Oil firm resumes Libya operations

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
26 September 2011 Last updated at 13:50 GMT Libya's refineries were mostly closed in March, when fighting intensified Italian oil firm Eni has restarted production at an oil field in Libya, as opponents of Col Muammar Gaddafi tighten their control on the economy.

Eni, which was the biggest foreign oil producer in Libya before Col Gaddafi was overthrown, said it planned to reopen other fields in the coming days.

Other firms, including French company Total, have also restarted operations.

Meanwhile, anti-Gaddafi forces are closing in on his hometown of Sirte, one of his few remaining strongholds.

The soldiers, loyal to the National Transitional Council (NTC), launched a surprise attack on the city on the weekend.

The BBC's Alastair Leithead, near Sirte, says the troops have the city surrounded and are preparing to enter it with significant force.

Gaddafi loyalists have been fiercely protecting the city from NTC advances in recent weeks.

Eni said in a statement it has restarted production at 15 wells in the Abu Attifel oil field, about 300km (190 miles) south of Benghazi.

Slow recovery

The company said it was pumping 31,900 barrels of oil a day, compared with a rate of 70,000 barrels a day before the unrest broke out.

The wells were closed in March amid increasing violence between Gaddafi loyalists and rebels, who later formed the NTC.

France's Total announced last week that it had resumed production at its al-Jurf offshore facility, which is capable of producing 40,000 barrels a day.

And Libya's state controlled Arabian Gulf Oil (Agoco) announced earlier this month that it had started pumping 160,000 barrels of oil from fields in the east.

The country was producing 1.6 million barrels a day before the unrest began, making up the bulk of its wealth.

Experts say it is likely to take at least a year before anything close to those levels are reached again.

The NTC still has not found Col Gaddafi, who ruled the country for more than 40 years.

But several of his children and members of his inner circle have fled abroad.

His daughter Aisha fled to Algeria, and told journalists last week that her father was in good spirits and fighting alongside his supporters.

The Algerian newspaper El-Khabar reported on Monday that a group of Gaddafi supporters, possibly including Aisha, had now left the country for Egypt.

The report has not yet been confirmed.

View the original article here

Vying for a slice of power in the new Libya

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
5 October 2011 Last updated at 21:42 GMT Military battles are still being fought in Sirte and Bani Walid Libya's transitional rulers have said no new government will be formed until Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte is captured. In the meantime, representatives from towns and cities that rose up against him are now arguing about who should get what posts. As the BBC's Damian Grammaticas reports, there are fears the revolution could now get bogged down in political infighting.

In the Nafusa mountains exuberant gunfire echoes around the hills.

On the edge of the town of Zintan, a crowd has gathered perched on the slopes around a flat, muddy valley.

Men fire Kalashnikovs and heavy anti-aircraft guns mounted on trucks high into the sky. They are celebrating their new-found freedom, still savouring their victory over Col Gaddafi.

Then horsemen come galloping forward, in a cavalry charge, five abreast. They stand tall in their stirrups as more wild gunfire erupts all around, spurring the horses to charge even faster.

The riders are swathed in white robes, some hold high what look like lances from which fly the flag of Libya's revolution. Their horses are decked out with silver bridles and saddles.

Jostling for power in the new Libya has begun, Damian Grammaticas reports

The people of the Nafusa mountains are proud, independent spirits. They were among the first to rise up against Col Gaddafi, and they sacrificed much to oust him.

Zintan, a small town of 50,000, has lost 250 of its men. Its fighters continue to die across the country. The faces of the martyrs, as they are known, are displayed on posters in one of the town's squares and in a school too.

Now Zintan wants a slice of power in the new Libya, and given its leading role in the fight it is bargaining hard.

Continue reading the main story

No Misrati wants to give up weapons until there is a united government and a national army”

End Quote Abdulbaset al-Haddad Misrata Dr Abdulwahab Ezzintani, one of the town's elders, and head of its political committee, says the town's original demand was for three ministers in Libya's interim cabinet, but it will settle for two - and wants the ministries of public works and small businesses.

"If you have played the major role in the liberation of the country you have to have a good piece of the cake," says Mr Ezzintani, a former ambassador, with a wry smile. "We believe that because of our sufferings, our losses, we have to have a place, our share."

When I ask if Zintan is being greedy he says, "you cannot put on the same boat the people who fought and who lost so many things , our sons, our animals, our buildings with another city where the people are sitting comfortably with their air conditioning on, it cannot be put like that on the same table."

Power vacuum?

The military battles are still being fought in Sirte and Bani Walid, but Libya's political battles are now beginning.

Hundreds of miles away from Zintan, the city of Misrata believes it too should be rewarded for its role in the liberation fight. Some 1,500 people from Misrata died, many in the effort to break the long and bloody siege of the city, many more fighting elsewhere in Libya.

Dr Abdulwahab Ezzintani (L) says Zintan needs a share of the post-revolution power

Misrata's Tripoli Street is lined with gutted buildings, rubble and wreckage. There is also now a collection of captured tanks, missiles and bombs on display on Tripoli Street.

The display draws families. Children climb over artillery pieces. People pose for photographs in front of one of Col Gaddafi's most famous symbols, the sculpture of fist crushing an American warplane that used to sit in his compound in Tripoli. It was brought here as one of the spoils of war.

But Misrata wants more. It is putting forward its own candidate for prime minister. It says politicians who did not take part in the fight against Col Gaddafi, but sat comfortably abroad, should be disqualified from serving in a new government and towns that suffered should have a bigger voice than those that did not.

Abdulbaset al-Haddad, a lawyer, who helped lead the revolution in the city adds that there is no way the town is giving up its weapons just yet.

"It is still too early to do this because of what the Gaddafi troops did, all the destruction in Misrata, the criminal acts, the killing and raping of our women," he explains. "No Misrati wants to give up weapons until there is a united government and a national army."

But in Tripoli there is no national government, no national army. The transitional council sits in far-off Benghazi in the east, while armed brigades raised by the revolutionaries are everywhere with their guns.

Forming a new government won't start until Sirte is taken, so the process could take weeks yet, and some now fear that the country might find itself in a vacuum, with different towns and groups all armed and vying for power.

'Entrenched positions'

But Atif el-Hasia, an official in the transitional government's media department, says while Misrata's sacrifice will be recognised, future government posts will have to be based on merit.

Zintan lost 250 of its men

"Misrata' s wound is so deep that I cannot argue with somebody whose sister was raped, or whose three brothers were killed in their sleep," says Mr Hasia, "you cannot start talking politics with these guys because they' re so entrenched in the battle."

"People say if I fought I need more voice. In terms of the future, they will have their say. But the criteria for choosing ministers is not how much they fought on the front line. It's about credentials and what they can do in our current crisis. Can they deliver what we need?"

High up in the Nafusa mountains, Abdulwahab Ezzintani, says his people want their fair share, but, if they don't get it, they are not going to turn their guns on their fellow revolutionaries.

"If we are ignored and don't get our share in the government, the departments, the money that will be spent, of course we will defend our rights," he says, "not by weapons of course but by talks, negotiations and so on."

After 42 years of dictatorship everyone says they are determined to build a new democracy in Libya. But many Libyans will also say they have no idea where to start that task.

The problem is that they have chased Col Gaddafi away, but the decades of repressive and eccentric rule by one-man rule have left behind a Libya where nobody knows how to share power - even while they are hungry for it.

View the original article here

Libya: Who's in charge?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
13 September 2011 Last updated at 13:08 GMT By Aidan Lewis BBC News The security structure is fragmented, with NTC fighters camped in Tripoli With remnants of the Gaddafi regime restricted to a few last outposts, Libya's transitional authorities now face the challenge of running a country emerging from war.

The National Transitional Council (NTC), formed in the eastern city of Benghazi to lead the uprising, is gradually establishing itself in the capital, Tripoli, with ambitious plans.

It wants to form a new interim government by the end of September, and hold elections for a 200-strong national congress within eight months. The congress will then draft a constitution, paving the way for multi-party polls.

But power structures within Libya remain fractured, creating the potential for conflict as a wide range of groups, interests and allegiances jostle for position.

Competing for credit

The NTC will have to secure the co-operation of these groups to achieve its goals.

"They have a lot of challenges to overcome before they can get the wheels of government running smoothly," says Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for the UN special adviser for Libya, Ian Martin.

"They are conscious of the fact that they need to be seen to be running the country from the capital, and we haven't seen that yet."

Most immediately, this may be a question of asserting authority over those who accumulated power on the ground during six months of conflict.

NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil and acting prime minister Mahmoud Jibril have now arrived in Tripoli but the brigades who conducted the military campaign were there weeks before.

Continue reading the main story New government within 10 daysElect national congress in eight monthsReferendum on new constitution within 90 days of congress meetingMulti-party polls in 2013An uprising within Tripoli was carefully planned to coincide with the assault led by seasoned Berber fighters from the Nafousa mountains and Misrata, but brigades from different regions have begun competing for credit for liberating the capital.

It is not clear when the brigades will disband, and some weapons have already gone missing.

The brigades are meant to answer to a Supreme Security Committee (SSC), a sprawling new body led by interim oil and finance minister Ali Tarhouni that also includes the police, the interior and defence ministries, and neighbourhood committees.

But the security structure is fragmented - cities have been running their own military affairs, volunteers soldiers are said to be reluctant to obey the national liberation army, and in some neighbourhoods, competing committees have sprung up.

Factions may also be divided. There were reports on Sunday that at least 12 people had been killed when two groups of anti-Gaddafi fighters clashed in the west in a dispute over the ownership of heavy weapons.

Fighters from Misrata, which suffered a brutal and lengthy siege by pro-Gaddafi forces, have begun to challenge NTC authority, reportedly refusing to turn over abandoned tanks.

Regional rivalries

The Misratans will be seeking recognition for their recent ordeal, while those in the far east and west will be seeking recognition for more long-running discrimination at the hands of the Gaddafi regime.

This could contribute to regional rivalries in the longer term, particularly once Libya's oil economy recovers and billions of dollars in revenue start to flow.

The uprising began in the east, and easterners have so far been over-represented in the NTC. Benghazi has nine members to Tripoli's five, and residents of the eastern city dominate the council's executive committee.

Continue reading the main story

The top echelon is being asked to stay at home - those who were responsible for gross violations of human rights have either disappeared or been killed ”

End Quote Ahmad Fawzi UN spokesman They have been criticised for being slow to come to Tripoli, though this was at least partly due to security concerns.

Mr Jibril has promised that east, west "and even the cities still under siege, will be part of a new government", and the NTC says it could double in size to nearly 100 members once national liberation is achieved.

But even redressing the balance could cause tensions. In recent days there have been protests in Benghazi by people who say they are worried too much power will go to the capital.

Competition between regions is expected to eclipse any tribal, ethnic or cultural splits.

Tribal identities were at times played up by Col Gaddafi, but while they can be socially important, many analysts and transitional officials say they are unlikely to impact politically.

A transitional "covenant" published in August promises in its first article to protect the language rights and culture of the "Amazigh, Toubou and Touareg and other constituents of Libyan society".

But another potential source of tension is the division between "insiders" who remained in Libya during the Gaddafi era and the conflict, and "outsiders" who have come back from abroad.

"If there's going to be large proportion of outsiders I can see that could create a lot of resentment - the outsiders tend to be relatively rich," says Mohamed El-Doufani, an analyst at BBC Monitoring.

The close involvement of the West in the military campaign could reinforce this resentment, he adds.

"There will be suspicions as to whether they're talking on behalf of another country, or whether they are for the national interest."

Islamists and secularists

There could also be an ideological dimension, with growing talk of a divide between secular technocrats who studied and worked overseas, and Islamists who opposed Col Gaddafi's rule from within Libya.

Abdel Hakim Belhaj, head of Tripoli's military council, has pledged to lay down arms

Most prominent among the secularists is Mr Jibril, who has studied and taught in the US and spent much of the conflict abroad, lobbying for the NTC.

Most prominent among the Islamists is Abdel Hakim Belhaj, a former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, who was elected as head of Tripoli's military council against Benghazi's wishes.

Mr Jibril has denied any rift between him and Mr Belhaj, while Mr Belhaj has pledged to work for "a civil state that respects the law and rights", and to lay down his arms.

Yet despite all the possible faultlines, observers note a relative lack of infrastructural damage, an abundance of goodwill and the potential for Libyans to guide the transition themselves.

The UN's Ahmad Fawzi said he was "cautiously optimistic" and did not expect the kind of violent retribution seen in Iraq.

"The top echelon is being asked to stay at home," he said, while "those who were responsible for gross violations of human rights have either disappeared or been killed."

But others will be allowed to work for the NTC's goals of elections, security and justice.

"It's a very mature approach to revolution," said Mr Fawzi.

View the original article here