Libya ►Egypt, Libya announce security cooperation to fight terrorism On 8 October the prime ministers of Egypt and Libya announced in Cairo that Egypt will train Libyan forces to fight terrorism and help secure a shared border, stepping up efforts against Islamist insurgents in both countries. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has expressed concerns over militants who have capitalised on the chaos in post-Gaddafi Libya to set up operations there and sneak across the border into Egypt. They have forged ties with Egypts Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the Sinai-based militant group that has stepped up attacks on soldiers and policemen since Sisi as army chief removed the Muslim Brotherhood from power last year. Hundreds of security forces have been killed. ►France is setting up base near Libya border to cut off militants On 2 October officials said that France is setting up a base in northern Niger as part of an operation aimed at stopping al Qaeda-linked militants from crisscrossing the Sahel-Sahara region between southern Libya and Mauritania. Paris, which has led efforts to push back Islamists in the region since intervening in its former colony Mali last year, redeployed troops across West Africa earlier this year to form a counter-terrorism force. Under the new plan, about 3,000 French troops are now operating out of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad -- countries straddling the vast arid Sahel band -- with the aim of stamping out Islamist fighters across the region. Another 1,000 soldiers are providing logistical support in Gabon and Senegal. French officials have repeated for several months they are concerned by events in Libya, warning that the political void in the north is creating favourable conditions for Islamist groups to regroup in the barren south of the country. ►Almost 30 Libyan soldiers killed in Benghazi attacks On 2 October medics said almost 30 Libyan soldiers were killed and 70 wounded in a double suicide bombing and clashes in the port city of Benghazi. Four people were also killed in a separate attack by suspected Islamists on an army checkpoint in Qubah, east of Benghazi, hospital officials said. Libya is being racked by violence as the armed groups which helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 turn their guns on each other in a struggle for the countrys vast oil resources and political domination. ►U.N. will talk with Libyan militias as next step in peace process On 1 October the U.N. envoy said the United Nations plans to hold talks with the militias that have seized control of vast parts of Libya, hoping to persuade them to withdraw from major cities and avert civil war. On 30 September initial U.N.-brokered talks began between Libyas parliament - which has been forced out of the capital - and elected members who have boycotted the assembly and who have links to a rival parliament that has set up in Tripoli. Bernadino Leon, the U.N. special envoy to Libya, told media in an interview in Tunis: “The United Nations will start talking to the militias in order to try and solve the problems provoked by the presence of these militias on the ground.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 08:51:09 +0000
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