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Ahmed Elumami News

05 Mar 2024

Italy Impounds Charity Ship Involved in Dispute with Libya

(Photo: Maria Giulia Trombini / SOS Humanity)

A German charity vessel was on Tuesday impounded by Italian authorities after it ran into a dispute with the Libyan coast guard over the rescue of as many as 100 migrants in international waters.Italy often temporarily blocks the operations of charity-operated rescue vessels on the basis of a migration decree introduced last year by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's rightist government.The Humanity 1, operated by the SOS Humanity organization, was blocked for 20 days in the southern port of Crotone…

14 Jul 2022

Libya's Oil Chief Rejects Sacking, Says Govt Mandate Expired

NOC chief Mustafa Sanalla - Credit: NOC (file image)

The head of Libya's National Oil Corp (NOC) on Wednesday rejected the prime minister's authority to sack him, raising the prospect of an open struggle for control of the state energy producer.In a furious televised speech, Mustafa Sanalla said Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah's mandate to govern had expired and warned him not to touch NOC.An armed force deployed outside the NOC building later in the day, three witnesses said. One of them said the force was aligned with Dbeibah.

18 Apr 2022

Libya Halts Operations at Zueitina Oil Port Due to Protests

Libya halted oil production from its El Feel oilfield on Sunday and two sources at Zueitina oil port said exports there had been suspended after protesters calling for Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah to resign took over the sites.Halting operations in El Feel and Zueitina would cripple Libya's oil production which averaged 1.21 million barrels per day before the latest outages. The force majeure on El Feel curtails the North African nation's production by 70,000 barrels per day.Libya has had two competing governments since March when the eastern-based parliament appointed Fathi Bashagha to replace Dbeibah, renewing a standoff between the east and west of the country.

15 Sep 2021

Libya's Hariga Port to Return to Normal Operations

© Haris Andronos / Adobe Stock

Libya's Hariga oil terminal will immediately return to normal operations, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) media office said on Wednesday, and the port manager said protesters were withdrawing.Exports at Hariga had been blocked by a group that said it was protesting for jobs.A senior NOC official said the blockade of Hariga had been lifted and the port had received instructions to resume operations.

10 Sep 2021

Loading Ops Restart at Libyan Oil Ports

Loading operations at the Libyan oil terminals of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf resumed on Friday after a stoppage, National Oil Corporation and two engineers at the ports said.Exports were still halted at a third terminal, Hariga, where people have blocked loading operations, an engineer there said.Libyan oil output has been over 1.3 million barrels per day for much of 2021 but insecurity, political divisions and budget disputes threaten to undermine production or stop exports at various fields or ports.Last year, eastern-based forces in the civil war blockaded almost all exports for months, ending with negotiations that came in the context of a wider push towards peace.Earlier this year…

18 Feb 2020

Vessels at Port of Libyan Capital Evacuated After Attack

Vessels including fuel tankers docked at the sea port of the Libyan capital were evacuated on Tuesday after an attack, two port officials said.Eastern Libyan forces, which have been trying to take the capital since April, said they had attacked a Turkish vessel discharging weapons, an eastern military official said. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami and Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Alex Richardson)

10 Feb 2020

Libyan Oil Revenues Fall to Zero as Ports Blocked

© Puchthanun / Adobe Stock

Libya's vital oil revenues fell to zero in January, the central bank said on Monday, after forces and tribesmen allied to eastern commander Khalifa Haftar blocked major oil ports.Haftar is embroiled in a conflict with the internationally recognized government in Tripoli and has been trying to seize the capital by force since April.Tribesmen and forces loyal to him closed all eastern ports and major fields last month in a power play, part of chaos in Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.The oil shutdown has caused losses exceeding 2.5 billion Libyan dinar ($1.78 billion)…

17 Jan 2020

NOC Condemns Calls for Oil Export Terminals to be Shut

© Juozas55 / Adobe Stock

Libya's state oil firm NOC on Friday condemned calls to shut oil export terminals in eastern Libya controlled by military commander Khalifa Haftar ahead of a summit in Germany where he will face pressure to halt his campaign to take the capital.Tribal leaders in eastern and southern Libya called on Thursday to shut the terminals in protest at what they called the internationally-recognized government in Tripoli's use of oil revenues to pay for foreign fighters.Eastern Libya and part of the south of the country is controlled by the Libya National Army (LNA) of Haftar…

25 Jul 2019

115 Feared Dead after Med Shipwreck

About 115 people are missing and feared to have drowned and another 134 were rescued by Libyan coast guards and local fishermen after a wooden boat carrying migrants capsized off Libya, a Libyan navy official said on Thursday.Earlier, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said that up to 150 people were feared dead."The worst Mediterranean tragedy of this year has just occurred," UNHCR head Filippo Grandi said in a tweet.There were about 250 people on board, mainly from Eritrea and other sub-Saharan Africa and Arab countries, when the boat capsized off the coast near Komas, east of the capital Tripoli, Libyan navy spokesman Ayoub Qassem said.Libya is a hub for migrants and refugees…

25 Jul 2019

116 Migrants Missing, 132 Rescued Off Libyan Coast - Navy

At least 116 migrants are missing and another 132 were rescued by Libyan coast guards and local fishermen after a wooden boat capsized off the coast of Komas, a town east of the capital Tripoli, Libyan navy spokesman Ayoub Qassem said on Thursday.Qassem cited survivors as saying there had been more than 200 migrants on board the boat.Earlier, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said that up to 150 people were feared dead in the shipwreck while another 150 were rescued. (Reuters, Reporting by Ahmed Elumami Writing by Lisa Barrington Editing by Frances Kerry)

21 Mar 2019

30 Migrants Missing as Boat Sinks off Libya

At least 30 migrants are believed to be missing after their boat sank off the western Libyan city of Sabratha this week, a coastguard spokesman said on Thursday.According to a survivor the boat was carrying almost 50 migrants, coastguard spokesman Ayoub Qassem said. The body of one child was recovered and 16 migrants were rescued, he added.Previously, officials had said at least 10 migrants were thought to have died in the incident.Libya's western coast is a main departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe, though numbers have dropped since an Italian-led effort to disrupt smuggling networks and support Libya's coast guard.Reporting by Ahmed Elumami

19 Mar 2019

At Least 10 Dead in Migrant Boat Casualty

At least 10 migrants died when their boat sank off the Libyan coast near the western town of Sabratha on Tuesday, a Libyan security official said.About 17 others were rescued, Aiman Dabbashi, Sabratha's security operations spokesman, said.Libya's western coast is a main departure point for migrants fleeing poverty and wars to reach Europe, though numbers have dropped since Italy and the European Union stepped up efforts to support the Libyan coast guard."According to a survivor from Sudan, the boat was carrying about 27 illegal migrants who set off from (the western town of) Zuwarah but we are still finding out more," Dabbashi told Reuters."We rescued about 17 illegal migrants including a woman who all were taken to the hospital.

04 Dec 2018

Migrants die in boat off Libya, Egyptian survivor says

MISRATA, Libya, Dec 4 - Fifteen migrants have died in a boat off the Libyan coast after spending 12 days at sea without food or water, an Egyptian survivor said on Tuesday.Only 10 migrants from the capsized boat survived, all of whom were suffering from severe dehydration, Othman Belbeisi, head of the U.N. migration agency IOM in Libya, said on Twitter.The owner of a beach chalet found the migrants washing up on the shore near the city of Misrata and called authorities, who brought them to the Red Crescent relief service and hospitals, residents said."We were 25 migrants on a boat ... We set off from (the western Libyan town of) Sabratah and we were at sea for 12 days without food and water," the survivor said.

12 Nov 2018

Migrants Rescued by Cargo Ship Refuse to Disembark at Libyan Port

Some 95 migrants picked up by a cargo ship off the Libyan coast have refused to disembark in the western city of Misrata, officials from the United Nations and Libyan coast guard said on Monday.The Libyan coast guard, supported by Italy, has stepped up patrols to stop boats with mainly African migrants from leaving Libyan shores for Europe.A cargo ship bound for Misrata rescued on Thursday around 95 migrants whose boat was about to sink, Rida Essa, a Misrata-based coast guard commander, told Reuters.He said coast guard vessels had been unable to reach the site of the accident so the cargo ship brought them to Misrata, Libya's biggest port."They (migrants) did not want to leave the ship...We tried to negotiate with them and this has lasted for three days…

29 Jun 2018

Libyan Coastguard: 100 migrants May Have Drowned Near Tripoli

Around 100 people are thought to have drowned from a migrant boat off Libya's western coast, a coastguard official said on Friday. The coastguard picked up 14 survivors from the boat just east of the capital, Tripoli, the official said. Separately, the coastguard said it had intercepted 200 migrants from two other migrant boats east of Tripoli. Libya is one of the main departure points for migrants trying to cross to Europe by sea, usually in flimsy inflatable boats provided by smugglers that often get punctured or break down. Some make it to international waters where they hope to be picked up by international vessels, but increasing numbers are intercepted by Libya's EU-backed coastguard and returned to Libya.

21 Jun 2018

Libyan Coastguard Picks Up 301 Migrants Headed for Europe

Libya's coastguard picked up 301 African migrants on Thursday from two inflatable boats after their engines failed near its western coast, a spokesman said.Libya is a main departure point for migrants fleeing wars and poverty trying to reach European countries, though crossings have dropped sharply since last July due to a more active coastguard supported by the European Union."The coastguard rescued 301 migrants early this morning, including three women and 46 children from 12 different sub-Saharan countries," its spokesman Ayoub Qassem told Reuters."The illegal migrants were on board two big rubber boats," Qassem said. "The engines of the two boats stopped working in the middle of sea."On Wednesday…

08 May 2018

Nigerian Migrants Sue Italy for Aiding Libyan Coast Guard

European Court of Human Rights (© Adrian Hancu / Adobe Stock)

Nigerian migrants who survived a deadly sea crossing last year filed a lawsuit against Italy for violating their rights by supporting Libya’s efforts to return them to North Africa, their lawyers said on Tuesday.Seventeen plaintiffs petitioned the European Court of Human Rights last week, Violeta Moreno-Lax, a legal advisor for the Global Legal Action Network, told reporters. She was among four lawyers and several humanitarian groups involved in the case.The migrants say Italy violated multiple articles of the European Convention on Human Rights…

02 Feb 2018

Migrant Boat Capsizes off Libya, Dozens Feared Dead

Most on board boat believed to be Pakistanis;ten bodies so far recovered, three survivors found. An estimated 90 migrants are feared to have drowned off the coast of Libya after a smuggler's boat capsized early on Friday, leaving three known survivors and 10 bodies washed up on shore, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. Survivors told aid workers that most of the migrants on board were Pakistanis, who form a growing group heading to Italy from North Africa, IOM spokeswoman Olivia Headon said. "They have given an estimate of 90 people who drowned during the capsize, but we still need to verify the exact number of people who lost their lives during the tragedy," Headon, speaking from Tunis, told a Geneva news briefing.

28 Aug 2017

Libyan Navy Seizes Tanker over Suspected Smuggling

Libyan naval forces on Sunday seized a Liberian-flagged oil tanker and detained its mainly Filipino crew on suspicion of smuggling oil off the Abu Kammash area west of the capital Tripoli, a naval spokesman said. Libyan coast guards often seize tankers suspected of smuggling oil and gasoline off the coast that has become a haven for migrants and smugglers taking advantage of chaos that followed the 2011 fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi. In the latest case, the Levane tanker with its crew of 20 members from the Philippines was seized on Monday afternoon by a patrol, naval spokesman Ayoub Qassem said. "The capacity of the tanker Levane is six million litres and it is a Greek-owned company tanker," Qassim said, adding that members of the crew were being questioned.

08 Aug 2017

Italy, Malta Turn Away Migrant Rescue Boat

A Spanish aid group operating in the Mediterranean said on Tuesday one of its boats had been barred by Italy and Malta from disembarking migrants rescued two days ago. Humanitarian groups have played a growing role in rescuing migrants who pay criminal gangs for passage from Libya, prompting accusations in Italy that they are facilitating people smuggling and encouraging migration. The groups deny this. It was not clear why the Golfo Azzurro, run by Barcelona-based Proactiva Open Arms, was not allowed to dock in Lampedusa. It is now in international waters. The Italian coastguard could not be reached for comment. "Golfo Azzurro rescued three people 100 miles from the Libyan coast in an (Italian) coastguard operation 48 hours ago and we are still without authorisation to disembark…

24 Jul 2017

Libya Coastguard Rescues Nearly 300 Migrants at Sea

Libya's coastguard rescued an estimated 278 migrants including women and children on Monday off the shores of two different towns west of the capital Tripoli, a spokesman said. The coastal towns to the west of Tripoli - Zawiya, Sabratha, and Zuwarah - are common departure points for migrants trying to reach Europe, often sent out by smugglers in flimsy vessels. The coastguard near Zawiya refinery rescued 128 people about 23 km (14 miles) off the coast and another 150 were rescued off Sabratha, the spokesman of Libyan naval forces Ayoub Qaseed told Reuters. The migrants were mostly from sub-Saharan African countries, though there was also one from Bangladesh and two from Egypt.

28 Apr 2017

Libya Captures Oil-smuggling Tankers after Firefight

Libyan naval forces captured two vessels suspected of smuggling oil from the North African country after gun battles lasting several hours west of the capital Tripoli, a spokesman for the service said on Friday. Libyan forces frequently capture vessels smuggling oil and arms off the coast and the North African state has become a haven for migrant smugglers who take advantage of the country's turmoil to ship people across to Europe. Ayoub Qassem, a spokesman for the Libyan naval forces, said Ukraine-flagged tanker Routa and a vessel with an unspecified African nation's flag named Stark were captured early Friday. "Clashes lasted for three hours, but the two tankers were successfully seized," Qassem said. The incident occurred in the Sidi Said area west of Tripoli.

06 Apr 2017

Libya Coastguard Clashes With Suspected Smugglers, Four Killed

Four suspected migrant smugglers were killed in an exchange of fire with the Libyan coastguard off western Libya on Thursday, spokesman Ayoub Qassem said. Qassem said the clash started when the coastguards tried to apprehend heavily armed gunmen whose boat was located near a migrant vessel close to the city of Zawiya, about 45 km (28 miles) west of Tripoli. "The coastguard boat detected the gunmen's boat by radar during a patrol," Qassem told Reuters. "The gunmen were asked to stop but they refused to follow the rules, which means most likely they were smugglers of illegal migrants. They opened fire at the patrol. Two of the suspected smugglers were arrested and one was missing, Qassem said.