The Sudanese capital Khartoum will host next Thursday the ministerial meeting of Libyan state neighbours.

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry clarified that the meeting will be attended by the Libyan Presidential Council government, representatives of the United Nations and the Arab League, the African Union, and the European Union, as well as representatives of France and Italy, noting that all parties have confirmed their participation.

The meeting aims to push forward the political settlement efforts in Libya and will discuss the impact thereof on the security of the region, as well as other issues, inter-alia, terrorism, human trafficking and transnational crimes.

Al-Sharqiya Municipality in southern Libya confirmed the kidnapping of three of its dignitaries on their return from Umm Al Aranib area at Zwila-Tamsa Road on Monday night.

The Mayor Mohammed al-Arabi told the Libya Observer that they believe that Chadian gangs are behind the kidnapping of the dignitaries, pointing out that their fate is still unknown.

For his part, the member of Sharqiyah Municipality Ahmed Osman said that the parties responsible for the kidnapping have not been identified yet, but are likely to be Chadian gangs or Isis militias.

The Libyan Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways companies said Wednesday they would raise prices of flight tickets starting next December.

Libyan Airlines said on Facebook that the increased prices are prompted by the fact that the company has not been exempted from the fees on dollar purchase, which was passed by the Presidential Council (PC.)

“Passengers who bought tickets and won’t be using them before December will have to pay the price difference, but if they used even one part of the tickets, they won’t be charged with additional fees.” The airliner said.

Meanwhile, the spokesman of Afriqiyah Airways Omran Zabadi said their tickets’ prices will be three times higher starting next December, citing the issue of fees added on dollar purchase by the PC.

The decision of the airliners comes as “negotiations with the PC and authorities failed to exempt them from purchasing dollar with the added fees (1 dollar = 3.90 dinars.)

The PC slapped the fees on dollar purchase transactions (183%) as part of what it said “economic reforms.”

Late in last October, the minister of economy Ali Al-Essawi discusses with Libyan airliners the repercussions of the economic reforms on their companies and the Libyan citizens, but no official decisions resulted from the meeting.

The UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame arrived Wednesday in Tobruk to take part in the Libyan National Gathering organized by the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (CHD) in coordination with the UNSMIL.

Last April, the CHD launched a number of preliminary meetings across Libya as part of the Libyan National Conference’s deliberations efforts.

The organizers aim to come up with a comprehensive set of proposals out of the nationwide meetings so they later display it on the UN-led National Conference as per the action plan of Ghassan Salame.

“The National Conference in Libya is the perfect solution for Libyans to focus on building their country.” Salame said previously in a meeting in Tripoli as part of the National Conference’s gatherings.

He added that the conference would be the last stage of his action plan and aims at listening to the Libyan people and respecting their will.

The US Treasury Department announced on Monday; the inclusion of the commander of Al-Samoud Brigade Salah Badi within its list of sanctions.

The sanctions include the freezing of any property or interests within the jurisdiction of the United States and the prevention of US citizens from entering into transactions with the mentioned, according to the Treasury Department of the US.

The Department explained that the sanctions came because of his undermining to the peace process and security and stability in Libya, by provoking the clashes in south Tripoli in August last, in addition to his leadership of other military operations during the past years.

The Head of the High Council of State (HCS) Khaled Al-Mishri expressed his surprise at the selectivity of the Security Council resolution, by imposing sanctions on some but not for others.

This came during Al-Mishri’s meeting Monday with the special envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Libya, Ghassan Salame in Tripoli.

Al-Mishri explained that there are other parties obstructing the political agreement that were not covered by the sanctions.

The meeting also dealt with the preparations for the proposed National Forum of the UN mission, which will focus on a number of points, the most important of which is the draft constitution, security arrangements, and the draft electoral law.

The Sabratha Security Room (SSR) announced it had reestablished control over the city on Sunday evening, after hours of clashes that erupted since the early morning.

SSR has imposed a curfew in the city from 9 pm to 6 am from yesterday until the situation is stabilized.

In a related context, the Municipal Council of Sabratha confirmed the resumption of schooling on Tuesday, after being suspended because of the clashes.

The United Nations support mission in Libya (UNSMIL) condemned the attack on the city of Sabratha on Sunday.

The mission warned in a statement of any possible escalation.

“The attacks on civilian facilities and endangering civilians, and in this case young children, are prohibited by international humanitarian law.”

The mission also warned those listed in the sanctions list that they were under close surveillance.

Warlord Khalifa Haftar met Wednesday with the Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu at the HQ of the Russian Defence Ministry, during which they discussed ways to resolve the Libyan crisis and the fight against “terrorism”, according to Haftar’s the information office.

The office added that Haftar led a delegation of commanders of his forces to meet senior Russian officials and discuss developments in the domestic and international arena and bilateral relations between the two countries.

The visit comes prior to Palermo Conference on Libya, which is scheduled to be held on 12 and 13 of this month.

Sabha Medical Centre condemned Sunday, the repeated attacks on the centre’s staff, including cases of kidnappings and threats with weapons.

The assistant director of the centre, Hamad Bu-Aqila, said that the centre has lost an important number of medical staff, which will affect the level of medical services provided by the centre.

Bu-Aqila explained that the current incidents of the abduction of the comptroller, and the shooting of the orthopaedic specialist at the hospital, was part of a repeated episode of attacks, which included the kidnapping of specialists and technicians, and assaulting other staff in the centre.

“These acts are repulsive and catastrophic,” Bu-Aqila insisted.

He urged security authorities to intensify their efforts to protect the centre, stressing their commitment to continue working despite the challenging conditions.