Niger’s government warned its people on Sunday they could be targeted by roving militias if they travel to Libya, as tensions rise between the neighboring countries over Niger’s refusal to extradite former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s son al-Saadi.
Two Nigeriens were killed and 11 injured on Friday in Libya when their vehicle overturned during a car chase in the desert, the latest incident of apparent attacks on Niger immigrants in the country, the government said.
“The minister of foreign affairs ... and the minister of public security strongly discourage travel to Libya because of attacks by independent and uncontrolled militias,” according to a Nigerien foreign ministry statement read over the radio.
“Both departments recommend strongly to the Nigerien youth to refrain from the temptation of migration to Libya until the security and economic situation becomes more stable and reassuring,” it added.
Migrant workers from Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries and which faces near-annual food shortages, have for years sought employment in oil-producing Libya, or a pathway to Europe along its Mediterranean shores.
Libya’s new government has pressed Niger to extradite al-Saadi, saying his call in an interview with Arab media on Feb. 10 for Libyans to prepare for a “coming uprising” threatened bilateral ties.
Niger pledged to tighten its surveillance of Saadi, who before the war was best known for his passion for soccer, but said he could not be handed to a state where it says he could be executed.
Protesters demonstrated outside Niger’s embassy in Tripoli after the incident, with some spraying graffiti that read “Cut ties now” and “Close the embassy” on its walls.
Adding to tensions, Libya’s war has pushed hundreds of pro-Qaddafi fighters, along with weapons, south into the Sahel region that are believed to be fueling a renewed Tuareg rebellion in Niger’s western neighbor Mali.
French Foreign Minister Allain Juppe visited Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure on Sunday, pledging French support to end the fighting that has killed scores and forced more than 125,000 people from their homes, including into Niger.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was