Two commanders from Libya were in Brussels on Tuesday (25 April) to discuss migration with the European Commission as part of a broader effort to stop people from fleeing into Europe.

The Italian Coast Guard has donated two rescue boats to the Libyan Coast Guard and Navy Force as part of an agreement to fight the trafficking of migrants across the Mediterranean, Euronews reported.

The Ras Ajdair border crossing between Libya and Tunisia is still open from both sides with normal travelling movement, according to officials working at the border from both countries.

The Fuel Crisis Committee, originally established by Tripoli municipal council in 2015 to find solutions to the shortage of fuel in the capital, yesterday launched what is being called “Operation Mediterranean Storm” to counter the smuggling of Libya’s subsidised fuel by sea.

The Italian government said on Sunday that dozens of rival tribes in southern Libya had agreed to cooperate on securing the country’s borders in an effort to curb the influx of migrants trying to reach Europe.

Chad has reopened one of its border crossings with chaos-wracked Libya, having shut it down in January citing a “potential terrorist infiltration”, the government said on Friday.

The EU could soon step up training and equipping Libya’s coast guard to crack down on refugee smuggling in the north African nation’s waters, according to an EU proposal seen by AFP on Saturday.

Tunisian and Libya agreed to resume vital trade through the Ras Jedir crosspoint after a week of unrest, a source close to the negotiations said, a decision Tunis hopes will end angry protests in the border region.

Libya’s UN-backed government has not accepted proposals by Rome aimed at cutting migrant and refugee flows to Italy and the two sides are “far apart” on the issue, Malta’s foreign minister said today.

Chad has officially closed its borders with Libya and has opted to deploy troops along the long boundaries in an extensive effort to prevent the big influx of militant fighters who have fled the country because of the prolonged conflict.