North Africa

A summit in Germany bringing together foreign powers backing rival camps in Libya has called for all parties to refrain from hostilities against oil facilities, a draft of the final communiques showed on Sunday. The draft also recognizes Tripoli-based state oil company NOC as the sole legitimate entity allowed to …

Oil exports from eastern and central Libyan oil ports will be shut from Saturday resulting in the loss of 700,000 barrels a day, a source at state oil firm NOC said on Friday. The closure of the ports with the exception of the Zueitina port had been ordered by the …

Greece encouraged Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar to be constructive at an upcoming conference in Berlin to try end the war over Tripoli, its foreign minister said on Friday after meeting the commander in Athens. “We encouraged the commander to take part with a constructive spirit in Berlin’s procedure and …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed developments in Libya in a phone call, Turkey’s presidency said on Wednesday, days ahead of a summit in Berlin which will address the Libyan conflict. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will host leaders of Turkey, Russia, Britain and Italy on Sunday …

Turkey will not refrain from “teaching a lesson” to Khalifa Haftar if his eastern Libyan forces continue attacks against the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. Turkey and Russia failed to convince Haftar on Monday to sign a binding truce to halt his nine-month campaign …

Libya’s warring leaders held indirect peace talks in Moscow on Monday with Russia and Turkey urging the rivals to sign a binding truce to end a nine-month-old war and pave the way for a settlement that would stabilize the North African country. The Russo-Turkish push, which appeared to involve laborious …

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed on Monday a ceasefire in Libya initiated by Turkey and Russia, but cautioned that the United Nations must lead the process of rebuilding the country. “A ceasefire, yes it is a first step in the right direction, but what you need is …

Libyan eastern forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar announced on Saturday a ceasefire in the western region, which includes the capital Tripoli, starting 00:01 a.m. on Sunday (22:01 GMT) and the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) agreed to the truce. Since April, Libyan National Army forces loyal to …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Libyan peace talks will be held in Berlin, as Turkey and Russia appealed to the north African nation’s warring factions to enter a ceasefire. “We hope that the joint efforts by Russia and Turkey will lead to success, and we will soon send out invitations …

Turkey plans to sign by February a preliminary $2.7 billion compensation deal for work carried out in Libya before the 2011 civil war, a sector official said, seeking to revive stalled Turkish business operations in the conflict-ridden country. Turkish businesses have long been active in Libya but their projects were …

Turkey and Russia urged Libya’s warring parties on Wednesday to declare a ceasefire on Sunday as warring factions clashed and carried out air strikes in a conflict drawing increasing foreign involvement and concern. Turkey backs Fayez al-Serraj’s Tripoli-based, internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and has said it will …

East Libya-based forces said they carried out air strikes on Wednesday on a coastal road west of Sirte, a day after nine of their men were killed in a strike by rivals. The Libyan National Army (LNA) took control of Sirte, a strategically important city in the center of Libya’s …

Libya’s parliament has voted against a deal that would see Turkey deploy troops in the North African country. The assembly accused Libya’s official head of government, Fayez Serraj, of “treason.” Libya’s eastern-based parliament on Saturday rejected an agreement that would allow Ankara to send troops to Libya. The Libyan House of …

Saudi Arabia condemns “the recent Turkish escalation in Libya” and the Turkish parliament’s approval of a troop deployment to Libya, and considers it a violation of U.N. Security Council decisions, the foreign ministry said in a statement on the state news agency SPA. The statement added that “the kingdom affirms …

Egypt strongly condemned on Thursday a vote by Turkey’s parliament vote to allow a troop deployment to Libya, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Egypt said any such deployment could “negatively affect the stability of the Mediterranean region” and called on the international community to urgently respond to the …

Just 11 days after Abdelmadjid Tebboune was elected president of a deeply polarised Algeria, the country’s powerful military chief Lt Gen Ahmed Gaid Salah died of a heart attack. This unexpected development has prompted questions about the future of Algeria’s political system; it is obviously too soon to tell if …

Exxon Mobil Corp said on Monday it acquired 1.7 million acres for exploration offshore Egypt, with operations scheduled to begin in 2020. The acquisition includes acreage in the 1.2 million North Marakia Offshore block located about five miles offshore Egypt’s northern coast and 543,000 acres in the North East El …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed efforts to reach a diplomatic solution for the Libyan conflict in separate phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, whose government intends to send troops to Libya, a government spokesman said on Monday. Turkey’s foreign minister has warned that the …

Turkey’s foreign minister warned that the Libyan conflict risks sliding into chaos and becoming the next Syria, as he sought to speed up legislation to allow it to send troops to the North African country. Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli has been struggling to fend …

Algeria’s president Abdelmadjid Tebboune named Abdelaziz Djerad as the country’s new prime minister on Saturday, state TV reported. Djerad is a former diplomat who teaches political science at the University of Algiers. Source: Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte agreed on Thursday that the situation in Libya must be resolved in a peaceful way, the Kremlin said. In a phone call, Putin and Conte also discussed Syria and the results of the Normandy summit on Ukraine, the Kremlin said …

Libya’s internationally recognized government has formally requested from Turkey “air, ground and sea” military support to fend off an offensive of eastern forces to take the capital Tripoli, a Tripoli official said on Thursday. Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said earlier his country will send troops to Libya at the request …

Turkey will send troops to Libya at the request of Tripoli as soon as next month, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, putting the north African country’s conflict at the center of wider regional frictions. Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) has been fending off a months-long offensive …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan paid a surprise visit to Tunisia on Wednesday to discuss cooperation for a possible ceasefire in neighboring Libya, where Ankara supports the internationally recognized government. Erdogan, speaking at a joint news conference with Tunisia’s President Kais Saied, also reaffirmed Ankara’s willingness to send troops to Libya …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Tunisia on Wednesday in a surprise visit for talks with his Tunisian counterpart, his office said, in the first visit by a head of state since Tunisian presidential elections in the autumn. The visit comes as Turkey has ramped up efforts to strike deals …

Israel opposes an accord signed last month between Libya and Turkey mapping out maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean, but the deal was unlikely to lead to a conflict with Turkey, Israel’s foreign minister said on Monday. The deal between Ankara and Tripoli carves out a corridor of maritime boundaries …

Algeria’s powerful army chief Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaed Salah, who was instrumental in bringing down long-time president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has died of a heart attack, state media reported on Monday. The 79-year-old’s death comes at a time of mass protests across Africa’s largest country, with many Algerians demanding that the ruling …

Turkey’s parliament on Saturday approved a security and military cooperation deal signed with Libya’s internationally recognized government last month, state media reported, an agreement that could pave the way for military help from Ankara. Turkey has been backing the Libyan government led by Fayez al-Serraj as it fights off a …

Turkey will improve its cooperation with Libya and is ready to provide military support for the Tripoli-based government or back joint steps in the eastern Mediterranean, broadcaster NTV cited President Tayyip Erdogan as saying on Wednesday. Last month, Turkey and Libya’s internationally recognized government signed accords on maritime boundaries, which …

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will discuss Ankara’s offer to provide military support to Libya’s internationally recognized government during talks in Turkey next month, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. On Saturday, Turkey sent a bilateral accord with the Tripoli government to its parliament for approval, in …

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday Turkey is ready to provide Tripoli any military support it needs after Ankara and Libya’s internationally recognized government signed a security deal. “We will be protecting the rights of Libya and Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean,” he said on A Haber TV. “We are …

Turkey moved closer to military support for Libya’s internationally recognized government late on Saturday when a bilateral deal was sent to parliament that includes provisions for launching a “quick reaction force” if requested by Tripoli. Late last month, Ankara and Tripoli signed an expanded security and military accord and, separately, …

Libya has not made a request to Turkey for sending troops to back forces of the internationally-recognized government battling Khalifa Haftar’s Libya National Army (LNA), Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday. “No, not yet” Cavusoglu said when asked at the Doha Forum if such a request had been made. …

Former Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune was elected Algeria’s new president after a vote the authorities hope will end months of turmoil, but demonstrators who toppled his predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika vowed that their movement would not stop. Tebboune, who served as housing minister under Bouteflika and briefly as premier before falling …

Libyan Commander Khalifa Haftar urged his forces to advance toward the center of Tripoli on Thursday in what he said would be the “final battle” for the capital. Haftar, who heads the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), launched an offensive in April to try to take control of Tripoli which …

Polls opened in Algeria on Thursday for a delayed presidential election that is opposed by a mass protest movement which wants the vote put off until the entire ruling elite steps down and the military quits politics. The army, the strongest political player, sees the vote as the only way …

A big crowd of protesters marched through central Algiers on Wednesday to demand that a presidential election planned for Thursday be canceled, chanting that they would not vote in a poll they regard as a charade. Thousands of people crowded through the capital to demand that the vote be canceled …

Turkey and Libya can carry out joint exploration operations in the eastern Mediterranean after the two sides signed a deal on maritime boundaries, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told state broadcaster TRT Haber on Monday. He also said Turkey would procure a new drilling ship to continue activities in the eastern …

The U.S. military believes that an unarmed American drone reported lost near Libya’s capital last month was in fact shot down by Russian air defenses and it is demanding the return of the aircraft’s wreckage, U.S. Africa Command says. Such a shootdown would underscore Moscow’s increasingly muscular role in the …

Greece said on Friday it was expelling the Libyan ambassador, angered by an accord between Libya and Turkey signed on Nov. 27 that maps out a sea boundary between the two countries close to the Greek island of Crete. Libya called the move unacceptable. Turkey dismissed it as outrageous. Greek …

The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) will provide Egypt with $1.1 billion to support the import of petroleum products and basic goods in 2020, Egypt’s petroleum ministry said on Wednesday. The funds are part of a $3 billion agreement between Egypt’s investment ministry and ITFC signed in January 2018. …

Government supporters took to the streets in Algeria on Saturday to show solidarity ahead of next month’s elections that are opposed by a long-running mass protest movement. The marches, organized by the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA), attracted over 10,000 people across several cities. They are the biggest public …

Tunisian police used tear gas to disperse dozens of protesters who blocked roads in the southern town of Jelma on Saturday following the death of a young man who burned himself to death, witnesses said. Abdelwahed Hablani, 25, set himself on fire and died in hospital on Friday in protest …

Algeria’s upper house of parliament passed the country’s new energy law on Thursday aimed at reviving the key oil and gas sector by making it more attractive to investors. Parliament also agreed the 2020 budget, which also contains reforms to open other sectors of the economy to majority foreign ownership …