“These attacks are in clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions on Libya,” UNSMIL said in a statement issued earlier this morning as the Mission called for an “immediate halt to these attacks.”
- “Libyan oil belongs to all the Libyan people and is the country's economic lifeline,” the statement continued.
According to reports, unknown assailants attacked Libyan oil installations at the Sidra oil terminal on 25 December, igniting three storage tanks and killing more than 20 soldiers in the process.
The Sidra oil terminal lies in the country's critical Oil Crescent area.
In addition, UNSMIL noted, another attack by unidentified gunmen on the same day claimed the lives of an undisclosed number of guards on duty at a power station near the city of Sirte, along the Mediterranean coast.
The attacks are the latest spell of violence to rattle the beleaguered nation following the beginning of its civil war in 2011 which resulted in the ouster of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
In western Libya, in the area of Warshafana, fighting between rival armed groups has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 100 people and injured 500 more in a spell of hostilities that lasted from late August to early October.
At the same time, recent fighting in the neighbouring Nafusa mountains has left 170 people dead. In addition to the casualties, the fighting has also caused a humanitarian crisis with at least 120,000 people forced to flee their homes, resulting in consequent shortages in both food and medical supplies.
Meanwhile, in the eastern city of Benghazi, an uptick in violence has seen 450 people killed since October as residents continue to face shortages in medical care. Moreover, upwards of 15,000 families – some 90,000 people – have been displaced.
- Following the events in Sidra, the UN Mission warned of the environmental and economic consequences as a result of the destruction of the oil facilities, and urged the forces on the ground to cooperate in order to allow the fire crews to extinguish the blaze.
Moreover, it cautioned, the latest escalation of hostilities in the Oil Crescent area not only risks negatively impacting the country's economy but also “further undermines” the ongoing efforts to convene a political dialogue which, in turn, “threatens to further widen the conflict.”
“UNSMIL urges Libya's influential actors to make every effort to bring an end to this senseless cycle of violence,” the statement added.
“The Mission stresses that there can be no winners in the current conflict, and that the continuing violence in the Oil Crescent area, Benghazi and elsewhere in Libya will only deepen the rift among the Libyans and further destroy their country's infrastructure and state institutions.”
[un.org]
27/12/14
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Fires reach fifth oil depot in Libya’s al-Sidra port ...
ReplyDeleteMore storage tanks were ablaze Saturday at one of Libya’s main oil terminals after a rocket attack by Islamist militants, officials said as the U.N. denounced attacks on oil installations.
The rocket was fired on Thursday by militiamen from Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn), a coalition of Islamist fighters.
One oil tank was hit, said the region’s security spokesman Ali al-Hassi, before the fire spread on Friday to two other full tanks at Al-Sidra terminal.
On Saturday the flames engulfed another two storage tanks at al-Sidra, which is in the eastern region known as the “oil crescent” and home to other key terminals, he said.............http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/12/28/Fires-reach-fifth-oil-depot-in-Libya-port.html
28/12/14