CAIRO: A UN human rights expert is urging Libyan authorities to ensure the safety of hundreds of former residents of the northern town of Tawergha, “who are stranded and even dying in the desert despite an agreement allowing their safe return.”
The group, mostly dark-skinned Libyans who were due to return on Feb. 1 under an agreement with the neighboring city of Misrata, have been barred from entry and harassed by militias.
The entire population of around 40,000 people was forcibly evacuated in 2011 as collective punishment for their perceived support for deposed leader Muammar Qaddafi.
Special Rapporteur Cecilia Jimenez-Damary says in a Tuesday statement she was “appalled” at the situation, in which “two men have died already following strokes, possibly as a result of the harsh weather conditions.”
UN says Libyans must allow return of stranded Tawergha group
UN says Libyans must allow return of stranded Tawergha group
Fire at Iraq oil refinery kills one, injures 6
- Iraq is one of the world’s biggest oil producers and crude oil sales make up 90 percent of budget revenues
BAGHDAD: A fire at a key oil refinery killed one worker and injured six others on Monday in northern Iraq, authorities said.
The fire erupted at an upgrading unit in the Baiji refinery, once the country’s largest oil refinery, in Salaheddin province.
The Iraqi government’s security media unit said in a statement that firefighters had extinguished the fire.
It added that “one worker was killed and six others were injured.”
Local official in Baiji city Adel Al-Daj told AFP that the explosion was caused by a technical malfunction.
The Baiji refinery, 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Baghdad, was heavily damaged in some of the fiercest battles with the Daesh group after it swept across a third of Iraq in 2014.
After the facility’s full rehabilitation, authorities reopened it in February 2024.
Iraq is one of the world’s biggest oil producers and crude oil sales make up 90 percent of budget revenues.
