By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 29 August 2013:
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said that his government will use peaceful social measures to end the . . .[restrict]oil strikes that have crippled Libya’s oil production, but that if this failed it would use all the necessary force at its disposal.
Zeidan claimed that Libya’s oil production was down to about 250,000 barrels – a figure at variation to that given by the Oil Ministry – and “he hoped it would rise in the next few days”.
The Prime Minister said that he had been in “wide contact of all levels of leaders in society in the east” and that the majority have expressed their support for the legitimate state organs. “They reject this”, he stressed, referring to the armed oil strikes.
Zeidan said that most people in the east he had been in contact with “agree that oil production should resume. We will not allow all Libyans’ oil to be stolen and we will not allow this to be repeated again.”
The Prime Minister said that the oil strikes had “taken a political angle”, referring to the members of the Petroleum Facilities Guards (PFG) that are alleged to be at the heart of these strikes. They are also alleged to be federalists wanting to wrestle away control of the exports of oil from the east from the central Tripoli government.
“I have met many of the tribal leaders (in the eastern region)”, claimed Zeidan, “and they are totally against this (the armed oil strikes)”, he explained.
“It (the armed oil strikes) is down to some PFG individuals, not all of the PFG”, Zeidan was at pains to point out. “And they are armed”, he stressed.
“After the February 17th Revolution, arms are spread all over the country”, Zeidan added. “This is part of the post-revolution-order. These are symptoms of that”, he explained. [/restrict]
