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44 African Migrants Killed, 130 Injured in Hafter's Air Strike on Tripoli Detention Center

July 6, 2019

 

Dozens of African migrants were killed in Tripoli, Libya, in an air strike by Hafter forces, July 3, 2019 libya observer	Over 40 migrants were reported dead at the Tajura migrant centre in eastern Tripoli after it was hit by an airstrike early this morning attributed to the Khalifa Hafter forces

 

Libyan Interior Minister says government mulling releasing all migrants

Libya Observer, July 04, 2019 -

 Written By: AbdulkaderAssad

The Libyan Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha said Thursday that his government is considering closing migrants' detention centers and releasing all the migrants for the safety of their lives, following the massacre in Tajoura, where Khalifa Haftar's airstrikes took the lives of 35 and injured over 100 migrants.

In a meeting with the humanitarian coordinator of the UN Maria Ribeiro, Bashagha said the government is accountable for the safety of all civilians, including the illegal migrants, but it is unable to protect them properly due to the F16 airstrikes on their centers.

Ribeiro also met with deputy interior minister for illegal migration affairs Mohammed Al-Shibani and discussed the aftermath of the attack in Tajoura.

They also went over the conditions of the injured migrants in Tripoli hospitals and the need to transfer the survivors (300) to safer places.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice condemned the continuing attacks on civilians in Libya, deploring the airstrike on Tajoura migrants' center.

It vowed to document these violations in coordination with local and international authorities, urging international humanitarian and migration organizations to work with Libya on repatriating the migrants.

The ministry urged as well for resettling the vulnerable migrants in third countries as Libya is currently going through fragile security conditions that prevent it from being a safe shelter to them.

 

Haftar's Air Force carries out new strikes on Tripoli's Mitiga Airport

Libya Observer, July 03, 2019 -

Written By: AbdulkaderAssad

Mitiga Airport Administration said on Facebook that it had suspended flights after the airport was targeted with new airstrikes by Khalifa Haftar's Air Force on Wednesday evening.

Sources from the aviation sector said "drones" for Haftar's forces raided more than once Mitiga Airport, without detailing the damage.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for Khalifa Haftar's forces Ahmed Al-Mismari said the airstrike on Mitiga Airport destroyed the control room of drones of the Libyan Army, which was denied by the sources who confirmed that the air raids hit the civilian part of the airport.

Mitiga Airport has been targeted multiple times since the start of Tripoli offensive by Haftar's forces, leading to suspensions of flights and redirections to Miarata airport. The latest of the strikes was two days ago.

Egypt carried out airstrike on migrants' center in Libya's Tajoura, Al-Mishri says

Libya Observer, July 03, 2019 -

Written By: AbdulkaderAssad

The Head of the High Council of State (HCS) Khalid Al-Mishri has hinted at the involvement of Egypt in carrying out the airstrike on Tajoura migrants' center in the early hours of Wednesday.

Al-Mishri said on Twitter that the country that is presiding over the African Union currently (referring to Egypt obviously) is the one that air-attacked the African migrants in Tajoura, adding that there must be a fact-finding committee from the UN to hold the perpetrators accountable for their crimes.

Egypt has been the chair-country of the AU since last February.

The HCS issued a statement Wednesday condemning the attack in Tajoura, where 44 migrants were killed and dozens were wounded, accusing "war criminal" Khalifa Haftar of the crime.

The HCS called on the UNSMIL to send a fact-finding committee to see the damages done to the lives of migrants and the building that was housing them.

"We have contacted countries and organizations to criminalize this attack, which puts to test the real efforts of the international community in bringing the war criminals in Libya to justice." The HCS added.

Dozens of migrants killed in air raid by warlord Haftar’s air force

Libya Observer, July 03, 2019 -

Written By: AbdullahBenIbrahim

Warlord Khalifa Haftar’s UAE and Egypt-backed air force bombed Tajoura Detention Center in east Tripoli Tuesday night killing at least 44 migrants and wounding more than 130 others.

The air raid came after threats by Haftar to intensify night airstrikes on Tripoli in retaliation for their defeat in the mountain city of Gharyan.

Shortly after the heinous airstrike, Haftar’s media outlets claimed their air force had targeted “terrorist and militia camps” in Tajoura.

The Presidential Council condemned the massacre, demanding the international community to take a stance towards these heinous crimes.

The UN mission in Libya has also condemned the airstrike.

"This attack clearly could constitute a war crime, as it killed by surprise innocent people whose dire conditions forced them to be in that shelter," UN envoy Ghassan Salame said.

Tajoura Detention Center houses around 600 illegal migrants of African, Arab and Asian nationalities.

The rest of the migrants at the detention center were transferred to other places for their safety.

Last April, Khalifa Haftar’s armed groups attacked a detention center in Ghasir Ben Ghashir, south Tripoli, leaving many wounded.

Serraj government and UN condemn Tripoli airstrike killing 44 migrants

By Sami Zaptia.

Libya Herald London, 3 July 2019:

The internationally recognized Libyan Presidency Council and Government of National Accord led by Faiez Serraj as well as the UN today condemned in the strongest possible terms the Tripoli airstrike that led to the death of at least 44 and injury of 130 migrants.

The strike has been attributed by the Serraj government to the Libyan National Army (LNA) Air Force led by Khalifa Hafter who, it will be recalled, had launched an attack on Tripoli on 4 April.

Sources in Tripoli said they heard the loud sound of explosions just after 5 am which were followed by a series of other explosions.

The deaths and injuries occurred in the Tajura migrant centre east of Tripoli.

Unsurprisingly, there are conflicting narratives from the two conflicting sides, with the Hafter side saying they had targeted the militia base near the migrant centre and that the exploding ammunition caused the deaths of the migrants.

The Serraj administration accuse the Hafter side of deliberately targeting the migrant centre.

In its condemnation, the Serraj government described the airstrike as “cowardly” a “mass murder” and a “war crime” which it said added to Hafter’s list of crimes against humanity.

It insisted the airstrike was deliberate and precise and not accidental.

The Serraj administration called on UNSMIL to condemn this “barbaric act” immediately and to send a fact-finding committee to the site to investigate.

It also called on the international community to take a clear and decisive position on these transgressions and to bring an end to this aggression immediately.

It added that this airstrike confirms the enemy’s (Hafter’s) defeat and bankruptcy after suffering huge recent losses (in Gharian).

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), also strongly condemned the attack on the Tajura compound in which migrants were detained.

It confirmed that it led to at least 44 deaths and more than 130 severe injuries. This is the second time this facility, hosting about 600 migrants, has been attacked, it added.

UNSMIL said its head and Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ghassan Salamé, condemns in the strongest terms this cowardly act.

“This attack clearly could constitute a war crime, as it killed by surprise innocent people whose dire conditions forced them to be in that shelter” Salamé said.

“The absurdity of this ongoing war today has led this odious bloody carnage to its most hideous and most tragic consequences,” the SRSG said, calling upon the international community to denounce this crime and apply appropriate penalties on those who ordered, carried out and provided arms for this operation in a flagrant violation to the international humanitarian law and the simplest humanitarian norms and values.”

UNSMIL said that it has been monitoring, with utmost concern, reports related to allegations of extrajudicial killing in various places, including the recent incidents in Gharian, as well as other similar incidents that took place in the outskirts of Tripoli.

UNSMIL reiterated its commitment to monitoring and documenting all gross violations of the International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law and reporting the same to the relevant UN bodies and international community in order to prosecute the perpetrators.

It said that it has dispatched committees to various places that have witnessed such violations to conduct investigations on the ground.

UNSMIL and affiliate UN agencies also call for immediate cessation of all horrendous violations and repeated attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, particularly health and medical facilities, and reminds all parties of their obligations under the international laws in force.

https://www.libyaherald.com/2019/07/03/serraj-government-and-un-condemn-tripoli-airstrike-killing-44-migrants/  

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