Libya's NOC declares force majeure on oil exports after shutdown of oil ports
The Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) has declared force majeure on oil exports in eastern and central terminals after Khalifa Haftar's forces have blockaded oil exports from Brega, Ras Lanuf, Hariga, Zueitina and Sidra ports. The NOC added that this step will result in a loss of crude oil production of 800,000 pbd and daily financial losses of approximately $55 million per day. "Haftar's General Command and the Petroleum Facilities Guard of the Central and Eastern Regions have instructed the managements of Sirte Oil Company, Harouge Oil Operations, Waha Oil Company, Zueitina Oil Company and Arab Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO), subsidiaries of the National Oil Corporation, to stop oil exports from Brega, Ras Lanuf, Hariga, Zueitina, and Sidra ports." The NOC indicated that the blockade instructions were given by Major General Nagi Al-Moghrabi, the commander of PFG appointed by Haftar's forces, and Colonel Ali al-Jilani from Haftar's Greater Sirte Operations Room. Meanwhile, the spokesman for Khalifa Haftar's forces Ahmed Al-Mismari claimed Friday that those who shut down the oil ports were residents of the Oil Crescent region and they had acted without any connections with the "General Command of the Army".
Source:Libya Observer
January 18, 2020 18:56 UTC
Libya: thousands of children at risk amidst ongoing conflict
As international powers prepare to meet in Berlin on Sunday to discuss the Libyan crisis, UNICEF publishes details concerning the number of children at risk amidst the violence and chaos of the ongoing conflict. By Vatican News“Today, children in Libya are in a dire and untenable situation that the rest of the world should find unacceptable”. Children recruited to fightAccording to the statement, “Indiscriminate attacks in populated areas have caused hundreds of deaths, and UNICEF has received reports of children being maimed or killed. Children are also being recruited to the fighting”, continues the statement, while “more than 150,000 people, 90,000 of whom are children, have been forced to flee their homes”. According to the statement, “These children already had limited access to protection and essential services, so the intensifying conflict has only amplified the risks they face”.
Source:Libya Today
January 18, 2020 13:30 UTC
UNICEF urges conflicting parties in Libya to enhance ceasefire for sake of children
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called on the parties to the Libyan conflict to reach a comprehensive and lasting peace agreement for the sake of every child in Libya. The organization said that it had received reports since last April, concerning the maiming, killing, and recruiting of children. It pointed out that the offensive launched against Tripoli had displaced at least 90,000 children and deprived 200,000 of education, as well as destroying the infrastructure on which children depend. The UNICEF urged all warring parties to protect children and stop their recruitment and halt all attacks against civilian infrastructure.
Source:Libya Observer
January 18, 2020 12:22 UTC
Foreign interference must stop in Libya: UN envoy
BERLIN — International players must stop meddling in the Libyan conflict, the UN's special envoy told AFP on Saturday, on the eve of a summit of world powers to try to bring peace to the North African nation. "All foreign interference can provide some aspirin effect in the short term, but Libya needs all foreign interference to stop. Libya has been torn by fighting between rival armed factions since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising killed Muammar Gaddafi and toppled his regime. "We must end this vicious cycle of Libyans calling for the help of foreign powers. Their intervention deepens the divisions among the Libyans," said Salame, noting that the place of international players should be to "help Libyans develop themselves".
Source:Libya Today
January 18, 2020 11:26 UTC
Libya ‘needs foreign interference to stop’: UN envoy
Berlin (AFP) – International players must stop meddling in the Libyan conflict, the UN’s special envoy told AFP on Saturday, on the eve of a summit of world powers to try to bring peace to the North African nation. “All foreign interference can provide some aspirin effect in the short term, but Libya needs all foreign interference to stop. Libya has been torn by fighting between rival armed factions since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi and toppled his regime. “We must end this vicious cycle of Libyans calling for the help of foreign powers. Their intervention deepens the divisions among the Libyans,” said Salame, noting that the place of international players should be to “help Libyans develop themselves”.
Source:Libya Today
January 18, 2020 11:26 UTC
Libya 'needs foreign interference to stop': UN envoy
"All foreign interference can provide some aspirin effect in the short term, but Libya needs all foreign interference to stop. Libya has been torn by fighting between rival armed factions since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi and toppled his regime. More recently, Sarraj's troops in Tripoli have been under attack since April from Haftar's forces, with clashes killing more than 280 civilians and 2,000 fighters and displacing tens of thousands. "We must end this vicious cycle of Libyans calling for the help of foreign powers. Their intervention deepens the divisions among the Libyans," said Salame, noting that the place of international players should be to "help Libyans develop themselves".
Source:Libya Today
January 18, 2020 11:26 UTC
U.N. envoy hopes for, but cannot predict, speedy reopening of Libya oil ports
BERLIN (Reuters) - The United Nations envoy to Libya said on Saturday he hoped but “could not predict” whether eastern oil ports shut ahead of a pending Berlin summit aimed at reaching a truce in Libya would be reopened soon. Envoy for Libya, Ghassan Salame, speaks during a news conference in Tripoli, Libya April 6, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara/File PhotoGhassan Salame said the Berlin summit scheduled for Sunday would likely discuss the closures to avoid them dragging on for weeks or months like previous seizures of facilities. Diplomats see the closures as a power play by the LNA aimed at choking off oil revenue to the internationally recognized Tripoli government. Production in Libya, which was plunged into chaos with the toppling of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, was estimated at 1.3 million bpd last week.
Source:Libya Today
January 18, 2020 11:15 UTC
In search for Libyan cash compensated towards the Sarkozysts
Colonel Gaddafi is gotten during the Elysee Palace by President Nicolas Sarkozy, on December 12, 2007. LAURENT SAZY / DIVERGENCESix years have actually passed considering that the French courts searched the rear spaces of this Sarkozy Republic looking for Libyan cash. With a central concern: performed Libyan frontrunner Muammar Gaddafi finance Nicolas Sarkozy's victorious campaign when you look at the 2007 presidential election? Mediapart recently revealed that Thierry Gaubert, an intermediary long near to Nicolas Sarkozy and friend of Brice Hortefeux, had gotten a transfer of 440,000 euros in February 2006 through the Franco-Lebanese Ziad Takieddine, the key accuser, himself fed by Libyan cash. He is eventually sure that money, the foundation of which includes maybe not already been identified up to now, has grown the expense of Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign.
Source:Libya Today
January 18, 2020 10:18 UTC
UAE ‘unreservedly’ supports Germany efforts to bring peace in Libya
We show you our most important and recent visitors news details UAE ‘unreservedly’ supports Germany efforts to bring peace in Libya in the following articleHind Al Soulia - Riyadh - UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, stressed the joint efforts towards an end to the conflict in Libya. Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday a conference in Berlin on Sunday must try to get a weapons embargo enforced again. Libyan state oil firm warns against export blockadeLibya’s National Oil Company (NOC) warned Friday against threats to block oil exports, the war-torn country’s main income source. The NOC later issued a statement saying it “strongly condemns calls to blockade oil ports ahead of the Berlin Conference on Sunday”. “Shutting down oil exports and production will have far-reaching and predictable consequences.”Its oil sector, which brings in almost all of the state’s revenues, has frequently been the target of attacks.
Source:Libya Today
January 18, 2020 10:07 UTC
After 6 months of her abduction, Canada and EU countries reiterate demands for release of MP Sergiwa
The embassies of 14 European countries as well as Canada have expressed grave concern over the abduction of MP Siham Sergiwa, and reiterated their call for her immediate release. This came in a joint statement marking the six-month anniversary of her disappearance since her abduction by a militia loyal to Haftar in Benghazi. The joint Canadian-European statement called on the relevant authorities to conduct urgent investigations into the disappearance of Sergiwa, and to provide details of its whereabouts, stressing that human rights violations will not go unnoticed and that perpetrators will be held accountable before the law.
Source:Libya Observer
January 18, 2020 09:00 UTC
US says it will push for a permanent ceasefire in Berlin summit
The US State Department has confirmed its support for efforts aimed at achieving a durable ceasefire in Libya, making clear that it would push in this direction during the Berlin conference to be held next Sunday. In a statement, the department confirmed that Foreign Minister, Mike Pompeo, will participate in the Berlin conference. It added that Pompeo will discuss with world leaders the stabilization of the fragile truce between the conflicting parties in Libya and how to maintain the ceasefire. In the same context, a US official said that Pompeo would call for the withdrawal of all external forces and a return to the political process, under the umbrella of the United Nations.
Source:Libya Observer
January 18, 2020 08:48 UTC
UNSMIL reiterates call for the release of MP Sergiwa
The UN mission in Libya has demanded the immediate release of MP Siham Sergiwa, whose fate remains unknown since her abduction last July. The UNSMIL held those whom it described as the "authorities in eastern Libya" responsible for respecting the law, saying that they are obligated to determine her fate and whereabouts. It underscored that it is following closely the incident, describing the kidnapping of Sergiwa as an attempt to silence the voice of one of the most prominent Libyan women and discourage other women from participating in political life, according to the statement.
Source:Libya Observer
January 18, 2020 08:43 UTC
Media sources: Sarraj might not attend Berlin conference
Libya Al-Ahrar channel quoted a source in the Presidential Council (PC) as saying that the PC head, Fayez Al-Sarraj may refrain from going to Berlin, and instead, he would send a delegation from the GNA. The Foreign Ministry has sent a message to the German embassy in Libya, demanding that it is necessary to invite Tunisia and Qatar to the Berlin conference. It explained that the importance of Tunisia comes for being a bordering neighbour country, who have sheltered thousands of Libyan refugees throughout the Libyan conflict, in addition to the common security concerns it shares with Libya. The ministry also stressed the importance of engaging Qatar as well for its support and positive role in the 17th of February Revolution.
Source:Libya Observer
January 18, 2020 08:37 UTC
"There is a great fear in Algeria of the Libyan partition"
How Algeria faces the libyan conflict ", written for the group Small Arms Survey. It is subsequently advisable to not have too energetic an creativeness considering that, rapidly, Algeria can embark on a overseas journey. After a protracted absence, Algeria is orchestrating its return to diplomatic area by the Libyan file. There is, furthermore, a sure opportunism: Libya provides Algeria the chance to face out on the worldwide scene and to be courted there. When they see the separation of Sudan, the Kurdish separatism, the Libyan issues, they’re very afraid that it’ll get up inside Algeria a need for secession.
Source:Libya Today
January 18, 2020 08:26 UTC
France calls for international consensus on Libya peace process
“The next one, two, three decades will be defined by Myanmar’s relationship with China,” said Yangon-based analyst Richard Horsey. Xi will sit down with Suu Kyi and army chief Min Aung Hlaing in separate meetings on Saturday. Ahead of the visit Suu Kyi made a rare appearance in Kachin state on the border with China. Suu Kyi personally defended her nation against accusations of genocide at the UN’s top court last month after a 2017 military crackdown forced 740,000 Rohingya over the border into Bangladesh. Domestically, Suu Kyi needs economic wins as well as diplomatic support as she heads toward elections due at the end of this year.
Source:Libya Today
January 18, 2020 08:26 UTC