Libya
Things are complicated in Libya and it can be hard to keep up, especially given that what’s happening there slipped from the headlines after the killing of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The Government of National Unity based in the capital Tripoli - one of two competing governments in the country - said today that the multiple rival armed groups based in the city had agreed to withdraw their forces. Reuters news agency reported, though, that the various factions were still visible on the streets after the deal was announced. The groups jostle for influence in the city and violence periodically erupts between them.
More from Reuters here.
Somalia
Somalia has announced a defense deal with Turkey in a move regional experts appear to think is linked to an agreement Ethiopia struck with the breakaway region of Somaliland in January. Ethiopia and Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia three decades ago and has been a de-facto independent state since then, agreed that land-locked Ethiopia would recognize Somaliland’s independence in return for Somaliland allowing it to set up a naval base on its coastline. At the time, Somalia said the deal was an act of aggression. This is one to watch.
More from AP here.
China
About half a million South Americans a year risk crossing the Darien Gap, a treacherous jungle route straddling Colombia and Panama, to get to the US border in search of new lives. But Al Jazeera today ran a largely untold story. It focused on the fact that just over 25,000 Chinese people took the journey last year. “This is a new element that was not there in previous years,” Giuseppe Loprete of International Organization for Migration told Al Jazeera. “It’s a lot of people, and it’s a long way to come. For the smuggling networks, it’s big business.”
More from Al Jazeera here.