By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 12 September 2013:
Asked about what action he was going to take against the strikers responsible for stopping Libyan . . .[restrict]oil production, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said that the Public Prosecutor had issued arrest warrants for the leaders of the disruption. “Actions will be announced soon and the state will play its role”. Zeidan refused to give any further details.
If Prime Minister Zeidan’s comment, made at yesterday’s press conference, that the Public Prosecutor has indeed issued arrest warrants against the perpetrators of the armed oil strikes, it would be a major move forward by the Libyan state. Zeidan did not reveal if and how the state was going to enforce such a warrant against armed strikers.
With regards to oil production, Zeidan admitted that “now production is very limited”. When challenged by the media to give a production figure, he said that it was “between 200,000 and 300,000 barrels per day”.
“I talk daily to the GNC head Abu Sahmain several times”, he said indicating that he was acting in concert with the GNC. “We gave enough time for social contact and social communications and we were patient – a bitter patience – and we will give a little more time with the GNC which had created the “crises committee”.
“It (the GNC) is working on all social levels across the nation”, he explained referring to the huge effort by the state to resolve the armed oil stoppages without the use of force or spilling of blood.
“But a time will come when we will abandon this”, Zeidan warned. “I direct my message at the tribes and families to correct mistakes where mistakes have been made”, he added appealing to tribal and family elders to intervene.
“The state must play its role”, Zeidan stressed and “all must pardon us (repeated three times for stress) for what will do”, he said giving the impression that the state may take forceful action. “We cannot leave Libya’s fate in the wind. We must take action”, he added.
Giving the matter an international angle, Zeidan added that Libya’s “allies are in contact with us and assured their support to Libya. But we are not alone in the world. We have states and interests behind us”, he said ominously.
“They will not leave Libya to those who take inconsiderate actions. I hope we achieve this without much loss and pain” he concluded in a veiled threat of possible foreign intervention or the spilling of blood. [/restrict]
