By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 2 November 2014:
Ibrahim Jadhran, the self-declared head of the Cyrenaica Political Bureau and a former . . .[restrict]rebel commander has said he would “rather stay in jail alongside Abdullah Al-Senussi than broker a deal with Fajr Libya [Operation Dawn]”, claiming he refused advances from the Islamist coalition.
Speaking on Al-Watania channel, Jadhran said he had been contacted by the Dawn forces, which currently control Tripoli and was asked if he would side with the Misrata-led coalition.
For nearly a year, Jadhran’s federalist movement the Cyrenaica Political Bureau crippled national oil production, occupying some eastern oil terminals before a deal was reached with Abdullah Al-Thinni’s previous interim government.
The reopening of the oil ports at Ras Lanuf and Sidra is the principal reason that national oil production has increased in spite of the recent turmoil. The two terminals account for more than half of the country’s 900,000 barrel per day output.
Jadhran’s is a somewhat rehabilitated figure and his Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) has been absorbed into the state’s security services despite the role the self-proclaimed Cyrenaica leader played in the downfall of Thinni’s predecessor Ali Zeidan. Jadhran’s attempts to sell oil from blockaded terminals in March proved one catastrophe too many for the embattled former Prime Minister.
However Jadhran is no friend to Libya Dawn’s Islamist allies to the east and pledged his support to Operation Dignity when Khalifa Hafter began his campaign to rid Benghazi of Islamist forces in May.
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