Africa

A Nigerian archbishop called Jan. 12 for the same international support to tackle Boko Haram as France has received since it was hit by Islamist attacks last week.
      

Turkey has expressed concerns about the escalating violence and political unrest in Libya as its special envoy will head to the northern African country in the upcoming days amid threats to Turkish aircrafts.

Defense Minister ?smet Y?lmaz has reiterated Turkey?s support for Libya?s ?elected Parliament,? while arguing that Turkey supports the territorial integrity of the country, which has been riven with divisions since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Egypt said Jan. 8 it is to hold parliamentary elections from March 21 but analysts said the new legislature will offer no meaningful opposition to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's iron-fisted rule.
      
The elections, which will be held in phases culminating on May 7, will be the first since Sisi overthrew his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013.
      

An Egyptian court is to deliver a verdict on April 21 in the trial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and 14 others charged with inciting the killing of protesters, judicial officials said Jan. 8.
      

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has warned Turkish citizens in Libya to evacuate the country ?immediately? through a statement released late on Jan. 7.      

?Because of the conflict and the airstrikes in Libya recently, we are suggesting that our citizens leave the country immediately,? the statement said.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has ?harshly condemned? a statement allegedly released by the Libyan Air Forces threatening that all Turkish civilian and military planes would be shot down if they entered Libyan airspace.

The United States Tuesday condemned a strike by Libyan aircraft that bombed an oil tanker off the Islamist-held port of Derna, killing two crew members.

The crewmen -- a Greek and a Romanian -- were killed on the Liberian-registered vessel, the Araevo.

Two other crewmen, both Filipinos, were wounded in the attack.

The head of the Consular Department within MAE [Ministry of Foreign Affairs], Bogdan Stanescu, on Tuesday stated that MAE invited the Libyan Embassy in Bucharest to discuss over the 'circumstances and all that happened' during the January 4th incident when a Romanian sailor died, following an attack on the ship he was on, by a fighter plane.

Turkish Airlines, the last remaining foreign carrier offering flights to Libya, announced on Jan. 6 that it was suspending all flights to the conflict-wracked country amid the worsening security situation.