The Head of the Youths and Sports Authority in Libya Ziyad Gazira said they had transferred all of the financial dues of the former Libya national team’s coach Javier Clemente on Thursday, saying that they put doubled efforts to save Libya’s football activities from the FIFA freezing. FIFA gave Libya till January 22 to pay off all the financial dues of the Spanish coach Clemente that are worth 1.5 million euros, threatening to freeze Libya’s football activities if the payment failed.
--------------------------------------------
Libya’s Foreign Ministry asked Italy Friday for a clarification about the approval of sending a military mission to Libya by the Italian Parliament. The Libyan News Agency cited the Head of the Media Office of the ministry, Ahmed Al-Arbad, as saying that they sent a letter to the Italian Embassy in Tripoli regarding the Italian troops on Libya’s land. On Wednesday, the Italian Parliament voted Wednesday to send about 470 soldiers to Niger and send more troops in Libya so that they amount to 400.
--------------------------------------------
A source from Zueitina oil terminal said Friday that the reasons why there was smoke billowing the sky was because the workers managed to operate the gas power station that produces cooking gas that’s been shut since 2011 and which was feeding huge parts of eastern Libya. It added that the water stored inside the pipelines were behind the smoke. Residents reported seeing smoke in the sky and thought it was a fire that broke in the oil terminal.
--------------------------------------------
UNSMIL said on Twitter that the UN Development Program (UNDP) installed solar panels in 15 Libyan hospitals in 2017. The UNSMIL added that the UNPD intends to support more public facilities in Libya in 2018 by providing the needed finances for installing the solar panels and providing the basic needs for stability in Libya.
--------------------------------------------
The African security delegation visiting Libya from the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA) left Libya Thursday, saying it will present the report on the conditions it saw in Libya to the African Union later. It also announced readiness to share information with Libyan authorities regarding organized crimes. According to a closes source, the delegation and Libya reviewed the fact that the international community is not supporting Libya in the illegal immigration issues despite many agreements and deals.
--------------------------------------------
The deputy head of the Presidential Council Ahmed Mitig met with the vice prime minister of Turkey and discussed the possibility of resuming Turkish airliners’ flights to Libya’s airports and the return of Turkish firms to Libya to resume suspended projects in fields like education, energy and health, according to the media office of the PC. Turkish Airlines suspended flights to and from Libya in January 2015 over deteriorated security.
--------------------------------------------
The Sirte Security Force said its patrols have been tracking IS militants in the valleys over the last three days. The deputy commander of the force, Ali Rafida, said Friday that they were provided with intelligence and tipoffs about IS gatherings in southern Sirte and so they acted upon them. “IS militants are moving carefully fearing aircraft but we have their traces in some valleys.” He added.
--------------------------------------------
Human Rights Watch said that armed groups and some forces affiliated with two rival Libyan governments vying for legitimacy are committing rampant abuses against Libyans and foreigners with impunity, adding that since the eruption of pitched conflict in May 2014, armed groups unlawfully killed, disappeared, tortured, forcibly displaced, and arbitrarily detained and kidnapped people, for political, economic, or criminal motives. Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said the migration crisis in the central Mediterranean shows the rest of the world that it is ignoring Libya’s human rights disaster at its own peril, adding that stabilizing the situation in Libya requires establishing some measure of accountability for the rampant abuse being committed by various actors.
--------------------------------------------
Libyan coastguards seized Friday a fishing boat with five Tunisian anglers onboard in the Libyan territorial waters, sources from Ben Guerdane city in Tunisia reported. They added that the boat was taken to Tripoli and the fishermen were held despite efforts to free them. Another boat from the same Tunisian area escaped after coming under gunfire. Tunisian law activists are trying to talk Libyan authorities into releasing the arrested fishermen and the boat.
News