Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 22 September 2017
Migrant boat capsizes off Libya, leaves 5 dead, 90 missing

CAIRO (AP) — At least five set out last Friday from the uprising. The vast North Af- In August, Italy reached a says more than 130,000
migrants died and more nearby city of Sabratha be- rican country is home to verbal agreement with the migrants and refugees
than 90 were missing after fore it ran out of fuel. competing governments country’s internationally have arrived in Europe by
their boat capsized off Lib- It was carrying some 130 and parliaments, with real recognized but weak west- sea since the start of 2017,
ya’s western coast, a ma- migrants, mostly Africans, power held by an array ern government to provide less than half the figure
jor embarkation point for Gassim said. The coast of militias, many of which equipment, boats and sal- from the previous year.
the perilous Mediterranean guard and families living make money from traffick- aries to militias working to Three-quarters of the arriv-
crossing to Europe, the Lib- nearby rescued 30 mi- ing.The European Union prevent migrants from at- als this year have landed
yan coast guard said Thurs- grants, including five wom- has given tens of millions tempting the crossing. in Italy, with the rest arriv-
day. en and a child, but one of of euros to Libyan authori- Militia and security officials ing in Greece, Cyprus and
Spokesman Ayoub Gassim the men died shortly after ties to try to stem the flow detailed the arrangement Spain. Some 2,500 migrants
told The Associated Press being pulled from the sea, of migrants. The funds have to The Associated Press last have died attempting the
that the damaged ves- he added. mainly gone to beefing up month , saying many of the Mediterranean crossing this
sel was found the day be- Libya has become one of Libya’s coast guard, rein- militias recruited to choke year, down from around
fore, some 20 kilometers (12 the main migrant transit forcing its southern border off the migrant flow were 3,200 during the same pe-
miles) out from the western points to Europe as traf- and improving conditions previously implicated in the riod in 2016, according to
coastal city of Zuwara. The fickers have exploited the for migrants in detention trafficking. the International Organiza-
Europe-bound boat had chaos following the 2011 centers. The U.N. migration agency tion for Migration. q
Iraqi forces begin operation to retake Hawija from IS group

By BALINT SZLANKO Iraqi forces declared vic-
Associated Press tory over the extremists
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — In a in Mosul in July and in the
push at dawn, Iraqi forces western town of Tal Afar
launched an operation the following month.Plans
on Thursday to retake the to retake Hawija have
town of Hawija — one of been complicated by po-
the last extremist strong- litical wrangling among
holds in Iraq — from the Is- the Iraqi security forces,
lamic State group, accord- Shiite armed groups and
ing to a statement from the the Kurdish Peshmerga
Iraqi prime minister’s office. troops. The town is part of
The operation began just the Kirkuk governorate,
two days after Iraqi forc- which is disputed between
es began an offensive the central government in
against IS holdouts in Iraq’s Baghdad and the northern
vast western Anbar prov- Iraqi Kurdish autonomous
ince, said Prime Minister region, where a referen-
Haider al-Abadi. dum on independence is
Hawija, 240 kilometers (150 scheduled to take place
miles) north of Baghdad, next week.Tensions have
is one of the last pockets risen in the area recently as
of territory held by the ex- Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, center, listens to a question during an interview with The As- Kurdish leaders are press-
tremist group in the coun- sociated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. In a push at dawn, Iraqi forces launched ing ahead with the refer-
try. IS has been steadily los- an operation on Thursday to retake the town of Hawija from the Islamic State group, according to endum, a move dismissed
ing ground and seeing its a statement from al-Abadi’s office. by the central government
sprawling caliphate that in (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) as illegal and destabilizing
2014 spanned a third of the to the country.Iraq armed
territory of Iraq and also ing IS bases and weapons Iraq,” U.S.-led coalition on Wednesday, according forces spokesman Gen.
neighboring Syria crum- facilities. spokesman Col. Ryan Dil- to a statement from the co- Yahyah Rasul said that
bling fast. The Islamic State group lon said Thursday morning alition. The territory IS holds Kurdish peshmerga forces
Earlier this month, Iraqi and “now faces the mighty in a statement posted on in the western province lies will remain involved in the
U.S.-led coalition planes (Iraqi security forces in) Twitter.In the western An- mainly along the border battle to clear IS militants
stepped up a campaign of the last two areas where bar province, Iraqi forces with Syria in the Euphrates from the area, despite re-
airstrikes on Hawija, target- they hold any territory in retook the town of Rihana River valley. cent tensions over Kirkuk.q
Morocco plans to expand counterterror efforts abroad

By ANGELA CHARLTON source of international ji- “Really I was frightened by now must adopt another agency is working on es-
Associated Press hadis. what we saw happen in method just to control the tablishing offices in partner
SALE, Morocco (AP) — A Preventing radicalization of Barcelona. They were all return of those people and countries.
top Moroccan security of- Moroccans abroad is espe- youths of Moroccan origin, keep a watch on them, try His agency, the Central Bu-
ficial says his government is cially important after Span- their parents were Moroc- and gather intelligence on reau of Judicial Investiga-
working on a new strategy ish extremists with Moroc- can but they themselves them,” he added. tions, is also cracking down
to track Moroccans who can origins carried out last had no connection to He would not elaborate on Moroccans returning
become radicalized in Eu- month’s deadly Barcelona Morocco other than their on what surveillance mea- from fighting with the Islam-
rope, part of beefed-up attacks, Abdelhak Khiame, origin and their family,” Khi- sures that monitoring strat- ic State group in Syria, Iraq
counterterrorism efforts by director of an agency ame said Tuesday in his pol- egy would entail, but in- and Libya. It has arrested
a country that is both a key known as Morocco’s FBI, ished headquarters in Sale, sisted on the importance 85 men, 14 women and 27
player in the global anti- told The Associated Press in near the capital, Rabat. of intelligence cooperation children returnees to date,
extremism struggle and a an interview. “Morocco’s government across borders, and said his he said.q