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Libya's Ex-Interior Minister Registers for Presidential Bid

People gather along the beach in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, on October 15, 2021. Abdullah DOMA AFP/File
People gather along the beach in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, on October 15, 2021. Abdullah DOMA AFP/File
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Libya's Ex-Interior Minister Registers for Presidential Bid

People gather along the beach in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, on October 15, 2021. Abdullah DOMA AFP/File
People gather along the beach in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, on October 15, 2021. Abdullah DOMA AFP/File

Libya's former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha registered as a presidential candidate on Thursday for a planned December election that remains in doubt amid disputes over the rules.

Bashagha was the influential interior minister in the Government of National Accord (GNA) that ruled in western areas and was replaced in March by a new unity government.

He joins a field of prospective candidates that includes late ousted dictator Moammar al-Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar, and the eastern-based parliament speaker Aguila Saleh.

A UN-backed peace process calls for presidential and parliamentary elections on Dec. 24, but there has been no widespread agreement on the legal basis for the vote.

Disputes between rival factions and political entities have focused on questions over who should be allowed to run, the eventual role of the directly elected president and the voting schedule.

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Large-scale Refugee Returns Could Overwhelm Syria, UN Migration Agency Chief Warns

Residents stand in line to buy bread from a bakery in Aleppo, Syria. (File/AP)
Residents stand in line to buy bread from a bakery in Aleppo, Syria. (File/AP)
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Large-scale Refugee Returns Could Overwhelm Syria, UN Migration Agency Chief Warns

Residents stand in line to buy bread from a bakery in Aleppo, Syria. (File/AP)
Residents stand in line to buy bread from a bakery in Aleppo, Syria. (File/AP)

Large-scale returns of refugees to Syria could overwhelm the country and even stoke conflict at a fragile moment following the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, the head of the UN migration agency told reporters on Friday.
"We believe that millions of people returning would create conflict within an already fragile society," said Amy Pope, director-general of the International Organization for Migration, told a Geneva press briefing after a trip to the country. "We are not promoting large scale returns. The communities, frankly, are just not ready to absorb the people who are displaced."