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Reopening of Coastal Highway Highlights Divisions in Libya

Bulldozers reopen the coastal highway. (AP)
Bulldozers reopen the coastal highway. (AP)
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Reopening of Coastal Highway Highlights Divisions in Libya

Bulldozers reopen the coastal highway. (AP)
Bulldozers reopen the coastal highway. (AP)

The coastal highway connecting Libya’s east and west was reopened on Sunday after a nearly two-year closure.

The Government of National Unity (GNU) hailed the development, but members of the 5+5 military committee have cast doubt over the move.

The committee stressed that it should have been consulted over the reopening.

The Libyan National Army (LNA), commanded by Khalifa Haftar, did not comment on the development. However, head of the Sirte command Ahmed Salem said that the committee did not issue any order to reopen the highway.

The committee met in Sirte on Sunday night. It declared that it alone has the authority to announce the opening of the highway and coordinate with the concerned parties.

The coastal highway has been closed since April 2019. Its reopening was a long-held demand by the UN to enable the safe passage of civilians and goods.

GNU chief Abdulhamid Dbeibeh announced the reopening on Sunday, saying: “I am so delighted to participate in the opening of this essential lifeline linking the east of our country to its west.”

The US embassy in Libya hailed the reopening, saying in a tweet it was “paving the path for Libyans to have full control over their own affairs.”

Sources revealed that a joint force, comprised of some 400 fighters from the east and west and overseen by the interior ministry, will operate in the region covering Ras Lanuf in the east to al-Hisha to secure the highway.

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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.