Category: North Africa

TRIPOLI Libyan authorities will try during the month of Ramadan to reopen pipelines for El Feel and El Sharara oilfields and Zueitina port that have been blocked for weeks by protests and disputes, the state oil company said on Tuesday. The two major oilfields and oil terminal have been shuttered by protesters demanding jobs, disputes among security guards and the country’s conflict between two rival governments battling for control of the north African OPEC state. "The efforts are being carried out by elders, local municipalities, and mediators," National Oil Corporation spokesman Mohamed Harari said, adding talks would take place during Ramadan. "If the three pipelines are reopened, the oil production might reach 800,000 barrels per day." Ramadan is due to start this week. Negotiations to reopen oilfields and ports in Libya often drag on as the oil industry is constantly under siege from protesters seeking jobs or armed factions […]

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A coalition of armed groups in the Libyan the city of Derna say they have put the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group on the backfoot. The Shura Council of Derna declared war on ISIL last week and has been engaged in clashes with the fighters for days after describing ISIL as "tyrants and criminals" and pledging not to let it take root in the city. The Shura Council says it has succeeded in forcing ISIL from mosques and hotels it had seized in western and central parts of Derna. Footage shared on social media showed fighters from the coalition involved in street battles with ISIL. One Minute ISIL ISIL holds territory in Derna, in the east, as well as in the central city of Sirte. The council more than a dozen of its fighters had been wounded in the clashes. ISIL has carried out a […]

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TRIPOLI Libya’s recognized government said on Sunday veteran Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar had been killed in a U.S. air strike inside Libya as part of counter-terrorism cooperation. Earlier, the U.S. Department of Defense said the U.S. military conducted a counterterrorism strike against an Al Qaida-associated target in Libya on Saturday night, but were assessing results before providing more details. "The Libyan government in the east of Libya confirms that the U.S fighter jets conducted air strikes last night in a mission which resulted in the death of the terrorist Belmokhtar," Libya’s recognised government said. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Additional reporting by Peter Cooney in Washington; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Sandra Maler )

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ROME/LONDON An international rescue fleet plucked almost 5,900 migrants from rickety boats making the perilous sea crossing for North Africa to Europe on Saturday and Sunday, Italy’s coastguard said. The British warship Bulwark assisted in picking up more than 1,000 refugees, including 10 pregnant women, the Ministry of Defense said. The Italian coastguard, which coordinates rescue efforts from Rome, said British, Swedish, Spanish and Italian ships and a merchant vessel had all been called upon to go to the aid of 15 different boats on Sunday, rescuing 2,400 people in all. On Saturday, 3,500 migrants were rescued about 45 miles from the Libyan coast. The tide of migrants and refugees risking the often deadly sea crossing to reach Europe from Africa is on the rise this year and the U.N. refugee agency estimates more than 1,800 have drowned. About 800 perished in a single shipwreck in April. In response, […]

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BAYDA, Libya, June 5 Libya’s internationally recognised government says the central bank’s headquarters have moved to the eastern city of Bayda, although it was not clear how the bank would control and process payments with its staff and computers still in Tripoli. The Bayda-based government is struggling for control of big state institutions with a rival administration in Tripoli and also says it plans to route oil revenues through the east, bypassing the capital. However, foreign buyers are still paying for oil through the Tripoli-based NOC state oil firm. Libya has been engulfed by violence and chaos since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011, and in August a faction called Libya Dawn seized the capital, forcing the official premier, Abdullah al-Thinni, to flee with his ministers to the east. Ministries and state bodies in Tripoli remain under the control of Thinni’s rivals, who are boycotted by world powers. The […]

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MISURATA, Libya — As the Islamic State scores new victories in Syria and Iraq, its affiliate in Libya is also on the offensive, consolidating control of Moammar Gaddafi’s former home town and staging a bomb attack on a major city, Misurata. The Islamic State’s growth could further destabilize a country already suffering from a devastating civil war. And Libya could offer the extremists a new base from which to launch attacks elsewhere in North Africa. The Libyan affiliate does not occupy large amounts of territory as the Islamic State does in Syria and Iraq. But in the past few months, the local group has seized Sirte, the coastal city that was Gaddafi’s last redoubt, as well as neighborhoods in the eastern city of Derna. A key reason for the Libyan affiliate’s expansion is the chaos that has enveloped this oil-rich nation since the 2011 Arab Spring revolt. The country […]

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