The United Nations has raised concerns about the detention and mistreatment of a large group of Egyptian nationals in Libya at the hands of the Tripoli administration, saying it represents a possible violation of international law.
Graphic footage has surfaced on social media that purportedly shows militias allied with Libya’s UN-recognised administration abusing Egyptian migrant workers captured in the western city of Tarhuna.
Egypt has supported the eastern Libya-based Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar against the forces of the Tripoli government.
The UN Mission in Libya said the mistreatment runs counter to the country’s “human rights law obligations on the prohibition of torture, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment.”
The Tripoli-based Interior Ministry issued a statement vowing to investigate the “criminal act” and arrest the perpetrators.
In Egypt, where the videos have sparked outrage, Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal said that the government would “determine the time and place of its response”.
There are tens of thousands of Egyptians working in neighbouring Libya, although the number has declined since the 2011 uprising against Muammar Qaddafi.
In the years of conflict that ensued, Libya has become divided between west and east, with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord backed by militias in the west and the eastern administration backed by Field Marshal Haftar’s Libyan National Army.
While the two sides have been locked into a near stalemate for the past year, the GNA militias have made a number of gains in recent weeks.
The Turkish backed militias took Tarhuna, 65 kilometres southeast of Tripoli from the LNA.
In the fighting, there have been accusations of human rights abuses.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Faisal Jawal, a representative of the Libyan Red Crescent, said his teams were working to identify 106 dead bodies discovered in a Tarhuna hospital.
Tripoli fighters allegedly took revenge on LNA allies by looting stores and destroying property across the town, according to the UN, as well as capturing a number of Egyptian migrant workers and subjecting them to “degrading treatment.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi announced a unilateral initiative to end the civil war earlier this month, but the offer of a ceasefire and dialogue has been rejected by Tripoli and Ankara.
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
Lewis Hamilton in 2018
Australia 2nd; Bahrain 3rd; China 4th; Azerbaijan 1st; Spain 1st; Monaco 3rd; Canada 5th; France 1st; Austria DNF; Britain 2nd; Germany 1st; Hungary 1st; Belgium 2nd; Italy 1st; Singapore 1st; Russia 1st; Japan 1st; United States 3rd; Mexico 4th
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A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
