By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 17 December 2013:
A key congressional committee has given Prime Minister Ali Zeidan one week to find a solution . . .[restrict]to the current stand-off over blockades of eastern oil ports, before sanctioning force to reopen them.
The refusal to reopen oil ports at Sidra, Ras Lanuf and Zueitina on Wednesday by Ibrahim Jadhran, head of the self-styled Political Bureau of Cyrenaica, has been political blow to the Prime Minister. Members of the Congressional Oil and Energy Committee have taken it upon themselves to set the ultimatum.
Sulaiman Ghajam, a member of the committee, confirmed to the Libya Herald that Zeidan had been given seven days to deal with the oil crisis. He added that if the deadline passes and force is used then the Prime Minister will be questioned by congress.
The Ghariyan Revolutionary Council whose 200 members serve in the Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (LROR), has announced in a statement that it will not hesitate to reopen eastern oil terminals. It said it would do so either at the behest of the government or, if needed, on its own initiative, should authorities fail in their responsibilities.
Speaking to this newspaper, the head of Tobruk local council, Faraj Yaseen, said he has doubts over the validity of Jadhran’s claims that oil is being sold illegally without being properly metered. Jadhran has used the accusation to garner support for his federalist movement which he says would properly apportion and monitor oil sales.
Yassen claims the documents Jadhran is holding as evidence date back to 2006 when they were used by the former regime to show the ineffectiveness of a system which has since been changed. Yassen also said he did not think foreign energy companies would buy illegally acquired oil. [/restrict]
