumane conditions and widespread abuses.

On Friday, European leaders offered Libya money and other assistance to try to curb record migrant flows from the North African country.

Aid groups criticised the move, saying such plans exposed migrants to further risks and abuses.

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Libya pulls 1131 from sea in one week - NEWS.com.au