Blast targets ‘American’ English school in southern Iraq
“We have decided to resume oil production and export on condition of a
fair distribution of revenues” and guarantee they “will not be used to
support terrorism,” he said on television.
Pro-Haftar groups supported by the Petroleum Facilities Guard blockaded
key oilfields and export terminals on January 17 to demand what they
called a fair share of hydrocarbon revenues.
The blockade, which has resulted in more than $9.8 billion in lost
revenue, according to National Petroleum Company (NOC), has exacerbated
electricity and fuel shortages in the country.
Dressed in his military uniform, Haftar said the command of his forces
had “put aside all military and political considerations” to respond to
the “deterioration of living conditions” in Libya, which has Africa’s
largest oil reserves.
The announcement comes after hundreds of Libyans protested last week in
the eastern city of Benghazi, one of Haftar’s strongholds, and other
cities over corruption, power cuts and shortages in petrol and cash.
Protesting peacefully at first, protesters on Sunday set fire to the
headquarters of the parallel eastern government in Benghazi and attacked
the police station in Al-Marj.
Police officers fired live ammunition to disperse them in Al-Marj,
leaving at least one dead and several wounded, according to witnesses
and the UN mission in Libya.
Libya has been in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The country’s oil revenues are managed by the NOC and the central bank,
both based in Tripoli, which is also the seat of Libya’s internationally
recognized Government of National Accord (GNA).
Haftar runs a rival administration based in the country’s east.
Haftar— who has the backing of Egypt, the UAE and Russia — launched an offensive against Tripoli in April last year.
After 14 months of fierce fighting, pro-GNA forces backed by Turkey
expelled his troops from much of western Libya and pushed them to Sirte,
the gateway to Libya’s rich oil fields and export terminals.
Comments