A precarious truce in Tripoli appears to be largely holding following a conference in Berlin on Sunday, according to sources on the ground. After a few clashes were reported on Sunday night, the situation has become calm again.
Representatives from the international community met the Libyan warring parties in Berlin on Sunday, January 19. The summit was intended to broker a ceasefire and lasting peace for the country. But what was agreed and what could that mean for the more than 40,000 migrants in Libya?
An unknown number of migrants are being recruited in Libya to fight on both sides of the civil war, suspects the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR. That is according to reports from the German press agency dpa.
In a statement, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said migrants and refugees in Libya "continue to be routinely subjected to violation and abuses.
The Turkish president has described a new humanitarian crisis as thousands of Syrians flee renewed bombing in Idlib. But he warned that Turkey "will not carry such a migrant burdens on its own."
Tens of thousands of people migrate from Eastern Africa to Yemen each year – even though the country has been devastated by a civil war, and smugglers frequently blackmail and torture migrants. Most migrants are hoping to make it to Saudi Arabia, and find work there. Let’s take a closer look at this highly dangerous migrant route.
According to the latest UN figures, Turkey's offensive against Kurdish militia in northern Syria has already resulted in at least 176,000 people being displaced, about half of whom are children. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in the past week alone, more than 60,000 people in the region had fled their homes.
In one week, a total of 493 migrants from sub-Saharan, Arab and Asian countries were collected by Libya's controversial coast guard. They are now in four detention centers in and around Tripoli that are known for overcrowded, inhumane and insecure conditions.
Pope Francis called for "eradicating borders that divide and create opposition" and reflected on the message of "peace with no borders." His message was part of this year's "Prayer for Peace" meeting., which was attended by top-level delegates in Madrid in recent days.
UNHCR is calling on the international community to not abandon displaced people in Libya, who it says are "suffering immensely."
At the height of the Darfur war — considered the world's worst conflict in 2004 — a nurse from the US treated a baby with a leg injury. 15 years later, she was reunited with him on board a migrant rescue ship in the Mediterranean.
It is estimated that about 6,000 people are currently locked up in 24 detention centers across Libya. Now the Libyan authorities are pondering their release following the airstrike on the Tajoura detention center.