TRIPOLI, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Thursday said it evacuated 179 asylum-seekers and refugees to Niger from Libya. "Today, 179 asylum-seekers and refugees were evacuated on the first flight to Niger in 2023. During their stay in the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) in Niger, the asylum-seekers and refugees were provided with accommodation as well as medical care, psychosocial support and language classes, it said. The UNHCR added that it aims to help the evacuees to find durable solutions such as resettlement to third countries. More than 4,200 asylum-seekers and refugees have been evacuated to the ETM since 2017 by the UNHCR, which has also helped 5,800 others to resettle in third countries, according to the UN refugee agency.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) evacuated today 179 migrants from Libya to Niger. The group included children, women at risk, survivors of violence, people with serious medical conditions, survivors of trafficking and some who had recently been released from detention, according to UNHCR. “During the stay in the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) in Niger, UNHCR provides asylum-seekers and refugees with accommodation, assistance and services, including medical care, psychosocial support, and language classes,” the U.N. agency said in a statement via Facebook. “UNHCR aims to help them to find durable solutions such as resettlement to third countries,” it added. Since 2017, UNHCR has assisted more than 4,200 people to depart to the ETM in Niger, in addition to assisting departure to third countries through resettlement, evacuation, and complementary pathways for another over 5,800 asylum-seekers and refugees.

Major General Al-Fitouri Grebeel, the Chief of Staff of Western Libya’s Ground Forces, met in Tripoli yesterday with U.S. Defense Attaché, Navy Capt. Mark A. Imblum, to discuss “enhancing relations between the Libyan and American armies”, according to a statement by the Ground Forces via Facebook. During the meeting, Grebeel “praised the role played by the AFRICOM forces” while Imblum “commended the precision, commitment, and determination of the military institution’s officers and personnel,”as per the Ground Forces’ statement. Imblum and his delegates were then invited by Grebeel to tour military camps run by the Ground Forces.

Khalifa Haftar, the General Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), met today with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome where they discussed a number of topics including “unprecedented increase” of the migratory flow towards Italy, according to multiple reports by Italian press. According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Haftar and Meloni also discussed the ongoing conflict in Sudan during their two-hour conversation at Palazzo Chigi. During the meeting, Meloni confirmed her country’s support for the United Nations’ plan to revitalize the political process that could lead to presidential and parliamentary elections by the end of 2023 in Libya, according to Italian news agency Ansa. Italian news agency Nova reported that Meloni’s meeting with Haftar was originally scheduled to take place in January, but had been postponed.

The Libyan general Khalifa Haftar, a strong man from Cyrenaica, is in Rome for discreet meetings with the Italian government. Yesterday evening he saw the foreign minister, Antonio Tajaniand today at noon he met the premier for two hours Giorgia Meloni at Palazzo Chigi. Among the topics covered was “the unprecedented growth of the migratory phenomenon towards Italy”, according to the official note released immediately after by the Italian government.

Turkiye’s Erdogan faces tough election amid quake, inflationANKARA: Early in his political career, a devastating earthquake and economic troubles helped propel Recep Tayyip Erdogan to power in Turkiye. Most opinion polls point to a slight lead by his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who heads the secular, center-left Republican People’s Party, or CHP. The political party founded by Erdogan in 2001 came to power amid an economic crisis and the Izmit quake. In the upcoming election, six parties have united behind his main opponent, Kilicdaroglu, despite their disparate political views. Some also are questioning whether Erdogan would agree to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose.

EventThe security situation will likely remain unstable nationwide through at least late May, primarily due to intermittent fighting and armed clashes between various rival militia groups across the country. Competing governmental institutions, as well as geopolitical rivalries, have profoundly complicated the security situation in Libya. Security ServicesThere is no unified, professional security force operating in Libya. Local militias - which often have conflicting and evolving allegiances and political and territorial objectives - are generally responsible for providing security. Do not attempt to bypass security checkpoints; even an accidental breach of the security cordon near a checkpoint may prompt security forces to respond aggressively.

Fourteen people were killed and 25 injured after a public transport bus collided with a heavy transport truck on a desert highway in southwestern Egypt on Wednesday, medical and security sources said. The accident occurred on Assuit-Kharga highway, around 400 km southwest of Cairo, in New Valley province that shares a long border with neighboring Libya, the sources said. Seventeen ambulances were dispatched to the scene to ferry the injured to hospitals, state news agency MENA quoted New Valley governor Mohamed el-Zamlout as saying. Reckless driving, lax traffic rules and poor road conditions cause many road crashes in Egypt. Egypt's road accidents left 7,101 people dead in 2021, marking a 15.2% increase compared with 2020, the country's statistics agency CAPMAS said in a report last year.

Ignazio Cassis, Federal Councillor for Foreign Affairs of Switzerland and current president of the United Nations Security Council, presides over a meeting of the council, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)By EDITH M LEDERERThe world’s divided nations agreed Wednesday on one thing: There is a lack of trust in a world beset by conflicts and crises. Diplomats at the U.N. Security Council presented ideas on how to move toward a more peaceful future — a task they see as difficult, but not impossible. He recalled that when the United Nations was established on the ashes of World War II its mandate was to prevent another world war and there was trust among the former warring nations. But the international system where the world’s nations act together is “not bankrupt,” and “the real failure would be to do nothing,” he stressed.

Six Libyans are facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity and proselytising under laws increasingly being used to silence civil society and human rights organisations, say activists. A US citizen was arrested by Libya’s Internal Security Agency (ISA) last month, but was released and is understood to have left the country. His face unclear in the video, Madi said: “I was born in 1977 and I was arrested by the Internal Security Unit for converting to Christianity. According to the human rights organisation Humanists International, Libya’s legislation is largely based around religion. A number of Libyan human rights activists have been killed or have had to flee the country.

A Libyan delegation consisting of Libyan border guard and Libyan customs officers attended the World Border Congress 2023 in Skopje, North Macedonia from 25 to 27 April, EUBAM Libya reported today. Libya struggles to protect its borders“Currently, Libyan border guards struggle to fulfil their tasks related to border surveillance with responsibilities to tackling cross-border crimes”, Luis Puig, EUBAM Libya’s Head of the Border Management Unit said. “Libyan border guards are lacking operational capabilities including equipment and require smart border technology which is not set up yet. Strengthen the operational capacity of the Libyan border management agenciesThe overall objective of the attendance was to strengthen the operational capacity of the Libyan border management agencies at border crossing points (BCPs) and the areas between. It was also to gain the knowledge of the benefits of the use of smart technology in the border control tasks (border checks and border surveillance) and to implement smart border surveillance technology.

Government pushbacks and reluctance to carry out rescues at sea is believed to be the main reason behind a substantial drop of asylum seekers in the country, the 2022 Asylum Information Database report has shown. The report provides in-depth information on the various aspects of the asylum regime: asylum procedure, reception conditions, detention, content of international protection. The report was researched and written by aditus foundation and was edited by European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE). “We were only able to secure asylum statistics through a Freedom of Information request. “Despite this, non-vulnerable asylum seekers must exit the open centre at six months and this also terminates material reception conditions.”READ ALSO | Immigration: Boat arrivals on the decline since Malta-Libya MoU

Former Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti has warned Europe of the ongoing civil war in Sudan in a statement to Libero Quotidiano. “The repercussions of the war in Sudan have not yet become clear, but they are already worrying,” Minniti stated. “The European Union is mistaken in its perspective towards Tunisia. It cannot submit its decisions to the decisions of the International Monetary Fund,” Minniti explained. The European Union cannot abandon its role.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the Arab League, has stated that there is a crisis in the Libyan file and no positive results or progress have been made. “The extremist groups that trade in religion are putting the world in the face of extremism. There is a crisis in the Libyan file and no positive results or progress have been made,” Aboul Gheit said in a televised interview on Tuesday. Libya has been experiencing a state of political stagnation since the postponement of last year’s presidential and legislative elections and with the slow negotiations between the House of Representatives and the High State Council over a law regulating the new elections.

The fate of the economic situation between Turkey and Libya will be determined after presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14, according to Turkish international relations expert, Mohammed Ozkan. Ozkan stated that the return of all Turkish companies to Libya is important. Speaking to the “Sada” newspaper, Ozkan said, “Turkish companies have turned to alternative trade and investments in many countries, including Africa, so I don’t think they have the same importance as in the past.”Regarding Turkey’s economic interests in Libya, he explained that Turkey’s interest in Libya is more geopolitical than economic. However, if Libya stabilizes, there may be a clear economic relationship between the two countries. In addition to military and economic support, Turkey and the Tripoli-based government signed a controversial maritime agreement in November 2019, which established a maritime boundary between the two countries in the eastern Mediterranean.