By Libya Herald reporter.
Derna, 21 July 2015:
Faced with a crippling fuel shortage in the town, members of the Shoura Council of Mujahideen . . .[restrict]in Derna (SCMD) have opted to become truck drivers.
Fuel truck drivers from the state-owned distribution operation, Brega Marketing Company, have been refusing to go to the town. They are afraid of sniper fire and random rocket attacks from Islamic State (IS) fighters in the hills around Derna.
To surmount the problem, the SCMD has now struck a deal with the drivers. They now meet at a point outside the town, beyond the range of IS gunmen and take over the tankers. They then drive them, with an armed escort, into Derna when they unload the cargo and then return the empty tankers to the drivers at the arranged meeting point.
The scheme, which was agreed last week has, so far, resulted in two deliveries to the town.
Ironically, while Derna was controlled by the Islamic State, fuel was generally available because Brega Marketing Company continued to send in petrol tankers to supply the fuel stations and no one attacked them – at least not the trucks.
In early January Libyan National Army (LNA) aircraft hit a Greek oil tanker delivering fuel to Derna’s power and desalination plants. Two people were killed. The LNA later claimed that the tanker’s movements had been “suspicious”.
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