Pope Francis on Sunday urged countries not to send migrants back to insecure countries such as Libya, where he said many suffer violent and inhumane conditions similar to those in concentration camps.

Turkey has withdrawn a limited number of Syrian mercenaries from Libya over the past weeks, but the problem of foreign troops and militia presence in the war-torn nation remains unresolved only two months before the country’s elections.

The Sudanese Foreign Minister, Maryam Al-Mahdi, confirmed the presence of Sudanese mercenaries in Libya but said most of them aren’t linked to the government.

The United Nations said on Friday that it has resumed humanitarian evacuation flights for migrants stranded in Libya after authorities suspended them for several months. The announcement comes after a massive crackdown on migrants by Libyan security forces.

Thousands of refugees and migrants have been camped out in front of a United Nations centre in Tripoli for three weeks, calling for evacuation from Libya in the wake of sweeping raids that saw thousands arrested.

Unexpectedly, the Security Council failed to renew the mission of the United Nations mission in Libya for a year, due to a British-Russian dispute over a draft resolution prepared by Britain and rejected by Russia, deciding only to extend it until the end of this month.

Libya’s prime minister and several foreign powers have endorsed the holding of a national election on December 24, as envisaged in a United Nations-backed peace plan aimed at resolving years of turmoil and division.

The Libya Stabilisation Conference’s concluding nine-point statement delivered today by Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush reiterated the need for elections to be held on the prescribed time of 24 December this year. There had been some expectations that the conference could be used as the springboard to delay the elections to …

Libya’s fragile unity government hosts senior foreign officials on Thursday to drum up support on spiky transitional issues as the war-torn country gears up for a landmark December election.

A French-staged international conference proposed for next November to discuss the Libyan crisis is losing momentum before even starting, as wider circles of Libyan politicians are voicing their rejection to the event.