Libyan loyalist bid to retake oil ports fails

By Abdelhamid Amrooni

An offensive by fighters loyal to Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) aimed at retaking key eastern oil ports was repelled on Sunday by forces from a rival administration.

The Tripoli-based GNA is the centrepiece of UN efforts to restore stability in Libya and forge a central authority capable of tackling the twin scourges of the Islamic State (IS) group and rampant people trafficking across the Mediterranean to Europe.

But it has struggled to impose its authority amid opposition from a rival administration based in Libya's remote east.

Oil is Libya's key asset, and revenue from crude exports is vital if the GNA is to rebuild an economy and infrastructure ravaged by violence since the 2011 uprising that killed veteran dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Last week, forces led by controversial military strongman Khalifa Haftar seized Ras Lanuf, al-Sidra, Zuwaytina and Brega in the so-called "oil crescent" along the coast.

They later handed the ports over to the National Oil Corporation, which said on Thursday that crude exports would resume "immediately" from Zuwaytina and Ras Lanuf.

The NOC says it is loyal to the GNA, but also to the internationally recognised parliament based in the east that supports Haftar's forces and has refused to give the GNA its vote of confidence.

Early Sunday, pro-GNA forces launched an offensive aimed at retaking al-Sidra and Ras Lanuf, but after several hours of fighting Haftar's forces said they launched a counter-attack and repelled the loyalists.

"We repelled the attack and we are chasing them in the region," said Muftah al-Muqarief, who heads oil guards loyal to Haftar, adding some assailants had been captured.

There was no independent confirmation from the oil crescent region of the fighting and the situation on the ground.

A Haftar spokesman, Mohamad Ibset, said earlier that guards loyal to the GNA had attacked.

And Ali al-Hassi, a spokesman for the loyalist oil guards, said: "We attacked al-Sidra and Ras Lanuf, and Haftar's forces are trying to hit us with their warplanes."

Tanker withdrawn for safety

The counter-attack was a new blow to the unity government and NOC efforts to resume exports.

"We ask the combatants to avoid taking actions that could damage our vital national infrastructure," NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla said.

"Our national recovery depends on these ports being open and our oil flowing freely."

The NOC said Maltese-flagged tanker the Seadelta, which was due to load crude oil at Ras Lanuf for Italy, had to be "withdrawn to a‎ safe distance offshore" because of the fighting.

Meanwhile, firefighters were trying to extinguish a blaze at al-Sidra, where another storage tank already damaged in January fighting was set alight during Sunday's clashes.

Libya, with Africa's largest oil reserves estimated at 48 billion barrels, has exported only a few tankers of crude in recent months.

The GNA, created last year as a UN-brokered power-sharing government, still needs a vote of confidence from the rival parliament based in the east.

Haftar, who sees himself as Libya's saviour after driving militants out of most of second city Benghazi, is the most powerful backer of the rival administration in the east.

Days after the ports fell under his control, the east-based parliament promoted him to field marshal from his previous rank of general.