Category: Africa

Tunisia has closed its main border crossing with Libya after thousands of stranded Egyptian and foreign nationals, fleeing ongoing fighting and violence in Libya, tried to break through the passage, the Tunisian news agency said. The unrest erupted on Friday when thousands of Egyptians, barred from entering Tunisia because they had no visa, held a protest then broke through part of a fence at the Ras Ajdir crossing, Tunisian security officials said. The news comes as Tunisia urged its estimated 50,000 to 60,000 nationals living in Libya to leave "as soon as possible" because of violence that has raged there since mid-July. "The ministry of foreign affairs urges Tunisians who find themselves in Libyan territory to return home as soon as possible," a ministry statement said. The border clashes on Friday was the second incident at the border in as many days, as thousands of Libyans stream into neighbouring Tunisia, along with foreign […]

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Islamic hard-line militias, including the group accused by the United States in a 2012 attack that killed the ambassador and three other Americans, claimed control of Libya’s second largest city, Benghazi, after overrunning army barracks and seizing heavy weapons. The sweep in the eastern city is part of a new backlash by hard-liners against their rivals ahead of the sitting of a new parliament. In the capital Tripoli, escalating battles Thursday between militias prompted multiple foreign governments to scramble to get out their citizens as thousands of Libyans fled across the border into Tunisia. The weeks-long surge of violence renewed fears that Libya, which has been in chaos since the 2011 civil war that ousted longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, is plunging deeper into civil strife. With a crippled central government and weak army and police, the country’s numerous rival militias have held sway in Libya […]

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said Thursday it saw a strong growth in production from North American shale, but Libyan operations remained shut in for the company. The company said it was discounting Libya in its outlook for the rest of the year. "Production from continuing operations, excluding Libya, was 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in the second quarter, essentially flat compared with the same period in 2013," its second quarter report said . "Libya production remained shut in as a result of the Es Sider terminal shutdown." Ras Lanuf and Es Sider combine for as much as half of Libya’s full export potential of 1.3 million barrels per day. Libyan production has suffered because of ongoing skirmishes between pro-government forces and rival militias. Early 2014 output has been limited to around 250,000 barrels oil per day. "The company is raising the midpoint of its 2014 full-year production outlook for continuing […]

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Three years after Western powers helped Libyan rebels overthrow dictator Moammar Gaddafi, they have at least temporarily abandoned efforts on the ground to bolster Libya’s foundering democracy. On Wednesday, France evacuated its embassy in Tripoli, where warring militias have traded rocket and artillery fire over the past two weeks in the worst violence in the capital since Gaddafi’s ouster. French ships moved diplomats and French and other European citizens across the Mediterranean to Toulon, just days after U.S. diplomats left by road for Tunisia and then traveled to Malta, where they have set up an embassy-in-absentia. Although Britain has not formally suspended operations at its Tripoli mission, it has removed all but essential personnel and advised all citizens to leave the country. The growing turmoil marks a major setback for a country that just two years ago held its first free elections in four decades. What many Western officials […]

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Clashes between rival militias near Libya ’s national airport set a third fuel storage tank ablaze as worsening violence in the country prompted the U.S and Germany to evacuate their nationals. A call by the Libyan government for a temporary truce to tackle the fire was ignored, with militias continuing to shell the area where the fire has raged all week. The government has requested international assistance, and said that Italy had offered to help, a claim subsequently denied by the Italian foreign ministry. “However, Italy continues to evaluate all of the options to furnish aid to Libya,” the foreign ministry said in statement today. The two-week long battle outside the airport has damaged the terminal, control tower and planes parked at the facility as a weakened central government battles armed groups including Islamists and separatist militias. Libya, which holds Africa’s largest crude reserves, has been engulfed in violence […]

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Libya says seven fire-fighting planes are being sent by Italy and the Italian energy giant ENI to douse the inferno at a Tripoli oil depot. Fighting between militias nearby has prompted more residents to flee. Tunisian media said Tuesday that thousands of Libyans had crossed into Tunisia to escape crossfire near Tripoli rival militias that sparked the depot blaze. The fire had spread to a second storage site on Monday. Libya’s interim government said the Italian government and ENI were sending the planes to stem the blaze. It began on Sunday night, when a rocket hit a large fuel container, compounding two weeks of fighting between the rival militias near Tripoli’s main airport. Flights have been suspended. A local air base was used instead on Monday. France, Portugal and the Netherlands became on Tuesday the latest nations to ship out their citizens or close their embassies in Tripoli. Canada, […]

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A coalition of armed groups has overrun a major Libyan army base held by allies of a renegade general in the eastern city of Benghazi. Special forces troops of the Saiqa brigade, loyal to Khalifa Haftar, abandoned their base in southeast Benghazi on Tuesday after coming under attack, military officials and residents said. "We have withdrawn from the army base after heavy shelling," Saiqa official Fadel al-Hassi told Reuters. The battle killed at least 30 people, according to agency reports. We have withdrawn from the army base after heavy shelling. Saiqa special forces official Fadel al-Hassi. Benghazi has suffered months-long battles between militias and forces allied with Haftar, who launched a campaign aimed at crushing what he calls "terrorists" and "extremists" including Ansar al-Sharia. According to the official Twitter account of Ansar, a group inspired by al-Qaeda and dominant in Benghazi, said it had taken over the base. In the fighting, a jet crashed after Haftar’s […]

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Escalating conflicts in Libya are thwarting a revival of oil output from Africa ’s largest crude reserves after a yearlong blockade of eastern ports, just as Societe Generale SA and Barclays Plc predict rising demand. While the government said in early July that traders could buy cargoes again from Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, the biggest blocked ports, neither has shipped anything. In Tripoli, the capital, firefighters are still battling a blaze at a fuel-storage depot caused by clashes between militias that have been struggling for political power in the three years since the ouster and killing of longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi . Brent crude futures have been trading as if supplies would be ample. Near-term contracts are priced at a discount to deliveries later in the year, a pattern known as contango, since July 8, the longest stretch in four years. Societe General and Barclays are among the […]

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Libya warned Monday of the risk of a humanitarian and environmental disaster after a second fuel tank caught fire amid heavy fighting at Tripoli airport between rival militias. Nearly 100 people have been killed during two weeks of clashes over control of the airport. The fighting led to the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli on Saturday and the German Foreign Ministry said Monday it had evacuated its embassy as well. A missile late Saturday ignited a storage tank containing petroleum fuel at a complex near the airport. The igniting of a second tank has increased the risk of an explosion at the site, which contains 90 million liters (almost 24 million gallons) of fuel and cooking gas. After requesting international assistance, Libya’s […]

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For weeks, rival Libyan militias had been pounding one another’s positions with artillery, mortar rounds and rockets in a desperate fight to control the international airport in the capital, Tripoli. Then suddenly, early Saturday morning, the fighting just stopped. The pause came as United States military warplanes circled overhead, providing air cover for a predawn evacuation of the American Embassy’s staff. Apparently fearing the planes, the militias held their fire just long enough for the ambassador and her staff to reach the Tunisian border — a reminder to Libyans of how even their most powerful allies were incapable of putting out their incendiary feuds. American officials said the evacuation was a temporary measure after fighting drew too close to the embassy. But, coming so soon after the withdrawal of other diplomatic missions, including the United Nations , the moment appeared to signal a defeat — for Libyans […]

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Three years after toppling Gaddafi, the revolutionaries have turned on each other Making a stand: crowds in Tripoli come out in support of Gen Khalifa Haftar’s ‘dignity’ campaign against jihadist militias On a Friday afternoon in June in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, a street battle erupts for control of Martyrs Square. It is the first time that Libyans from both sides of an explosive political divide have fought each other for control of a space that represents the aspirations of the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammer Gaddafi. On the north side of the square stand the Islamists. Opposite them are a few hundred men and some women supporting the renegade General Khalifa Haftar’s “dignity” movement, which wants to crush the Islamists. At first the pro- and anti-Haftar crowds mostly throw water bottles and taunts at each other. Both sides chant the same slogans. “The blood of the martyrs […]

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Fighting between rival militia in Tripoli Sunday caused a storage tank containing petroleum fuel to catch fire at a complex near the Tripoli airport, oil and security officials in the Libyan capital said. A "tank containing 6.6 million liters of petrol" caught fire late Sunday as a result of fighting between rival militia vying for the control of Tripoli airport, one oil official said. The complex where the storage tank is located contains 90 million liters of fuel and cooking gas, sparking a risk of massive explosion, the official said The news comes after escalating violence led to the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli Saturday. Libya’s Ministry of Interior, which showed pictures of fire brigades trying to put down the fire on its Facebook page, said it was asking residents to leave the area. The news comes as Libya’s Ministry of Health said Sunday that the death […]

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The Libyan authorities have called for a ceasefire to allow firefighters to tackle the blaze Continue reading the main story Libya has requested international assistance to put out a fire at a large fuel storage site in Tripoli that was hit by a rocket during militia clashes. The huge blaze could cause a "humanitarian and environmental disaster," the government has warned. It is the largest facility in Tripoli, containing 6.6 million litres of fuel. At least 97 people have been killed in fighting between rival militia groups battling for control of Tripoli’s main airport in the past week. Fighting in the eastern city of Benghazi has also intensified, with at least 38 people killed in clashes between troops loyal to the Libyan government and Islamist fighters on Sunday. Calls for evacuation A statement by the prime minister’s office said it had requested international assistance "as a precaution". "Several countries […]

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The Libyan authorities have called for a ceasefire to allow firefighters to tackle the blaze Continue reading the main story Libya has requested international assistance to put out a fire at a large fuel storage site in Tripoli that was hit by a rocket during militia clashes. The huge blaze could cause a "humanitarian and environmental disaster," the government has warned. It is the largest facility in Tripoli, containing 6.6 million litres of fuel. At least 97 people have been killed in fighting between rival militia groups battling for control of Tripoli’s main airport in the past week. Fighting in the eastern city of Benghazi has also intensified, with at least 38 people killed in clashes between troops loyal to the Libyan government and Islamist fighters on Sunday. Calls for evacuation A statement by the prime minister’s office said it had requested international assistance "as a precaution". "Several countries […]

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Libya’s Eastern port of Brega is set to restart crude exports after a tanker arrived Thursday, the port said, as the North African country ramps up exports despite escalating violence in the capital. The Overseas Fran tanker arrived in Brega to load 750,000 barrels of crude which will be delivered to the Italian port of Genoa, the oil port said on its Facebook page. Shipping tracking website Marinetraffic.com confirmed the Overseas Fran was due to arrive Thursday in Brega. The news come after an agreement between the government and striking guards over wages paved the way for the port reopening Tuesday. There hasn’t been any crude-oil tanker leaving the port since late June, according to shipping-tracking website FleetMon.com. Earlier this week, exports of oil from the Sharara field also restarted after a five-month interruption. The developments come despite escalating violence in Libya’s capital Tripoli as rival militias fighting for […]

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Libya is preparing a new pricing strategy for its crude exports that may include further discounts after a sales offer last week failed because potential buyers offered “unacceptable” prices, according to state-run National Oil Corp. Libya plans to offer different crude prices before the end of next month that will compensate customers for the additional risk of loading oil in the country, Ahmed Shawki, marketing director at National Oil, said by phone from Tripoli today. The country reduced July export prices for seven grades of crude by as much as $1.90 a barrel, according to a price list from National Oil obtained by Bloomberg News on July 18. “Tenders were not awarded because the price was unacceptable,” Shawki said. “They were meant to test the market as we prepare a pricing strategy.” Exports of oil from Libya were disrupted after political feuding closed oilfields and export terminals a year […]

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Islamist militants attacked an army base in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday, triggering fierce clashes involving helicopters and jets that killed at least seven people and wounded 40 others after days of escalating violence. Benghazi’s clashes followed a week of fighting between rival militias for control of Tripoli International Airport in the capital that has prompted the North Africa country to appeal for international help to stop Libya becoming a failed state. Tripoli was calmer on Monday, but in Benghazi, militants linked to Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia attacked an army camp and were repelled by troops and forces loyal to renegade retired general Khalifa Haftar, who has been carrying out a self-declared war on Islamist fighters, security sources said. "Ansar al-Sharia tried to take over one special forces camp, but the special forces and Hafter’s forces fought back, using helicopters and military […]

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Islamist militants attacked an army base in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday, triggering fierce clashes involving helicopters and jets that killed at least seven people and wounded 40 others after days of escalating violence. Benghazi’s clashes followed a week of fighting between rival militias for control of Tripoli International Airport in the capital that has prompted the North Africa country to appeal for international help to stop Libya becoming a failed state. Tripoli was calmer on Monday, but in Benghazi, militants linked to Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia attacked an army camp and were repelled by troops and forces loyal to renegade retired general Khalifa Haftar, who has been carrying out a self-declared war on Islamist fighters, security sources said. "Ansar al-Sharia tried to take over one special forces camp, but the special forces and Hafter’s forces fought back, using helicopters and military […]

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Libya’s electoral committee on Monday announced results of an earlier parliamentary election, but many fear it might fuel the ongoing clashes between pro-secular militia and armed Islamist groups. The polls, held on June 25, elected the new parliament House of Representatives to replace the previous General National Congress. All 1,714 contestants were registered as independent candidates, as party lists are not allowed under current electoral law. Of the total 200 seats in the new parliament, 188 were set, while the remaining 12 seats were absent due to boycott or insecurity in some electoral districts, according to Libya’s High National Electoral Commission. Analysts said the secular factions have seemingly taken most of the seats, while the Islamist lawmakers, who had a bigger say in the old parliament, only won around 30 seats this time. Some feared that the results might intensify the current armed clashes between […]

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The first export from Libya’s largest oil field Sharara is due later Monday but production has fallen since last week , an official said. The expected shipment is the first tangible sign that a recent recovery in the country’s troubled oil industry could translate into extra supplies to global markets. Eni’s West Libyan Gas Project, Wafa oil field in Libya-the French firm also owns a share of the Sharara oil field that is due to make its first export on Monday 21 July. European Pressphoto Agency The reopening of two key Eastern terminals and of the Sharara field have been overshadowed by the pullout of oil expatriates following escalating violence in Tripoli’s airport . But a spokesman for Libya’s state-run National Oil Co. said that "shipment will start today" for Sharara’s oil. The field, located in Western Libya, resumed production 12 days ago but its initial supply was used […]

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The first export from Libya’s largest oil field Sharara is due later Monday but production has fallen since last week , an official said. The expected shipment is the first tangible sign that a recent recovery in the country’s troubled oil industry could translate into extra supplies to global markets. Eni’s West Libyan Gas Project, Wafa oil field in Libya-the French firm also owns a share of the Sharara oil field that is due to make its first export on Monday 21 July. European Pressphoto Agency The reopening of two key Eastern terminals and of the Sharara field have been overshadowed by the pullout of oil expatriates following escalating violence in Tripoli’s airport . But a spokesman for Libya’s state-run National Oil Co. said that "shipment will start today" for Sharara’s oil. The field, located in Western Libya, resumed production 12 days ago but its initial supply was used […]

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Clashes between rival Libyan militias fighting for control of the international airport in the capital, Tripoli, have killed 47 people over the past 24 hours, Libya’s Health Ministry said. The ministry said on its website late Sunday that the fighting also left 120 people wounded. It also said it had not yet received the full casualty report. The weeklong battle over the airport is being waged by a powerful militia from the western city of Zintan, which controls the facility, and Islamist-led militias, including fighters from Misrata, east of Tripoli. The clashes resumed Sunday after cease-fire efforts failed. Television footage broadcast Sunday showed a mortar shell striking a Libyan Arab Airlines plane and a column of black smoke billowing from inside the airport, which has been closed since last Monday. Libya is witnessing one of its worst spasms of violence since the ouster of longtime dictator […]

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Libya is evidently disintegrating as the daily escalation of violence is aimlessly continuing and it seems that there is no hope insight for a ceasefire of some sort. The situation is getting progressively from bad to worse, by the hour, as Libya is quickly heading back almost to the time of pre-unification of the country in the middle of the previous century. Many observers are rushing to history books to inquisitively review that part of Libya’s past in an attempt to understand what is currently happening in the country and in which direction is it going. One day in late 1991, my brother-in-law, the late Mansour Rashid Al Kikhya, first foreign minister of Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya, briefed me about that period of his country’s history, which he and a few hundred other young Libyans had aspired to build. They had in their sight the task of rebuilding a modern […]

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Fighting between powerful militias battling for control of Tripoli’s airport broke out again Friday, just hours after they had agreed a truce, an airport official and witnesses said. The clashes came a day after the government sought the United Nations’ help to prevent the country from becoming a “failed state.” “The airport was once again today hit by mortar fire which struck the security offices,” but caused no casualties, airport security official al-Jilani al-Dahech told AFP. Airport security forces returned fire, he said without giving further details. Libya’s main international airport has been closed since Sunday, with rockets causing damage to aircraft and the main terminal building amid warnings by officials that the facility could remain closed for months. The violence erupted when Islamist gunmen from the city of Misrata attacked anti-Islamist fighters from the city of Zintan who have been controlling the airport for the past […]

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Several shells have hit the terminal of Libya’s main airport as rival armed groups fought in Tripoli for a fifth straight day, and gunmen assassinated a female politician in the country’s east. In another sign of growing turmoil, air controllers on Thursday halted work in Tripoli, shutting off much of the oil-producing country from international traffic. Tripoli International Airport has been a battlefield since fighters attacked it with heavy guns on Sunday to wrest control from a rival militia which has been based there since the fall of Libya’s late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The conflict is fuelling worries that Libya is on the point of turning into a failed state where a weak central government is powerless to control the militias which helped oust Gaddafi in 2011. The airport fighting pits brigades from Misrata, a western coastal town, against rival fighters from Zintan in the northwest. On […]

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Several shells have hit the terminal of Libya’s main airport as rival armed groups fought in Tripoli for a fifth straight day, and gunmen assassinated a female politician in the country’s east. In another sign of growing turmoil, air controllers on Thursday halted work in Tripoli, shutting off much of the oil-producing country from international traffic. Tripoli International Airport has been a battlefield since fighters attacked it with heavy guns on Sunday to wrest control from a rival militia which has been based there since the fall of Libya’s late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The conflict is fuelling worries that Libya is on the point of turning into a failed state where a weak central government is powerless to control the militias which helped oust Gaddafi in 2011. The airport fighting pits brigades from Misrata, a western coastal town, against rival fighters from Zintan in the northwest. On […]

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LONDON–Oil production has been slashed at Libya’s el-Feel field, an oil official said Thursday, as a crude output recovery in the country starts to fizzle. The reopening of two key oil ports and a production restart at the country’s largest oil field, Sharara, drove international oil prices to a three-month low last week. But after ramping up to a five-month high, Libya’s oil production started falling again earlier Thursday. Now output is set to decline further after staff cut production at the 130,000 barrel-a-day el-Feel field, which is operated by an Eni SpA joint venture. Eni didn’t return a request for comment. "The field only has five wells under operation, other wells are totally closed," a person at the joint venture said, citing mounting insecurity. Staff are also considering shutting the field altogether, he said. An outbreak of violence in Tripoli–the worst in six months–led to fear of new […]

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LONDON–Oil production has been slashed at Libya’s el-Feel field, an oil official said Thursday, as a crude output recovery in the country starts to fizzle. The reopening of two key oil ports and a production restart at the country’s largest oil field, Sharara, drove international oil prices to a three-month low last week. But after ramping up to a five-month high, Libya’s oil production started falling again earlier Thursday. Now output is set to decline further after staff cut production at the 130,000 barrel-a-day el-Feel field, which is operated by an Eni SpA joint venture. Eni didn’t return a request for comment. "The field only has five wells under operation, other wells are totally closed," a person at the joint venture said, citing mounting insecurity. Staff are also considering shutting the field altogether, he said. An outbreak of violence in Tripoli–the worst in six months–led to fear of new […]

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At least 5,576 Iraqi civilians have been killed this year in violence, the United Nations said on Friday in the most detailed account yet of the impact of months of unrest culminating in an assault by Sunni militants through the north of the country. At least 11,665 have been wounded since January, when Sunni insurgents led by al Qaeda offshoot now known as the Islamic State overran the city of Falluja in the western province of Anbar, the U.N. said in a report. Last month, the insurgents seized swathes of northern Iraq, including the area’s largest city Mosul. Of the 2,400 people killed in June, 1,531 were civilians, the U.N. said earlier this month. The report documents what it calls "systematic and egregious violations" of international law by the group now calling itself the Islamic State. The U.N found the group had executed civilians, committed sexual […]

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Libya’s oil production has risen to about 554,000 barrels a day as production ramps up faster than expected at the country’s largest field Sharara, an oil official said Tuesday. The official at state-run National Oil Corp. said the production includes about 50,000 barrels a day of condensates and is up from 470,000 barrels a day Monday. The news come despite intense fighting in recent days at Tripoli airport, in the worst violence in six months in the capital.

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Libya’s oil production has risen to about 554,000 barrels a day as production ramps up faster than expected at the country’s largest field Sharara, an oil official said Tuesday. The official at state-run National Oil Corp. said the production includes about 50,000 barrels a day of condensates and is up from 470,000 barrels a day Monday. The news come despite intense fighting in recent days at Tripoli airport, in the worst violence in six months in the capital.

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France’s Total SA said Tuesday it had started pulling out some expatriate employees from Tripoli as the worst clashes in the Libyan capital in six months start affecting the oil industry. The new challenge to the country’s most strategic sector suggests a Libyan oil-production recovery that has pushed crude prices lower may still be fraught with risk. A spokeswoman for Total told The Wall Street Journal it had opened a Malta office this year "to adapt the number of expatriates present in Tripoli to the evolution of the security situation. That’s what we are currently doing given the situation in the airport." A Libyan official said the French company is now considering a force majeure on its operations in the country. The Total spokeswoman said no force majeure has been decided. A force majeure offers legal protection to a company if exceptional circumstances limits its ability to fullfil its […]

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Libyan militia fighters with anti aircraft guns and mortars fanned out on Tuesday across Tripoli’s airport, transformed into a battlefield by two days of fighting that has cut the Libyan capital off from the outside world. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington was working to help end to violence that has brought the north African country to the edge of chaos three years after the uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi. At least 15 people have been killed in the capital and the eastern city of Benghazi since Sunday. Fighting between rival militias at the capital’s airport damaged the control tower and wrecked 11 civilian aircraft parked on the tarmac. The main terminal building has been turned into a field hospital. In Benghazi, irregular forces loyal to renegade former general Khalifa Haftar, a former Gaddafi ally, bombarded Islamist militia bases as part of […]

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