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By Jamal Adel.
Tripoli, 26 March 2014:
Protestors from Hawamid and the neighbouring village of Takoot in the Jebel Nafusa are . . .[restrict]threatening to close the Ruwais power station because of what they claim is government neglect. Demonstrations started outside the gas-fired plant on Monday and the protestors say they will start a blockade next Monday if there is no response to their demands.
Closure of the power station would result in a replay of last December’s major power cuts in Tripoli.
“Hawamid’s people sought refuge in the Jebel Nafusa and Tunisia during the Libyan uprising of 2011 and as a result our homes were burnt down, our lands vandalised, our property stolen by Qaddafi’s brigades and associates” the head of Hawamid Local council, Al-Hadi Duo, told the Libya Herald.
“When the town was liberated on 28 July, 2011, people started moving back, but things are completely different in the town because of the theft and destruction. We sent made a hundreds of letters to the government asking it to re-build the town and give residents compensation for massive losses of property and possessions,,” he said. “But we’ve seen nothing so far.”
The protestors appear determined. “We had a very difficult times. We were forced to leave the town because of the brutal tyranny of Qaddafi’s brigades. Burt we bore all for the sake of Libya,” one of the protestors at the power station, Fathi Al-Hamidi, told this paper. “Despite all that we’re have been ignored and neglected. The government hasn’t granted us any compensation for our immense losses.”
They had not protested at Ruwais before. “This our first time ever. We’re all very aware of the critical situation that the country is facing, but it seems all our efforts have got nowhere. So we will shut down Ruwais next week if the government doesn’t make a move.”
The Ruwais power station in Jebel Nafusa West of Libya is fired by gas supplied from the Mellitah Company’s Wafa field in the south west of the country. A recent blockade of the pipeline promoted warnings of a shutdown and power outages in Tripoli. However, it is now operating normally.
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