EU Imposes Sanctions on Libya's Kaniyat Militia

Members of Libya's al-Kaniyat militia.
Members of Libya's al-Kaniyat militia.
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EU Imposes Sanctions on Libya's Kaniyat Militia

Members of Libya's al-Kaniyat militia.
Members of Libya's al-Kaniyat militia.

The European Council imposed restrictive measures on 11 individuals and four entities responsible for serious human rights violations and abuses in a number of countries, including Libya.

The US, Britain, and Germany earlier urged the Council's 15-member Libya Sanctions Committee to blacklist Mohammed al-Kani and the Kaniyat militia.

Since their escape from Tarhuna last summer following a military defeat, dozens of mass graves were discovered and attributed to Kaniyat militiamen.

In this regard, the council imposed sanctions on two individuals and the militia group over “extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Libya.”

The sanctions targeted Mohammed Khalifa al-Kani and his brother Abderrahim al-Kani who are accused of committing human rights violations between 2015 and June 2020 in Tarhuna.

Under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, the listed individuals and entities are subject to an asset freeze in the EU. Also, all listed individuals are subject to a travel ban to EU countries.

A former Libyan military officer told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that militias dominated the country in the past years and made profits through human trafficking and blackmailing.

The officer urged the EU and the Security Council to tackle the issues of killings and enforced disappearances of citizens.

He also armed groups would vanish if the government of national unity succeeds in uniting the military and security institutions in Libya.



US Mideast Envoy: Trump's Gaza Plan is About Better Prospects, Not Eviction

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
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US Mideast Envoy: Trump's Gaza Plan is About Better Prospects, Not Eviction

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP

The United States' envoy to the Middle East said on Thursday that President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza was not about evicting Palestinians, and the conversation about Gaza's future was being shifted towards how to create a better future for Palestinians.
Trump proposed on February 4 the US should take over Gaza, with Palestinians resettled in other places including Egypt and Jordan, a suggestion which caused an international outcry.
However, speaking at a Miami conference hosted by a non-profit, US envoy Steven Witkoff said that Trump's comments on Gaza were more about trying different solutions to those proposed over the previous 50 years, Reuters reported.
He said that the war between Israel and Hamas has left much of Gaza destroyed and littered with unexploded ordnance, and it was impossible to see how people could return.
"It's going to take a lot of clean-up and imagination, and a great master plan, and that doesn't mean we're on an eviction plan, when the President talks about this," Steven Witkoff told the FII Institute event.
"It means he wants to shake up everyone's thinking, and think about what is compelling and what is the best solution for the Palestinian people.
"For instance, do they want to live in a home there, or would they rather have an opportunity to resettle in some sort of better place, to have jobs, upside and financial prospects," he added.