The Security Directorate of Zuwara has rescued 97 illegal immigrants off Farwa Island, about 40 km to the west of Zuwara, near the Libyan-Tunisian border. Spokesperson of the Directorate, Hafez Muammar, clarified in a press statement on Monday that a coast guard patrol saved a group of 97 migrants, including women and children of different nationalities after their boat capsized while attempting to reach Europe. He added that the migrants were later transferred to the specialized authorities in the city. The Security Directorate of Zuwara managed to thwart last Saturday a smuggling operation that included 47 illegal migrants of African and Asian nationalities.
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The Medical Convoys Committee of the Ministry of Health has dispatched a medical team of 13 doctors to Sabha Medical Centre for conducting medical checkups, starting from Monday. The Director of the Information Department of the Ministry of Health, Omar Maatouk, said that the team will cover the deficit in the Centre in a number of specialties, especially in light of the current conditions the city is going through. He added that the Committee intends to send in the period ahead another medical convoy of various disciplines to operate the clinic in Al-Qaradah neighbourhood. Earlier this month, the Health Ministry formed a committee to assess the service delivery level and the extent of Sabha Medical Center to handle emergencies, including performing surgeries, in addition to the readiness of private health clinics to receive cases transferred to them from the Centre.
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Member of House of Representatives for Kufra, Jibril Oheida, has explained that his absence from the parliament sessions is due to threats he received from tribal groups in Tobruk. In a press statement on Monday, Oheida said that these groups had "threatened me and my parliament colleague Saied Amgib not to enter the city”, pointing out that he filed a complaint before the Attorney General in Tobruk and is waiting for the outcomes in this matter. He also criticized so-called Presidential Guard charged with securing the House of Representatives, commenting "it seems that the Presidential Guards are formed to protect the President of the parliament alone, while the MPs have no protection in Tobruk." Jibril Oheida was detained last year by a group in Tobruk on tribalism grounds.
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The Head of the Supreme Council of Fezzan Tribes, Ali Abu Sbiha, has accused the former Prime Minister, Ali Zidane, of destabilizing peace and security in the southern region and attempting to form a separatist agenda there by calling for the formation of a parallel government in the region. In a press statement, Abu Sbiha revealed that Zidane called for forming an Arab tribal alliance, which led to further divisions among the social components of the south, insisting that Zidane bears part of the responsibility for the current situation in the south. Former Prime Minister, Ali Zidane, undertook a tour last February to the southwestern region, which was read as an attempt to try to find him a foothold in the new political landscape.
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The UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame, received a delegation from the city of Derna headed by the head of the city’s local council, Awad Lairaj, on Monday at the United Nations headquarters in Tripoli. The UN mission revealed in a tweet that the humanitarian situation in Derna topped the discussions of the two sides. Derna has been suffering from a suffocating blockade imposed on them for many months now by warlord Khalifa Haftar’s militias, which have repeatedly rejected calls from the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations to lift the siege and spare civilians the scourge of war.
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The National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced that the closing of Sharara oil field for more than 24 hours had cost the state a loss of nearly half a million barrels of oil estimated to be worth 30 million dollars. In a statement, the NOC emphasized its commitment to prosecute the perpetrator responsible; describing the allegations of this Libyan citizen as baseless and that such acts will affect the image of Libya in front of the world. The NOC further noted that the citizen who was identified to be “Hatem Hadi” had attacked the site last year, claiming that rubble and trash is surrounding the area that include the oil pipeline, and demanding them to sign a deal with him for cleaning the land, which was seen as a means of blackmail. The Chairman of the National Oil Corporation, Mustafa Sanallah, stressed that the law would pursue the "guilty hands" and that justice will be served sooner than later.
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UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, said the UN Mission in Libya has received reports of widespread corruption, which opened the door for irresponsible attempts by some for currency manipulation in order to make an immediate profit on the black market, causing shortages of basic foodstuff. Guterres added that there are reports of bribes being paid in order to facilitate transactions, and systematic smuggling of goods, including fuel, according to the 2018 UN report, noting that political divisions and insecurity have increased macroeconomic instability in Libya. The UN Panel of Experts on Libya said that the absence of mechanisms of effective monitoring and the complicity of political figures, in addition to the growing power of armed groups had led to the embezzlement of state funds at unprecedented levels.
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