News Roundup - Sat, May 06, 2017

The Italian Foreign Minister, Angelino Alfano, has left Libya together with the delegation that accompanied him on his formal visit to Tripoli, which only took a few hours.

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Meshashiya displaced families, who were coerced into leaving their houses in districts like Oweyniya, Omer, and Zawiyat Al-Bagol, declared the beginning of their return to their houses after over 5 years of displacement.

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Security adviser to the UN-installed Presidency Council, Hashim Bisher, said on Saturday the military rule is totally rejected, sending a strong message to Khalifa Haftar that Tripoli is a “red line.” Bisher was responding to critics accusing his armed groups of paving the way for Khalifa Haftar to control Tripoli after the latter’s meeting with Fayaz Sirraj in the UAE.

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Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano arrived in Tripoli on Saturday for talks over Libya’s political deadlock.

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Chief of Libyan Coast Guard in the central region, Rida Essa, has accused rescue organizations in the Mediterranean of encouraging the influx of illegal immigrants from Libya to the EU. He said the rescue boats of these organizations have given a signal to the immigrants that their journey to the EU would be safe, causing an increase in the number of immigrants. He added that the Libyan Coast Guard has expressed concerns to Operation Sophia about these boats, but it did not take any actions against them.

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A shipment of LYD 660 million dinars, printed by the parallel Central Bank of Libya in Russia, arrived in the eastern city of Tobruk on Friday.

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160 Turkish engineers from Enka Company arrived in Obari, south Libya, on Friday to join their colleagues who are working on the city's gas power plant.

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A cautious calm prevailed in Sabha on Friday after a day of deadly clashes between local tribes leaving around 15 people dead. Reports said more than 100 families had fled the city due to the clashes.

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The International Organization for Migration said it had deported 165 Guinean immigrants from Libya on Friday.

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The remaining two Russian sailors have been released from Libya, a week after the release of 5 sailors accused of smuggling Libyan fuel. Libyan Coast Guard arrested the 7 Russian sailors in the Libyan waters two months ago.

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Chief of Automated Inspection at Libyan Customs in Misrata has received death threats if he continued to crack down on scrap metal smugglers. Local sources said the death threat sender has been identified and the case has been reported to the police station.

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A girl from Derna in east Libya committed suicide on Friday, to be the first recorded case in the city. A wave of suicides among teenagers has swept the eastern city of Bayda, raising public concern over the causes which remained unknown.