Libya suspends work of ‘hostile' international NGOs: security agency
'The plan to settle migrants of African origin in Libya is seen as a hostile act' said GheithTRIPOLI: Libyan authorities announced on Wednesday a decision to suspend the work of 10 international humanitarian groups, accusing the NGOs of a plan to 'settle migrants' from other parts of Africa in the country.'The plan to settle migrants of African origin in Libya is seen as a hostile act, which is aimed at altering the demographic composition of the country and threatens Libyan society,' said Salem Gheith, spokesman for the North African country's Internal Security Agency.
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Saudi Gazette
2 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
At least five killed in attack on aid convoy in Sudan's western Darfur region, UN says
KHARTOUM — At least five people have been killed and several others wounded in an attack on an aid convoy in Sudan's Darfur region on Tuesday, the United Nations has said, with the warring parties in the northeast African nation trading blame for the attack. The attack on the 15-truck convoy carrying desperately needed food and nutrition supplies happened on Monday night near the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)-controlled town of Koma in North Dafur province. It was trying to reach besieged el-Fasher city, according to a joint statement from the World Food Programme and UNICEF. Both agencies called for an investigation into the attack. "This was the first UN humanitarian convoy that was going to make it to el-Fasher in over one year," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters at in New York. Monday night's attack burned many trucks and damaged the aid they were carrying, the statement said. It didn't say who was responsible for the attack. The WFP and UNICEF said they were negotiating to complete the trip to el-Fasher from the eastern city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea, which serves as an interim seat for the country's military-allied government."It is devastating that the supplies have not reached the vulnerable children and families they were intended to," the statement said all those killed and injured were Sudanese contractors working for the WFP and UNICEF."They were 80 kilometers from el-Fasher, after having traveled 1,800 kilometers for days in incredibly difficult terrain, incredibly dangerous terrain," he said. "They were parked on the side of the road waiting for clearances and they were attacked.""It was an air attack, most likely drones. But we don't know who the perpetrators were."The RSF said in a statement the convoy was hit by a military aircraft in a "pre-planned attack." Footage shared by the RSF showed burned vehicles carrying what appeared to be flour military-led government, however, rejected the accusation and said in a statement that aid trucks were 'treacherously attacked by assault drones operated by the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia.'The Resistance Committees in el-Fasher tracked the fighting in and around the city and blamed the paramilitaries for the attack, saying the RSF statement aimed to "mislead public opinion and evade accountability."The UN demanded a halt to attacks on humanitarian personnel, facilities and more than 800 kilometers southwest of the capital Khartoum, is one of the last strongholds of the Sudanese military in Darfur. The region has been under RSF siege since May was plunged into a war more than two years ago, when tensions between the army and its rival paramilitary RSF exploded with street battles in the capital of Khartoum that quickly spread across the war has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis. It has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including over four million who crossed into neighboring of Sudan have been pushed into fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the UN and international rights groups. — Euronews
Saudi Gazette
22-05-2025
- Saudi Gazette
UK plan to transfer Chagos Islands set to go ahead despite last-minute legal action
LONDON — The British government's plans to hand control of the strategically significant Chagos Islands to Mauritius are set to be signed off on Thursday, after an 11th-hour legal injunction failed to stop an effort that has been intensely controversial in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to return the islands to the African country, while maintaining control of the US-UK Diego Garcia military base, and the deal is expected be finalized on Thursday. It comes after a High Court judge briefly blocked the move in a ruling made at 2 a.m. local time (9 p.m. ET on Wednesday). The deal was challenged by Bernadette Dugasse and Bertrice Pompe, Chagossian women living in Britain who opposed the deal on human rights grounds. The UK's negotiations with Mauritius over the Chagos Islands have been convoluted and controversial. Starmer's government announced its plans to sell the islands to the East African country soon after taking office last year, framing it as a long-awaited solution to a colonial-era arrangement that had posed an ethical and legal dilemma. London is expected to pay billions of pounds to close the deal, and Mauritius is heavily reliant on imports from China, which has raised national security concerns on both sides of the Shapps, a former Conservative defense minister, told CNN earlier this year that the plan was 'insane.''(China) will use territory to expand their influence. They will spy,' Shapps told CNN. 'A lot of sensitive stuff goes on at British military bases. So you don't want to be surrounded by potential adversaries.'Critics of the deal were given unlikely hope just hours before it was set to be completed, with the temporary injunction leaving plans in the a full hearing later on Thursday morning, a Foreign Office lawyer told the court: 'My instructions from Number 10 are that we need a decision by 1 p.m. today if we are to sign today, and everybody is standing by,' according to the PA Media news agency, which was present in the lawyer argued the deal provided 'obvious' benefits to the UK and US national security interests. 'Diego Garcia is an essential and utterly important base from which the United States and the United Kingdom, very often jointly, operate, and therefore the preservation of that facility is of the utmost importance to UK national security,' he and Pompe have meanwhile criticized the government for negotiating on the future of the islands without consulting the exiled Chagossian year Pompe, who lives in London, told the BBC: 'I'd love to go back... I'd love to go there for longer than one week ... the UK is not my country but I have to be here just to try get back to where I belong.'Britain has controlled the region since 1814, and in 1965 it split the Chagos Islands from Mauritius before that former colony became independent. London kept control of the archipelago and renamed it as the British Indian Ocean then evicted almost 2,000 residents to Mauritius and the Seychelles to create space for an airbase on the largest island, Diego Garcia, which it leased to the United States. The secretive base is important to Washington's interests, giving it a significant military presence in the Indian its future was thrown into uncertainty in 2019, when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Britain should return the islands 'as rapidly as possible,' so that they could be decolonized in 'a manner consistent with the right of peoples to self-determination.' That ruling was advisory, but it was endorsed overwhelmingly by the United Nations General Assembly. — CNN
Saudi Gazette
08-05-2025
- Saudi Gazette
US judge blocks plan to deport migrants to Libya
WASHINGTON — A US judge in Boston ordered a temporary block on the Trump administration's plan to deport migrants to Libya, saying it would "clearly violate" a prior order he made that ensures their right to due process. The order came after two US officials told CBS News that the US may soon start deporting migrants to Libya as part of its crackdown on immigration. In response to the deportations report, Libya's prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh wrote in a statement on X that his country refuses "to be a destination for the deportation of migrants under any pretext." The BBC has approached the US state department for comment. The officials, who requested anonymity, said the US military could fly migrants to the North African country as early as this week. The move is likely to spark controversy — Libya has been mired in conflict for more than a decade and the US state department advises Americans not to travel there due to factors like crime, terrorism and civil unrest. Immigration lawyers moved quickly on Wednesday to prevent the Trump administration from carrying out the deportations, asking a Massachusetts judge to "urgently" issue a temporary block. "Multiple credible sources report that flights are preparing to immediately depart the United States carrying class members for removal to Libya," the attorneys wrote in their court filing US District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston responded late Wednesday afternoon by issuing an order that restricts the Trump administration's ability to quickly deport the migrants. In his ruling, Judge Murphy said the deportations "blatantly" defy an injunction he had previously issued that protects the due process rights of migrants subject to final deportation orders. That earlier ruling requires officials to provide migrants with a written notice in their language and a meaningful opportunity to file a claim to protect them from removal. Asked whether he was aware of the plan to deport migrants to Libya, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday: "I don't know. You'll have to ask homeland security." Libya is thought to be one of several countries asked to accept migrant deportations by Trump's administration. This week Rwanda confirmed it was in the "early stage" of talks with the US, while Benin, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini and Moldova have all been named in media reports. It is not clear how many people the US hopes to deport to Libya, or which part of Libya the migrants would be sent to. Since the overthrow of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has been divided into two — the west is ruled by a UN-backed government, while military strongman Gen Khalifa Haftar controls the east. Haftar's son met US officials in Washington last Monday, but the US State Department and a Libyan spokesperson said the meeting was not about deportations. Since returning to office in January, President Trump has launched a mass deportation campaign — at times relying on controversial tactics such as the invocation of a centuries-old wartime law. Earlier this week, the government offered migrants who are in the US illegally a sum worth $1,000 (£751) to leave the country. — BBC
