Summers in the Libyan capital can be brutal, and this one is the worst in memory. As temperatures in Tripoli breach 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), unrelenting power failures leave residents struggling to stay cool without air-conditioners and fans. Ahmed, 29, flees outside for relief. The cafe where he used to work folded during a coronavirus lockdown, and he spends his evenings on the Mediterranean waterfront where he can enjoy the sea breeze, even if long stretches of the corniche plunge into darkness during power cuts.
He meets there with his friends to “breathe a little,” and they gripe about electricity and curse the country’s shoddy public services, Ahmed said, declining to give his last name. “Corona what? We have a more serious pandemic, and that’s the government.”
Libya, home to Africa’s largest crude oil reserves, has been wracked by war and lawlessness since a 2011 revolt that toppled former dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi, and the country’s once-robust electricity network is in tatters. Poor maintenance, a shortage of fuel at generating plants, and a blockade stopping oil exports have stretched the power grid to breaking point. Climate change only adds to the pressure.
Hundreds of protesters have marched daily in Tripoli to vent their fury about half-day-long power cuts and other government failings. Last week’s marchers, most of them young men, filled darkened streets, chanting: “No lights, no water, we’re fed up!”
Protesters swarm a street on the corniche in Tripoli, Libya, on Aug. 23. Source: Bloomberg
The latest phase in the country’s civil war brought more blackouts. Military commander Khalifa Haftar and his forces advanced on Tripoli in April 2019, determined to unseat the United Nations-backed government based there. Although he withdrew in June after failing to capture the western city, the fighting damaged transmission lines and control stations.
Looters stripped high-voltage cables from power poles during Haftar’s siege, according to an official at the state-run General Electricity Co. of Libya, known as Gecol. Output nationwide has declined for five years and now meets only about 60% of peak summer demand, the official said, asking not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to media.