BRUSSELS: Around 15,000 African migrants will be repatriated from Libya in the next two months under an emergency plan to stop abuses there, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Thursday.
European and African leaders announced the plan for accelerated “voluntary” deportations at a summit in Abidjan two weeks ago, but did not set a timetable for repatriating those left in Libyan government detention centers.
Mogherini, ahead of an EU summit, said the repatriations should be done by February.
“In only two months we hope and we expect to manage to assist the voluntary return of 15,000 people,” she told reporters in Brussels.
The EU and the African Union (AU) are working with the UN International Organization for Migration, and the Libyan authorities to arrange for the returns to their home countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
In the last year, 16,000 people have returned home, but EU and AU leaders agreed in Abidjan to accelerate returns following CNN television footage of a slave market in Libya, where smugglers and criminal networks act with impunity.
It provoked an international furor on top of reports of rape, torture and beatings of migrants in Libya, including in detention camps under the control of the UN-backed government of Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj.
The EU faced accusations from rights groups that it created conditions for such abuses via its cooperation with Sarraj to detain migrants using Libya as a jumping board to Italy, the main entry point to Europe.
EU, UN and AU officials all admit it wil be a major challenge to repatriate or protect the 700,000 migrants in Libya, most of whom are in areas outside government control.
Amira El Fadil, the AU’s commissioner for social affairs, told the press conference the key was finding a political solution to the chaos and violence in Libya.
Mogherini, a former Italian foreign minister, said 2,000 migrants have been returned to their homes since the Abidjan summit.
The EU’s top diplomat also announced another €100 million for the multi-billion euro Africa trust fund, with the money to finance flights from Libya and to help the migrants resettle.
Mogherini said she would also ask EU member states at a summit dinner to contribute more to the trust fund.
Four eastern EU countries which have triggered criticism for refusing to admit refugees — Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Poland — announced €35 million for the trust fund to bolster the EU’s external borders and Libya’s frontiers.
15,000 migrants to exit Libya in two months, EU says
15,000 migrants to exit Libya in two months, EU says
Gaza ceasefire enters phase two despite unresolved issues
- Under the second phase, Gaza is to be administered by a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee operating under the supervision of a so-called “Board of Peace,” to be chaired by Trump
JERUSALEM: A US-backed plan to end the war in Gaza has entered its second phase despite unresolved disputes between Israel and Hamas over alleged ceasefire violations and issues unaddressed in the first stage.
The most contentious questions remain Hamas’s refusal to publicly commit to full disarmament, a non-negotiable demand from Israel, and Israel’s lack of clarity over whether it will fully withdraw its forces from Gaza.
The creation of a Palestinian technocratic committee, announced on Wednesday, is intended to manage day-to-day governance in post-war Gaza, but it leaves unresolved broader political and security questions.
Below is a breakdown of developments from phase one to the newly launched second stage.
Gains and gaps in phase one
The first phase of the plan, part of a 20-point proposal unveiled by US President Donald Trump, began on October 10 and aimed primarily to stop the fighting in the Gaza Strip, allow in aid and secure the return of all remaining living and deceased hostages held by Hamas and allied Palestinian militant groups.
All hostages have since been returned, except for the remains of one Israeli, Ran Gvili.
Israel has accused Hamas of delaying the handover of Gvili’s body, while Hamas has said widespread destruction in Gaza made locating the remains difficult.
Gvili’s family had urged mediators to delay the transition to phase two.
“Moving on breaks my heart. Have we given up? Ran did not give up on anyone,” his sister, Shira Gvili, said after mediators announced the move.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said efforts to recover Gvili’s remains would continue but has not publicly commented on the launch of phase two.
Hamas has accused Israel of repeated ceasefire violations, including air strikes, firing on civilians and advancing the so-called “Yellow Line,” an informal boundary separating areas under Israeli military control from those under Hamas authority.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said Israeli forces had killed 451 people since the ceasefire took effect.
Israel’s military said it had targeted suspected militants who crossed into restricted zones near the Yellow Line, adding that three Israeli soldiers were also killed by militants during the same period.
Aid agencies say Israel has not allowed the volume of humanitarian assistance envisaged under phase one, a claim Israel rejects.
Gaza, whose borders and access points remain under Israeli control, continues to face severe shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel.
Israel and the United Nations have repeatedly disputed figures on the number of aid trucks permitted to enter the Palestinian territory.
Disarmament, governance in phase two
Under the second phase, Gaza is to be administered by a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee operating under the supervision of a so-called “Board of Peace,” to be chaired by Trump.
“The ball is now in the court of the mediators, the American guarantor and the international community to empower the committee,” Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas leader, said in a statement on Thursday.
Trump on Thursday announced the board of peace had been formed and its members would be announced “shortly.”
Mediators Egypt, Turkiye and Qatar said Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, had been appointed to lead the committee.
Later on Thursday, Egyptian state television reported that all members of the committee had “arrived in Egypt and begun their meetings in preparation for entering the territory.”
Al-Qahera News, which is close to Egypt’s state intelligence services, said the members’ arrival followed US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s announcement on Wednesday “of the start of the second phase and what was agreed upon at the meeting of Palestinian factions in Cairo yesterday.”
Shaath, in a recent interview, said the committee would rely on “brains rather than weapons” and would not coordinate with armed groups.
On Wednesday, Witkoff said phase two aims for the “full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza,” including the disarmament of all unauthorized armed factions.
Witkoff said Washington expected Hamas to fulfil its remaining obligations, including the return of Gvili’s body, warning that failure to do so would bring “serious consequences.”
The plan also calls for the deployment of an International Stabilization Force to help secure Gaza and train vetted Palestinian police units.
For Palestinians, the central issue remains Israel’s full military withdrawal from Gaza — a step included in the framework but for which no detailed timetable has been announced.
With fundamental disagreements persisting over disarmament, withdrawal and governance, diplomats say the success of phase two will depend on sustained pressure from mediators and whether both sides are willing — or able — to move beyond long-standing red lines.
