Photo Credit: Arab News
According to Reuters, the Libyan government blamed minority groups, who are protesting for more political rights, for power outages that have reached numerous parts of the country including Tripoli. Amazigh, or Berber, protesters have stopped gas supplies from the southwestern Wafa field and members of the Tibu, another minority, have prevented petrol supplies from reaching a power plant in southwest Libya. Both groups are concerned that their languages and cultural identities are not being guaranteed in the new constitution and therefore are demanding a greater say in a special body drafting the constitution. Reuters reported that the electricity ministry called the protests “irresponsible.”
Deputy Oil Minister Omar Shakmak said Libya currently produces approximately 224,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, almost half of which goes to its Zawiya refinery, leaving about 130,000 bpd for exports. Shakmak explained that Libya had lost more than 6.5 billion USD in oil revenues due to on-going strikes and protests at oilfields and ports that escalated this past summer. Reuters also reported that the Army Chief of Staff demanded to protesters, “End your strikes without condition so the oil flows to the ports and the economy recovers so we can build up the state and the armed forces,” and cautioned that on-going protests threaten the country with “disintegration and lawlessness.”
Meanwhile, Abigail Hauslohner and Karen DeYoung suggest that United States officials are hoping the new General Purpose Force, a Libyan military organization to be trained by U.S., United Kingdom, and Italian forces will initially start protecting “vital government installations” and eventually become the core of a new national army. However, the U.S. and its partners are not the only international actors involved in trying to enhance Libya’s security. Hauslohner and DeYoung indicate that numerous “outside actors are rushing to bolster favored militias or to capitalize on the oil-rich country’s prevailing anarchy.” Specifically, they mention the involvement of Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, several Gulf states, as well as private companies and black-market arms dealers.