Libya seeks talks after rival seizes oil ports

TRIPOLI

The head of Libya’s UN-backed unity government called for urgent talks on Thursday after forces loyal to a rival administration seized the main eastern oil ports in defiance of world powers.

The fighting between the two sides — the first since the unity government started work in the capital Tripoli in March — was the latest escalation of the chaos that has gripped Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

A bombing campaign by Britain and France was instrumental in the veteran dictator’s ouster, and a key British parliamentary committee on Wednesday joined mounting criticism of the two governments for their failure to shape its aftermath.

This week’s seizure of all four export terminals in Libya’s so-called oil crescent was a major blow to the Government of National Accord (GNA), which is almost entirely dependent on oil revenues for its income.

UN envoy Martin Kobler, who had called repeatedly for a halt to the offensive led by controversial military strongman Khalifa Haftar, was to brief the Security Council on the crisis later on Wednesday.

The unity government is key to UN efforts to restore stability to Libya and it now faces an even tougher battle to assert its authority over the rival administration in the east.

ASSAULT ON OIL PORTS

GNA head Fayez al-Sarraj said that Libya was at a “turning point” after the assault on the oil ports with its future as a united nation in serious question. “I call on all sides to halt provocative actions and sit down urgently at the same table to discuss a mechanism that would enable us to get out of this crisis and put a stop to the conflict,” he said.

“I am not prepared to rule one part of Libya nor to lead a war against another part.”

The capture of the oil crescent means that the rival administration now controls virtually all of the eastern Cyrenaica region.

Meanwhile, in a sign of how complex divisions in Libya have become, the National Oil Company in Tripoli said in a statement on Tuesday night that it planned to resume oil exports from the ports.

The NOC, which said that it recognised the GNA, did not explain how it could export oil from ports controlled by Haftar’s forces. “Our technical teams already started assessing what needs to be done to ... restart exports as soon as possible,” NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla, who visited Zuwaytina port on Wednesday, said in the statement.

He said he hoped for “a new phase of cooperation and coexistence between Libya’s factions, as well as an end to the use of the blockade as a political tactic.”