Category: Libya

Stealing a page from neighboring Egypt, a senior army officer in Libya on Friday announced a military takeover, the suspension of Parliament and a new “road map” for the future. Then, nothing happened. Prime Minister Ali Zeidan called the supposed coup “ridiculous.” A military spokesman called it “a lie.” None of the Libyan Army’s few tanks or soldiers made any visible moves. The empty Parliament was quiet. It was the latest evidence of the long shadow cast across the region by the military takeover in Cairo last summer that was announced by Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, then an army general. The attempted imitation in Libya, though, demonstrated the limits of the Egyptian example. While Egypt’s military ushered out President Hosni Mubarak three years ago and dominated the political transition, the Libyan military never had much cohesion even under Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, and it had splintered long before his ouster. […]

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A Libyan local official says 92 prisoners have escaped from a prison in a western town due to weak security. Hassan bin Sophia, who is spokesman of the Zliten local council, said only four guards were watching 220 criminal and political detainees at the prison on Friday. He said the prisoners asked for a doctor, and when the prison gate was opened, they attacked the guards and fled. He said 19 prisoners were soon recaptured, two of them wounded when guards opened fire. Local officials are contacting the families of the escapees to convince them to surrender. Libya has experienced a security vacuum since the 2011 overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi. Earlier this month, 54 detainees escaped from a prison in the capital Tripoli. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our […]

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A Libyan military spokesman says an army helicopter with eight people on board has gone missing in the country’s east and may have been shot down. Colonel Ali al-Sheikhy says the aircraft went missing late Wednesday while en route to the city of Benghazi. He says there was no word on the fate of its two-member crew and six passengers. A regional security operations center in the coastal city of Ajdapia said the aircraft went down near the oil town of Ras Lanov. A military official said the helicopter had come under fire, which forced it to change course before it went missing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms […]

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Eastern separatists blockading three of Libya’s oil export terminals say the six-month-old crisis crippling the country’s energy industry could be resolved within weeks. But there’s little sign of any breakthrough. Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said Monday he’s ordered the army, a force that has still to coalesce as a state institution capable of protecting the state, to lift the blockade of the ports of Es Sider, Ras Lanuf and Zueitina that began in July 2013. But on Tuesday the military said it had received no orders, from Zeidan or the Defense Ministry, to move against the rebels holding the ports through which the bulk of Libya’s oil exports pass. "If we receive any orders, the matter will be studied at that time," said army spokesman Ali Alsheikhi — a reply that suggested the army doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to confront […]

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Libyan oil industry officials said bandits caused production from the Sharara oil field to drop by 40 percent by blocking a pipeline to downstream facilities. Field manager Hassan al-Sideek said bandits forced a valve to close from Sharara, blocking 40 percent of the delivery of crude oil to the Zawia oil refinery and terminal, the Libya Herald reported Monday. Operations at Sharara, in the western Libyan desert, were shuttered in October by regional protesters calling for more local authority. The field has the capacity to produce 350,000 barrels of oil per day. In January, Libyan Oil Minister Abdelbari al-Arusi said the restart of the Sharara oil field in the west of the country had contributed to recent production gains. Maintenance crews were told by gunmen near the pipeline the rebels would only speak with government officials. "We don’t know what they want," a […]

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Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said Monday he had ordered the army to end the blockade imposed by armed protesters on oil terminals in the east of the country. The country’s oil production has fallen sharply after rebels blocked the terminals in the summer last year, bringing the government on the brink of a financial crisis. But in a news conference posted on his website, Mr. Zeidan said he asked "the minister of defense to order the chief of staff to move toward oil ports." Mr. Zeidan has frequently warned he would use force to end the blockade by an armed group seeking autonomy for the eastern region of Cyrenaica. But though the Libyan navy has shot at tankers trying to enter the rebel-held ports, no concrete action has been taken to retake the terminals. The blockade of the terminals has cut the country’s production to nearly a third […]

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Austrian energy company OMV said oil production this year should be in line with its annual outlook. The Austrian company said Libyan operations has resumed and production of 320,000 to 340,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day is in line with expectations for 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The company said in a statement emailed in November production was offline "since the end of October," but provided no explanation for the disruption. Overall production from the company declined last year in part due to Libyan security issues but that was offset by gains from the North Sea, the Journal reported. Rebels who helped fight Moammar Gadhafi ‘s forces in 2011 in November declared independence for the region known as Cyrenaica, which hosts some of Libya’s key oil terminals. Labor strikes, internal battles for supremacy and general conflict have curbed Libya’s oil output. […]

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Oil will flow again from eastern export terminals once the government in Tripoli meets demands from the region, a Cyrenaica administrator said. Abdraba Abdulhameed al-Barasi, leader from the regional Cyrenaica government, told the Libya Herald the central government agreed to form a committee to oversee future production and exports from Cyrenaica, Fezzan and Tripolitania states. Tripoli has yet to answer, however, on whether Cyrenaica can take in profits generated from oil produced in the region, the Libyan newspaper reports. Agreeing to all of the demands is the only way to restart exports from eastern terminals, Barasi said Tuesday. In November, rebel groups in the east of the country, some of which helped topple the regime of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, declared independence for Cyrenaica, which hosts some of Libya’s key oil terminals. Before the 2011 conflict, Libya produced on average 1.6 million bpd […]

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Oil will flow again from eastern export terminals once the government in Tripoli meets demands from the region, a Cyrenaica administrator said. Abdraba Abdulhameed al-Barasi, leader from the regional Cyrenaica government, told the Libya Herald the central government agreed to form a committee to oversee future production and exports from Cyrenaica, Fezzan and Tripolitania states. Tripoli has yet to answer, however, on whether Cyrenaica can take in profits generated from oil produced in the region, the Libyan newspaper reports. Agreeing to all of the demands is the only way to restart exports from eastern terminals, Barasi said Tuesday. In November, rebel groups in the east of the country, some of which helped topple the regime of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, declared independence for Cyrenaica, which hosts some of Libya’s key oil terminals. Before the 2011 conflict, Libya produced on average 1.6 million bpd […]

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– Two Egyptian diplomats and an embassy staff member abducted in Libya have been freed after Cairo released a Libyan militia leader who was arrested last week, officials in both countries said Monday. The releases took place late on Sunday, according to an Egyptian security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. Three Egyptian diplomats still held captive are also expected to be released soon, he said. The six Egyptians – five diplomats and the one embassy staff member – were seized late Friday and early Saturday in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. No one claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. The abductions came hours after Libya’s state news agency reported that Egyptian authorities had arrested Shaaban Hadiya, the commander of a militia known as Revolutionaries Operation Room. The militia claims to answer to the Libyan army but […]

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