Fighting close to Libyan oilfield and refinery as rival "oil minister"
appears
Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:59pm GMT
* Video of new "oil minister" on social media
* Film appears shot in Misrata militia controlled Tripoli
* State oil company declines comment (Adds U.N. dialogue proposal)
By Ayman al-Warfalli and Feras Bosalum
BENGHAZI, Libya, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Soldiers and police have clashed in the
last few days near Libya's biggest El Sharara oilfield in the south, while
separate fighting erupted in the west not far from the Zawiya refinery,
residents and medics said.
The violence came as video emerged on social media purportedly showing a
rival oil minister appointed by an armed opposition group controlling the
capital Tripoli giving a speech at the oil ministry.
If confirmed this could mean the central government has lost control of the
oil ministry, potentially paralysing vital oil exports over questions of
ownership.
Apparently speaking from the office of the deputy oil minister, Mashallah
al-Zawie called on all Libyans for unity and to reject "conspiracies",
according to the video which could not be independently verified. A
spokesman for state-owned National Oil Corp (NOC), located in the same
building as the ministry, declined to comment.
Libya has plunged into anarchy three years after the removal of Muammar
Gaddafi. An armed group from the western city of Misrata seized Tripoli in
August, forcing the elected parliament and senior officials to move to the
far east.
The Misrata-group has set up its own parliament and government, which are
not recognised by the international community backing the largely powerless
prime minister, Abdullah al-Thinni.
In southern Libya, up to 12 people have been killed in the fighting, which
broke out on Wednesday and is symptomatic of the anarchy in Libya, where the
government is unable to control former rebel militias who helped Gaddafi but
now fight each for control and a share of oil revenues.
The fighting started in Ubari, a half-hour drive from the El Sharara
oilfield, which was shut last week because of damage to a storage facility
at the Zawiya refinery in the north which it feeds.
Residents said gunmen had attacked a police station in the town, not far
from the main southern city of Sabha, after a failed attempt to smuggle
fellow tribesmen from the nearby border with Algeria. Around 27 people were
wounded, hospital medics said.
FIGHTING IN THE WEST
Some commentators on Libyan social media websites linked the fighting to
attempts by the Misrata alliance controlling Tripoli to get access to El
Sharara.
Libyan media have reported that envoys from Misrata-based groups have
visited several areas in western and southern Libya in the past few weeks to
sound out the possibility of ooperation with local groups and tribes.
Misrata, Libya's third city, is home to some of the most experienced rebel
militias, as well as Libya's biggest non-oil port.
But the city lacks access to oil, the only source of revenue for Libya's $47
billion annual budget. Rival militias from Zintan, who have been expelled
from Tripoli by Misrata's forces, control pipelines coming from the two
southern oilfields of El Sharara and El Feel.
Members of the Tibu minority, which has complained of neglect, have blocked
the El Sharara field in the past to demand financial assistance or
guarantees of citizenship for Tibu who come from neighbouring Algeria or
Niger.
El Sharara is jointly operated by Libya's state-run National Oil Corp (NOC)
and Spain's Repsol. The El Feel field, which has also been blocked on
occasion by other protesters, is operated by NOC and Italy's ENI.
The El Sharara field was pumping around 200,000 barrels of oil per day until
the shutdown last week. On Sunday, Ibrahim al-Awami, head of the inspection
and measurement department at the Oil Ministry, said Zawiya and El Sharara
remained shut, and Libya's output was down to 700,000 bpd.
Fighting was also reported in the Warshefana tribal area west of Tripoli
which the Misrata forces have been trying to take for weeks. "The whole area
including residential buildings has been heavily shelled," said a Warshefana
official. "There are casualties," he said without giving a number.
The United Nations said it was proposing a meeting of the parties to the
conflict on Sept. 29 without giving the venue, making a new attempt at talks
after previous initiatives failed.
"There is a general consensus that the only solution to the current crisis
in Libya is through the convening of a political dialogue that leads to an
agreement on the institutional framework for...the continuation of the
democratic transition process," the U.N. said in a statement. (Reporting by
Ayman al-Warfalli, Feras Bosalum, Ahmed Elumami, Heba al-Shibani and Ulf
Laessing; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Kevin Liffey and William
Hardy)