Libyan Authorities Order Detention of Militia Leader over Killing of UN-sanctioned Human Trafficker

A hawker at Martyrs’ Square in Tripoli on Tuesday sells Libyan flags. (AFP)
A hawker at Martyrs’ Square in Tripoli on Tuesday sells Libyan flags. (AFP)
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Libyan Authorities Order Detention of Militia Leader over Killing of UN-sanctioned Human Trafficker

A hawker at Martyrs’ Square in Tripoli on Tuesday sells Libyan flags. (AFP)
A hawker at Martyrs’ Square in Tripoli on Tuesday sells Libyan flags. (AFP)

Libya’s chief prosecutor ordered the detention of a militia leader and one of his aides pending an investigation into the killing of one of the country’s most notorious human traffickers.

Mohamed Bahroun, commander of the First Support Battalion and an influential militia leader, as well as one of his associates, handed themselves over after allegations surfaced about their role in last week’s killing of Abdel-Rahman Milad in the capital, Tripoli, The AP reported.

The office of General Prosecutor al-Sediq al-Sour said in a statement late Saturday that prosecutors ordered both men to remain detained after they were interrogated and shown evidence of their involvement in Milad's slaying.

Milad, sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council and imprisoned in Libya on trafficking charges, was shot and killed on Sep. 1 while in his vehicle in the Sayyad area, in the western part of Tripoli.

The late human trafficker and Bahroun hailed from the western town of Zawiya where Milad commanded a notorious coast guard unit. Both rose to prominence during the chaos after a NATO-backed uprising — that turned into civil war — toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

UN experts monitoring sanctions claimed Milad and other coast guard members “are directly involved in the sinking of migrant boats" by opening fire to intercept the vessels.

The intercepted migrants are held in government-run detention centers rife with practices that amount to crimes against humanity, according to UN-commissioned investigators. The abuse often accompanies attempts to extort money from the families of the imprisoned migrants before releasing them or allowing them to leave Libya on traffickers’ boats to Europe.

Milad had denied any links to human smuggling and said traffickers wear uniforms similar to those of his men. He was jailed for about six months between October 2020 and April 2021 on human trafficking and fuel smuggling charges.



MSF Suspends Activities at Famine-stricken Camp in North Darfur

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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MSF Suspends Activities at Famine-stricken Camp in North Darfur

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Medical charity MSF said on Monday that it has been forced to suspend its activities in the famine-stricken Zamzam displacement camp in Sudan's North Darfur due to escalating attacks and fighting in and around it.
"Despite widespread starvation and immense humanitarian needs, we have no choice but to take the decision to suspend all our activities in the camp, including the MSF field hospital," MSF said in a statement sent to journalists.
MSF teams have this month treated 139 patients with gunshot and shrapnel wounds in its field hospital, it said, amid clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.

Sudan was plunged into chaos in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare across the country.