"Our forces had offered a chance to the fighters in Derna to surrender their weapons and put an end to the bloodshed, but to no avail," warlord Khalifa Haftar claimed. In his speech to a number of locals of Ayn Marrah town, western Derna, Haftar praised their “pivotal role in the battle against Derna”, saying that their participation marks the beginning of the "liberation battle" of the city. He added that his forces will waste no more time with the three governments in the country, stressing his refusal to the existence of what he described as “the militias” in Tripoli. Ayn Marrah militants are strong allies of Dignity Operation and they are deeply involved in the siege of Derna.

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Governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), Al-Siddiq Al-Kabir, discussed with the Maltese Minister of Finance, Edward Scicluna, the joint coordination in combating money laundering crimes. On its website, the CBL reported Sunday that a meeting was held in Algeria on March 27 between Al-Kabir, Scicluna and the Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia, Marouane Abassi, during which they discussed ways to combat terrorism financing in cooperation with the European Union. Al-Kabir also convened an additional meeting with his Algerian and Egyptian counterparts last Tuesday, which focused on cooperation in the fight against money laundering crimes and exchange of expertise in this field.

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The Department of Hajj and Umrah of the General Authority for Awqaf and Islamic Affairs of the Presidential Council has started the registration process of those wishing to perform Hajj for this season, in all areas of Libya. The Department said that the registration will continue for two weeks, from April 02 – 16. As for the elderly, the registration process will start on April 18 and will last for 10 days. It added that the Hajj balloting will be carried out through an electronic system on May 01, based on the official population statistics for each region issued by the Civil Status Department for this year. The Hajj fare for each pilgrim would be LYD 10.000 dinars, the Department announced.

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The Director of state-owned Price Stabilization Fund (PSF), Jamal Al-Shaibani, clarified in a press statement that the PSF is still waiting for the approval of the Central Bank of Libya for the supply of food commodities since last December. Al- Shaibani expressed his surprise at the Central Bank's refusal to liquidate funds for goods, especially that the step will be for the benefit of the citizen who will be able to obtain the goods at cost price. He further expressed surprise at allocating 1.5 billion dollars by the Presidential Council to the private sector, calling for the need to create competition between the two sectors for the benefit of the citizen, warning of its dire effects on the living conditions in the country.

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A security source in the city of Kufra - southeast of Libya - said that the pro-Dignity Operation Salafist brigade "Sobol Al-Salam" has managed to free five citizens who were abducted last week by an alleged Chadian rebel group at the Libyan-Sudanese border. The security source confirmed that a prisoner exchange was reached with the kidnappers to release four people from Kufra and another from Benghazi, clarifying that the freed hostages are in good health. Earlier, the alleged Chadian rebel group kidnapped 13 citizens south of Kufra, according to a statement by officials in the security services of the city, eight of them were liberated by by Sobol Al-Salam Brigade last week.

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A Health Ministry medics team, in cooperation with World Health Organization, arrived in Ghat Hospital on Monday. The team of medics' director Ashraf Abu Ragba said the doctors will be doing medical checkups and surgeries for the next six months. He added that the team also included medical technicians, who were sent to respond to the need of Ghat Hospital in repairing certain devices at the lab and radiology section, among others.

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Libyan coastguards rescued Sunday 80 illegal migrants off Zuwara shores. The navy spokesman, Ayoub Qassim, said the migrants were from Arab and African countries, adding that they were sent to Tajoura migrants center after being transferred to Tripoli Naval Base. Qassim added that the migrants received the needed medical and humanitarian aids then sent to the Anti-Illegal Immigration Authority in Tripoli. Libya's navy said it had saved over 2700 illegal migrants off Libyan shores since the start of 2018.

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