TUNIS: The new United Nations envoy to Libya pledged on Thursday to “spare no effort in achieving peace and stability” in the divided country, said the UN Support Mission in Libya.
Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, a Hungary-born Ghanaian former parliamentarian and minister, said as she took up the role in Tripoli that her task “will not be easy” and called for “working together,” UNSMIL said in a statement.
Libya has struggled to recover from the chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi.
It remains split between a UN-recognized government in Tripoli and a rival authority in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
Tetteh was appointed last month by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as his Special Representative and head of UNSMIL, succeeding the Senegalese Abdoulaye Bathily, who stepped down in April last year.
She was previously appointed the UN Special Representative for the Horn of Africa in 2022 and is the 10th official to hold the Libya role since 2011.
Tetteh pledged to “forge a path toward a Libyan-led and Libyan-owned solution.”
She said her mission would also “work with regional and international actors... to preserve national unity, territorial integrity, and sovereignty.”
Presidential and parliamentary elections in the oil-rich North African country had been scheduled for December 2021 but were indefinitely postponed due to disputes between rival factions.
“UNSMIL will continue to work tirelessly to support and enable Libyan institutions to hold inclusive national elections and forge a collective national vision to address Libya’s long-standing challenges,” said the statement.
New UN envoy to Libya vows to pursue ‘peace and stability’
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New UN envoy to Libya vows to pursue ‘peace and stability’
- Hanna Serwaa Tetteh said as she took up the role in Tripoli that her task “will not be easy” and called for “working together“
- She was appointed last month by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as his Special Representative and head of UNSMIL
Israeli strike kills one in south Lebanon: ministry
- The ministry said an “Israeli enemy strike” hit a forested area in Nabatiyeh Al-Fawqa
- The Israeli army said it stuck “a Hezbollah terrorist” in southern Lebanon
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike on the country’s south killed one man on Thursday, with Israel saying it struck a member of the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The attack came despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group.
The ministry said an “Israeli enemy strike” hit a forested area in Nabatiyeh Al-Fawqa, killing one man.
The Israeli army said it stuck “a Hezbollah terrorist” in southern Lebanon, alleging he was working to restore a site used to manage the group’s “fire and defense array.”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the man was a “municipal employee” who had been rehabilitating wells when his motorcycle was struck.
Israel has continued to bomb Lebanon despite the November truce that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of open war.
Under the deal, only UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army are meant to operate in the south, though Israel maintains a presence in five areas it deems strategic.
Lebanon has urged the international community to pressure Israel to halt its attacks and withdraw its forces.
Netanyahu says Israel accepts Witkoff’s new Gaza truce proposal, media report
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel has accepted a new ceasefire proposal presented by US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
Hamas said earlier that it had received the new proposal from mediators and was studying it.
Tunisian minister expects grain harvest rising 64 percent to 1.8 million metric tons this season
- The sharp increase is attributed to improved rainfall in key agricultural regions
- Last year’s grain crop was around 1.1 million metric tons
TUNIS: Tunisia’s grain harvest to rise to 1.8 million metric tons this season, Agriculture Minister Ezzedine Ben Cheikh said on Wednesday, up more than 64 percent from last year’s harvest, marking the country’s strong season in five years after consecutive drought seasons.
The sharp increase is attributed to improved rainfall in key agricultural regions.
“It is a good season with about 1.8 million metric tons,” Ben Cheikh said.
Last year’s grain crop was around 1.1 million metric tons.
The country, which is suffering a deep financial crisis, was badly affected by the rise in global wheat prices and successive dry seasons.
The anticipated production growth will enable Tunisia to reduce its imports of grain.
Over the last decade, Tunisia has averaged about 1.5 million metric tons in annual grain harvests, while it has consumed around 3.4 million metric tons per year.
Cyprus offers Syrian families money to resettle and work permits for main earners
- Ioannides said that families wishing to voluntarily return will be given a one-off sum of 2,000 euros ($2,255) for one adult and 1,000 euros ($1,128) for each child
- Family’s main income earner will be granted a special residency and work permit allowing them to stay for a minimum of two years in Cyprus with the option of another year
NICOSIA: Cyprus will offer Syrian families money to help them resettle back in their homeland and allow the main income earners to remain on the island nation for up to three years to work as part of a voluntary repatriation program, a Cypriot minister said Thursday.
Deputy Minister for Migration Nicholas Ioannides said that a prerequisite for families to qualify for the program is that they must drop their claims for asylum or rescind international protection status already granted to them prior to Dec. 31, 2024.
Unveiling the program, Ioannides said that families wishing to voluntarily return will be given a one-off sum of 2,000 euros ($2,255) for one adult and 1,000 euros ($1,128) for each child. Childless couples are also eligible to apply. The application period runs from June 2 to Aug. 31.
Additionally, the family’s main income earner — either the father or mother will be granted a special residency and work permit allowing them to stay for a minimum of two years in Cyprus with the option of another year.
Ioannides said that many Syrians have expressed their willingness to return and help rebuild their country, but are reluctant to do so because of the uncertainty surrounding where they’ll be able to earn a living wage.
According to the head of Cyprus’ Asylum Service Andreas Georgiades, the program’s premise is to help families overcome any such reluctance by affording them a modest nest egg with which to cover their immediate needs while enabling the main income earner to continue working and sending money to his family.
The income earner will be allowed to travel back and forth to Syria while his or her residency and work permit are valid.
Syrian nationals make up the largest group of asylum-seekers in Cyprus by far. According to Asylum Service figures, 4,226 Syrians applied for asylum last year — almost 10 times more than Afghans who are the second-largest group.
“This new program is a targeted, humanitarian and realistic policy that bolsters Syria’s post-war transition to normality,” Ioannides said, adding that European Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner considers the program as a potential example for other European Union member countries to follow.
Meanwhile, Ioannides repeated that a 2009 Search and Rescue agreement that Cyprus has with Syria enables Cypriot authorities to send back boatloads of Syrian migrants trying to reach the island nation after they’re rescued in international waters.
Ioannides said that two inflatable boats each loaded with 30 Syrian migrants were turned back in line with the bilateral agreement after being rescued when they transmitted that they were in danger.
Ioannides again denied Cyprus engages in any pushbacks, despite urgings from both the UN refugee agency and Europe’s top human rights body to stop pushing back migrants trying to reach the island by boat.
Libya’s eastern-based government says it may announce force majeure on oil fields, ports
- The NOC is currently located in Tripoli under the control of the internationally-recongized Government of National Unity
- Safar said that “what happened was nothing more than a limited personal dispute”
CAIRO: Libya’s eastern-based government said on Wednesday it may announce a force majeure on oil fields and ports citing “repeated assaults on the National Oil Corporation (NOC).”
The government in Benghazi is not internationally recognized, but most oilfields in the major oil producing country are under the control of eastern Libyan military leader Khalifa Haftar.
The government said it may also temporarily relocate the national oil corporation’s headquarters to one of the “safe cities such as Ras Lanuf and Brega, both of which are controlled by the eastern-based government.
The NOC is currently located in Tripoli under the control of the internationally-recongized Government of National Unity (GNU).
The NOC denied in an earlier statement that the corporation’s headquarters was stormed deeming it as “completely false.”
It also emphasized it is operating normally “and continuing to perform its vital duties without interruption.”
The acting head of NOC Hussain Safar said that “what happened was nothing more than a limited personal dispute that occurred in the reception area and was immediately contained by administrative security personnel, without any impact on the corporation’s workflow or the safety of its employees.”
GNU’s media office posted video footage from inside the headquarters of the NOC showing “stable conditions and no signs of a storming or security disturbance.”
Libya’s oil output has been disrupted repeatedly in the chaotic decade since 2014 when the country divided between two rival authorities in the east and west following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
In August, Libya lost more than half of its oil production, about 700,000 bpd, and exports were halted at several ports as a standoff between rival political factions over the central bank threatened to end four years of relative peace.
The shutdowns lasted for over a month with production gradually resuming from early October.
The North African country’s crude oil production reached 1.3 million barrels per day in the last 24 hours, according to the NOC.
