Author: LS
Misrata municipality calls for the need to amend the ban decision to reduce economic losses
Misrata municipality called on the Ministry of Local Government on Wednesday to play its role by urging the Presidency Council (PC), the Ministry of Economy and Industry, and the Anti-Coronavirus Supreme Committee to review the decisions taken regarding the curfew.
In its letter to the Local Government, the municipality clarified that the latter should communicate with the Anti-Coronavirus Supreme Committee and government agencies through official letters, noting the viewpoint of the municipalities and the need to involve municipal councils and civil society institutions in taking measures related to the pandemic.
The municipality also indicated that the state must shoulder its responsibility through supporting the local economy, especially in times of crisis and natural disasters, such as what is happening at the moment with regard to the Covid-19 crisis.
According to the statement, the continuation of the curfew based on the recommendations of the medical committee only led to significant economic losses.
Libya registers new COVID-19 infections
The National Center for Disease Control analyzed on Tuesday, June 09, 540 blood samples. The center confirmed that 513 samples have tested negative for Covid-19 and 27 sample tested positive.
The center confirmed that a patient has recovered from the disease.
Now Libya has a total of 359 cases, 296 of which are active and 58 recovered patients as well as five deaths.
EU calls on conflict parties in Libya to withdraw foreign forces
The European Union’s top diplomat has urged all conflict parties in Libya to immediately stop all military operations and engage constructively in peace negotiations.
Recent weeks have marked a turning point in a complex conflict between two uneasy coalitions that are each backed by an array of foreign states whose competing regional agendas make them unwilling to countenance defeat.
In a joint statement with the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Italy issued on Tuesday, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, called on the conflict parties in Libya to swiftly agree on a ceasefire and withdraw all foreign forces, mercenaries and military equipment.
The joint statement followed increased diplomatic efforts by Germany to push for a political solution to the Libya crisis.
Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier on Tuesday expressed her concern in a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the recent escalation of fighting in Libya.
On Monday, Merkel discussed the situation in conflict-wracked Libya with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Coronavirus cases surge in Libya after repatriations
The number of coronavirus cases has surged in Libya this month, with health authorities blaming the biggest outbreak in a southern city on the repatriation of nationals stranded abroad.
The National Centre for Disease Control last week announced more than 90 new cases in the southern city of Sebha after weeks with only a few dozen confirmed cases across the whole country.
By Tuesday, Libya had confirmed 332 cases of COVID-19, of which 142 were in Sebha and the others mostly in the northwest.
The disease control centre attributed the cases in Sebha to people returning home, though the city medical centre’s media office manager Mohamed Grain said they had not yet identified the “patient zero” who triggered the outbreak.
“The fear, if cases rise, is that citizens will not follow social distancing procedures. Then we will be unable to deal with all the cases,” said Ali Saidi, head of Sebha’s quarantine centre where three out of 16 intensive care beds are occupied.
Libya’s largest oilfield resumes production after hours
The largest oilfield in Libya resumed production late Tuesday.
The decision was announced by Mahmoud al-Kamudi, head of Libya’s Petroleum Facilities Guards, a few hours after the El-Sharara oilfield was forced to stop production as an armed group stormed the facility.
El-Sharara resumed production Sunday after a months-long hiatus.
The El-Sharara oilfield produces more than 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day, forming roughly one-third of the oil-rich country’s production.
Oil Ticks Higher on Reports of Libyan Supply Disruption
Oil prices made modest gains in early European trade on reports of disruption to newly restarted Libyan oil fields.
Crude oil were also recovering from more than a 5% decline from the previous trading session when Saudi Arabia announced it would end its voluntary crude production cut this month.
International benchmark plummeted 5.8% to close Monday at $40.80 per barrel, having traded at $41.21 a barrel at 06:02 GMT for a 1% gain.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost 5.4% to close on Monday at $38.19 a barrel, from trade at $38.67 per barrel at the same time for a 1.2% increase.
Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s de facto leader and the world’s biggest crude exporter, said Monday it would end the voluntarily curbing of its oil production by the end of June.
“Voluntary cut served its purpose and we are moving forward,” Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said Monday in an OPEC+ press conference held via webcast.
Malta urged to investigate return of migrants to Libya
The EU’s human rights commission has urged Malta to respond to those in distress at sea, as pressure mounts over allegations Valletta has illegally returned migrants to Libya.
The Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, Dunja Mijatovic, called on the authorities in Malta to investigate allegations that, either through delayed responses to distress calls or by deliberate pushbacks, migrants had been disembarked in Libya despite reaching the Maltese rescue zone.
In a letter to Malta’s Prime Minister, Robert Abela, Ms Mijatovic urged the government “to ensure full accountability for situations in which action by Maltese authorities has led, directly or indirectly, to returns of persons at sea to Libya”.
Ms Mijatovic said countries such as Malta were obliged to save lives at sea despite the coronavirus pandemic. The government in Malta was quick to close off the country’s ports as the contagion spread and warned the EU it could not guarantee the availability of its search and rescue services.
The commissioner added that she would continue to call for better cooperation from Council of Europe member states to boost search and rescue capacity in the region.
Responding to the commissioner’s letter, Mr Abela said Malta remained committed to saving lives at sea, adding that the island was a “frontline state” facing unprecedented migratory pressure.
The prime minister said Malta needed “concrete support and action” to help it cope with the flow of migrants escaping conflict in Libya.
The tiny Mediterranean island was last month accused of using a private fishing vessel to secretly send migrants back to Libya.The fishing boat Mae Yemenja was sent to deliver food and life jackets to a group of migrants aboard a foundering dinghy, but it is alleged the vessel then took some 51 people back to Libya.
In 2020, more than 250 migrants have perished trying to make the dangerous crossing. During the first three months of this year, departures from Libya increased four-fold compared to the same period in 2019.
Erdogan claims ‘agreements’ with Trump on Libya
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that he has reached agreements with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump that could herald a “new era” concerning Libya.
Erdogan made the comment in a television interview following a telephone call with the U.S. president, but did not elaborate on the agreements reached.
Erdogan stressed that the GNA would continue fighting to seize the coastal city of Sirte and the Jufra air base further south, in a strategic region of the oil exporting country.
“Now the goal is to take over the whole Sirte area and get it done. These are areas with the oil wells, these are of great importance,” the Turkish president said.