Turkey is discussing oil and natural gas exploration projects with the UN-recognised government in Libya, a top official said, as it squares off with Greece over Mediterranean drilling rights.

The European Union is planning to remove the Speaker of House of Representatives in Tobruk Aqila Saleh from its sanctions blacklist to encourage peace efforts and ensure the EU plays a central role in any negotiated settlement, three diplomats said, according to Reuters.

A merchant ship carrying jet fuel to Libya from the United Arab Emirates was stopped and inspected by European Union authorities on Thursday to determine whether the vessel had breached a United Nations arms embargo, EU officials said.

Putin has dispatched mercenaries to Libya’s civil war, exploiting the protracted conflict to carve out a new sphere of influence in North Africa.

Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum declared his country’s refusal to supply arms to Libya, pointing out that dialogue between the Libyan parties is the only solution to the crisis.

A militia leader fighting for Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar has received medical treatment in Germany, a local newspaper reported Wednesday, Anadolu reports.

The US AFRICOM Commander Stephen Townsend and Ambassador Richard Norland discussed key security issues with Libya’s Minister of Defense Libya’s Government of National Accord, including issues of counterterrorism efforts and security sector reform.

Moroccan-brokered talks between Libya’s two rival administrations have led to agreement on the need for “compromise.”

The warring parties in Libya and their international backers — the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Jordan vs Turkey and Qatar — violated a UN arms embargo on the oil-rich north African country that remains “totally ineffective,” UN experts said in a new report.

An Amnesty International report has blamed Malta for using “ever more despicable and illegal tactics” to turn away migrants and refugees from North Africa.