News impacting the oil sector....
http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/07/03/oil-disputes-costing-libya-50-million-a-day-congress-energy-committee-chairman/
Political news.....
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Jul-04/222474-libya-starts-facing-up-to-gadhafi-regimes-torture-sex-crimes.ashx#axzz2Y2CHbcmJ
Libya starts facing up to Gadhafi regime’s torture, sex crimesJuly 04, 2013 12:35 AMBy Jessica Donati
http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/07/02/interior-ministry-besieged-by-hundreds-of-armed-men/
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian | Reuters – Mon, Jul 1, 2013
http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/07/03/oil-disputes-costing-libya-50-million-a-day-congress-energy-committee-chairman/
Oil disputes costing Libya $50 million a day: Congress Energy Committee Chairman
By Hadi Fornaji.
Tripoli, 3 July, 2013:
Libya is losing $50 million a day because of industrial action at oil sites according to the Chairman of the General National Congress’ Energy Committee, Naji Al-Mukhtar.
The figure equates to around half a million barrels a day (b/d) but is lower than that reported by some government and oil company officials who have claimed that production is down from 1.6 million b/d earlier this year to just under a million b/d now. Other officials, however, put current production at 1.16 million b/d.
Over the past several months there have been shutdowns and blockades at a number of oilfields and facilities, in some cases over pay and conditions, in others over the absence of local employees and yet others over whom should be providing security.
At present, the Fil (Elephant) field west of Murzuk, operated by Mellitah Oil and with a capacity of 130,000 barrels a day is not producing as a result of a blockade by demonstrators, mainly Tebus, demanding more money, better conditions and jobs for locals. Staff have been pulled out by Italy’s Eni, the joint venture partners.
There are likewise disruptions at the two fields operated by Zueitina Oil
It has also been reported that the Sharara field west of Obari, operated by Akakus Oil, a joint venture between the NOC and Spain’s Repsol and with a capacity of 350,000 b/d, has completely shut down with demands from locals However, an official at Mellitah today told the Libya Herald on conditions of anonymity, that Akakus was known to be producing.
He also said that before it shut down, the Fil field was producing 75,000 b/d, not the 100,000 b/d as previously reported, but that production had been stopped for a month.
It has not been possible to verify the claims. Th oil companies are keeping tight lipped about production.
Speaking yesterday to Reuters, however, Congress’ Energy Committee Chairman warned that the unrest in the oil fields could see further losses in revenue as well as customers.
and......
http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/07/01/more-strikes-plague-oil-production/
More strikes plague oil production
By Hadi Fornaji.
Tripoli, 1 July 2013:
Libya’s oil production, which the National Oil Company admitted last month is now running below a million barrels a day, suffered further disruptions today when workers at two fields operated by the Zuetina oil company went on strike demanding management changes.
At its post-revolution high, Libya oil and gas output was running at the equivalent of 1.6 million barrels a day and government sources were speaking of passing the two million figure early next year
Last week it was reported that production from Mellitah Oil’s Elephant (El-Fil) field had stopped completely and that Italian partner ENI had pulled out its staff. At one point this field had been roducing around 130,000 barrels a day. Disputes have also stopped output in the Akakus Oil’s El-Shahara field, near Obari, in which Spain’s Repsol is a partner.
The grounds for the series of disputes that have plagued both oil field and terminal operations in recent months, range from discontent with management, demands for higher wages and calls that more local workers be found jobs, particularly inside refineries.
Political news.....
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Jul-04/222474-libya-starts-facing-up-to-gadhafi-regimes-torture-sex-crimes.ashx#axzz2Y2CHbcmJ
Libya starts facing up to Gadhafi regime’s torture, sex crimesJuly 04, 2013 12:35 AMBy Jessica Donati
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| File - Libyan women with taped mouths take part in a silent march in support of the women who were raped during the recent war in Libya, in Tripoli in this November 26, 2011 file picture. (REUTERS/Mohamed Salem) |
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TRIPOLI: The young woman introduced as “The Revolutionary” was breaking a taboo in Libya by speaking out about how she and other women had been raped by Moammar Gadhafi’s men in the early months of the uprising. “They arrested me publicly at Nasser University,” she said, recalling how guards in Tripoli came for her and two other young women who expressed support for the revolution that led to Gadhafi’s overthrow.
“They told me, ‘We are only going to take you away for questioning, and then we will bring you back.’”
Instead, she said, a local official told the men: “Take these girls to Mutassim and enjoy them tonight.” Mutassim was one of Gadhafi’s sons and a military commander in the capital; he was later captured and killed.
The two unmarried women were taken away and never seen again. The Revolutionary, who was married and pregnant, was taken to a prison near Tripoli, where she was stripped and raped. She miscarried in prison, she said.
The three victims’ crime had been to criticize Gadhafi in a video clip broadcast on an international television channel. Many people, male and female, were raped as punishment for opposing Gadhafi’s government, but The Revolutionary is one of the few who agreed to talk about her suffering.
In Libya, rape victims are often ostracized, and discussion of the crime remains taboo. There are small signs of change, with the government promising action to help victims, but the issue remains so sensitive that aid groups sometimes hide their efforts to help victims to avoid causing an outcry.
The Revolutionary, a woman in her 20s, spoke on condition of anonymity from behind a black veil, only her eyes showing. With the pain of recollection, her voice gradually rose to a shrill pitch.
“They [our captors] wanted to insult us and to take away our dignity,” she said. “The youngest girl there was 14; the oldest was my mother’s age. The women were stripped and subjected to all kinds of torture.”
The torture included electrocution, she told a conference session attended by Reuters. She gave her account at a hotel in Tripoli as part of an event earlier this year organized by the Libya Initiative, a project that brings together various rights groups to promote healing and a just society in postwar Libya.
“Imagine how many women put up with this. It should be recognized,” she said. “But the country is not paying attention to any of these criminals. Maybe they are outside now, standing guard at checkpoints.”
Campaigners say it is important to acknowledge the crimes committed during Gadhafi’s 42-year rule and the revolution that led to his downfall in 2011. They say the painful process is “necessary for stability and the construction of a society based on truth, justice and democracy.”
Souad Wheidi, an activist creating an archive of the sex crimes committed during the revolution, stood next to The Revolutionary as she addressed the conference, comforting her when the girl broke down.
The activist has campaigned for government action and such efforts appear to be having an effect.
Shortly after the Tripoli meeting, the Libyan prime minister proposed a new law to recognize rape and the need for resources to be allocated to victims as a matter of urgency.
“At last, it is a major victory,” said Wheidi, who is confident the law will be passed. “It will bring huge psychological relief after years of stupid injustice against the many people, both male and female, who have been touched by this reality.”
The victims of rape during Libya’s uprising may number in the hundreds, according to the International Criminal Court, which has collected evidence that forces loyal to Gadhafi used rape as a weapon to spread fear among the opposition.
Of all the crimes committed during Gadhafi’s rule and the revolution, rape is perhaps the most difficult to address because so few are willing to testify about it.
Victims who speak out risk being shunned or even killed by their families. Human Rights Watch notes that even after the war, a number of centers in Libya continue to provide havens for women “for no other reason than that they had been raped, and were then ostracized for ‘staining their family’s honor.’”
Victims are also reluctant to come forward because bringing a charge of rape to a Libyan court may be seen as an admission of having had unlawful sex. A rape claim can even result in the victim being prosecuted.
The prevailing, dismissive attitude to rape is reflected by a government ministry set up to support victims of the civil war; it has never offered any help to rape victims. The ministry said such aid was beyond its remit, which is to search for missing people and support families of those killed in the war.
The head of Libya’s human rights commission, congress member Amina al-Mghirbi, said a draft of a new law to help rape victims was “almost ready.” She added: “It will be approved as soon as possible and contain compensation for treatment as well as settlements.”
In the absence of government support, a number of local groups have pursued their own initiatives. One project is led by Bahiya Kanoun, who escaped during the revolution after she was branded an enemy of Gadhafi for feeding information from the wives of military men to rebels in the east of the country.
Kanoun began working in refugee camps set up in Tunisia, where thousands of other Libyans fled during the fighting. Kanoun’s training in psychology and her Libyan origin put her in the rare position of being able to help rape victims. Clinics at the camps started calling her in regularly.
One of the privileges Libya can afford – thanks to pumping 1.6 million barrels of oil a day – is to send thousands of students to university abroad on higher education scholarships or business courses. Kanoun wants the government to place rape victims in these existing sponsorship programs – without revealing what happened to them to anyone, including their families.
To promote her ideas, Kanoun met Libya’s Minister of Higher Education with a colleague, Maria Nicoletta Giada, who is president of Ara Pacis Initiative, an organization dedicated to conflict prevention and resolution that is backed by the Italian Foreign Ministry. Both women said the minister’s response was encouraging.
But Giada cautioned that the road from promises to implementation on a significant scale would be long. “We will have to see if his words translate into actions,” she said.
In Tripoli, it is still difficult to offer social services to women, much less advertise them. Another group, Phoenix Libya, is experimenting with ways to protect women from violence under the guise of other forms of assistance.
It advertises economic support, like classes in English or marketing, and activities for children. But its underlying aim is to give help to women who either have been, or are, subject to abuse of one form or another – without agitating their husbands or fathers, who may even be the perpetrators.
Women’s rights groups say the attitudes of ordinary men are a greater obstacle to helping women than government inertia in a country where many women have to answer to male relatives.
Amnesty International, along with other international organizations involved in Libya during the eight-month civil war that ended Gadhafi’s 42-year rule, said it had not documented a single case of rape because victims would not speak out.
“We think [multiple rapes] might have happened but do not have any evidence,” said Amnesty International. “Everyone said, this happened, but not in our town. It was in the town next door.”
“They told me, ‘We are only going to take you away for questioning, and then we will bring you back.’”
Instead, she said, a local official told the men: “Take these girls to Mutassim and enjoy them tonight.” Mutassim was one of Gadhafi’s sons and a military commander in the capital; he was later captured and killed.
The two unmarried women were taken away and never seen again. The Revolutionary, who was married and pregnant, was taken to a prison near Tripoli, where she was stripped and raped. She miscarried in prison, she said.
The three victims’ crime had been to criticize Gadhafi in a video clip broadcast on an international television channel. Many people, male and female, were raped as punishment for opposing Gadhafi’s government, but The Revolutionary is one of the few who agreed to talk about her suffering.
In Libya, rape victims are often ostracized, and discussion of the crime remains taboo. There are small signs of change, with the government promising action to help victims, but the issue remains so sensitive that aid groups sometimes hide their efforts to help victims to avoid causing an outcry.
The Revolutionary, a woman in her 20s, spoke on condition of anonymity from behind a black veil, only her eyes showing. With the pain of recollection, her voice gradually rose to a shrill pitch.
“They [our captors] wanted to insult us and to take away our dignity,” she said. “The youngest girl there was 14; the oldest was my mother’s age. The women were stripped and subjected to all kinds of torture.”
The torture included electrocution, she told a conference session attended by Reuters. She gave her account at a hotel in Tripoli as part of an event earlier this year organized by the Libya Initiative, a project that brings together various rights groups to promote healing and a just society in postwar Libya.
“Imagine how many women put up with this. It should be recognized,” she said. “But the country is not paying attention to any of these criminals. Maybe they are outside now, standing guard at checkpoints.”
Campaigners say it is important to acknowledge the crimes committed during Gadhafi’s 42-year rule and the revolution that led to his downfall in 2011. They say the painful process is “necessary for stability and the construction of a society based on truth, justice and democracy.”
Souad Wheidi, an activist creating an archive of the sex crimes committed during the revolution, stood next to The Revolutionary as she addressed the conference, comforting her when the girl broke down.
The activist has campaigned for government action and such efforts appear to be having an effect.
Shortly after the Tripoli meeting, the Libyan prime minister proposed a new law to recognize rape and the need for resources to be allocated to victims as a matter of urgency.
“At last, it is a major victory,” said Wheidi, who is confident the law will be passed. “It will bring huge psychological relief after years of stupid injustice against the many people, both male and female, who have been touched by this reality.”
The victims of rape during Libya’s uprising may number in the hundreds, according to the International Criminal Court, which has collected evidence that forces loyal to Gadhafi used rape as a weapon to spread fear among the opposition.
Of all the crimes committed during Gadhafi’s rule and the revolution, rape is perhaps the most difficult to address because so few are willing to testify about it.
Victims who speak out risk being shunned or even killed by their families. Human Rights Watch notes that even after the war, a number of centers in Libya continue to provide havens for women “for no other reason than that they had been raped, and were then ostracized for ‘staining their family’s honor.’”
Victims are also reluctant to come forward because bringing a charge of rape to a Libyan court may be seen as an admission of having had unlawful sex. A rape claim can even result in the victim being prosecuted.
The prevailing, dismissive attitude to rape is reflected by a government ministry set up to support victims of the civil war; it has never offered any help to rape victims. The ministry said such aid was beyond its remit, which is to search for missing people and support families of those killed in the war.
The head of Libya’s human rights commission, congress member Amina al-Mghirbi, said a draft of a new law to help rape victims was “almost ready.” She added: “It will be approved as soon as possible and contain compensation for treatment as well as settlements.”
In the absence of government support, a number of local groups have pursued their own initiatives. One project is led by Bahiya Kanoun, who escaped during the revolution after she was branded an enemy of Gadhafi for feeding information from the wives of military men to rebels in the east of the country.
Kanoun began working in refugee camps set up in Tunisia, where thousands of other Libyans fled during the fighting. Kanoun’s training in psychology and her Libyan origin put her in the rare position of being able to help rape victims. Clinics at the camps started calling her in regularly.
One of the privileges Libya can afford – thanks to pumping 1.6 million barrels of oil a day – is to send thousands of students to university abroad on higher education scholarships or business courses. Kanoun wants the government to place rape victims in these existing sponsorship programs – without revealing what happened to them to anyone, including their families.
To promote her ideas, Kanoun met Libya’s Minister of Higher Education with a colleague, Maria Nicoletta Giada, who is president of Ara Pacis Initiative, an organization dedicated to conflict prevention and resolution that is backed by the Italian Foreign Ministry. Both women said the minister’s response was encouraging.
But Giada cautioned that the road from promises to implementation on a significant scale would be long. “We will have to see if his words translate into actions,” she said.
In Tripoli, it is still difficult to offer social services to women, much less advertise them. Another group, Phoenix Libya, is experimenting with ways to protect women from violence under the guise of other forms of assistance.
It advertises economic support, like classes in English or marketing, and activities for children. But its underlying aim is to give help to women who either have been, or are, subject to abuse of one form or another – without agitating their husbands or fathers, who may even be the perpetrators.
Women’s rights groups say the attitudes of ordinary men are a greater obstacle to helping women than government inertia in a country where many women have to answer to male relatives.
Amnesty International, along with other international organizations involved in Libya during the eight-month civil war that ended Gadhafi’s 42-year rule, said it had not documented a single case of rape because victims would not speak out.
“We think [multiple rapes] might have happened but do not have any evidence,” said Amnesty International. “Everyone said, this happened, but not in our town. It was in the town next door.”
http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/07/02/interior-ministry-besieged-by-hundreds-of-armed-men/
Interior Ministry besieged by hundreds of armed men
By Ahmed Elumami, Ashraf Abdul Wahab and Umar Khan.
Tripoli, 2 July 2013:
The Ministry of the Interior complex on Tripoli’s Airport Road was surrounded by a group of several hundred heavily-armed men early this evening. It is reported that when the gunmen arrived, firing heavily into the air, guards in the complex withdrew.
There were no staff in the building at the time. The two main entrances were believed to have been blockaded with sand and the Airport Road was closed.
A source at the ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Libya Herald that the identity of the gunmen was unclear, as were their demands. It had been variously reported that they were calling for interior minister Mohamed Al-Sheikh to be removed, because he was not strong enough to lead the ministry; that they should be paid overdue salaries and that Tripoli should be cleared of all armed groups.
The source said that a team from the ministry was being sent to negotiate with the gunmen. However it appears that it may not have arrived before, about four hours later, the armed men withdrew.
There was speculation that because of the strength of their weaponry and vehicles, the attackers may have come from Zintan or from a brigade that identifies itself with the town. It was also reported that the attackers said that they intended to target a separate ministry every night.
In the last 48 hours there has been a series of meetings between different brigades in an effort to keep a lid on the tensions that blew up in the fighting a week ago in Abu Selim and Salah Idden districts of Tripoli. Indeed a normally reliable source told this paper that a meeting of militia leaders was called this evening in Souk Al-Juma, after the investment of the Interior Ministry complex became known. At this gathering, it was agreed that commanders should launch an appeal for restraint by all militias, urging them not to react to the events at the Interior Ministry.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/10119100/South-Africa-to-hand-back-Col-Gaddafis-money.html
6:30PM BST 13 Jun 2013
Pravin Gordhan, the South African finance minister, said he had taken the decision after a meeting with a Libyan government delegation last week.
The agreement they reached is thought to be the first by the Libyans with one of the numerous foreign countries where Col Gaddafi and his family built up an estimated total $80 billion (£51 billion) in assets.
"The repatriation from South Africa of Libyan funds and assets will be handled in terms of United Nations protocols," Mr Gordhan said in a statement.
He said that the Libyans were working with a panel of UN-mandated experts to "coordinate the orderly and transparent repatriation to Libya of assets frozen in various countries".
The dead Libyan leader and his family reportedly hid more than $1bn (£658m) in cash, gold and diamonds in four banks and two security companies in South Africa.
The assets were placed in South Africa by the Libya Investment Authority, the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio and the Libya Africa Investment Company – funds closely controlled by Gaddafi.
Other entities the Gaddafis were said to have invested Libyan money in include part of Cape Town's V&A waterfront, a tourist hotspot, and a string of luxury hotels.
South Africa was opposed to NATO'S military intervention in Libya during the rebel uprising against Gaddafi's regime in 2011.
The veteran leader was captured and killed in October 2011 while he was trying to flee his home town of Sirte.
South Africa is also facing demands to arrest "Gaddafi's banker", Bashir Saleh, who is on Interpol's wanted list. According to a report in South Africa's Times newspaper, Mr Saleh was seen "hobnobbing" with ANC officials at the party's centenary dinner in January 2012 and at the Brics summit in Durban in March this year.
Unusual item of the day......
http://news.yahoo.com/going-underground-libyas-unusual-cave-dwellings-132330367.html
Going underground: Libya's unusual cave dwellings
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian | Reuters – Mon, Jul 1, 2013- Reuters/Reuters - A view of a troglodyte cave house in the western mountain town of Gharyan, 100 km (62 miles) south of Tripoli, June 15, 2013. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
GHARYAN, Libya (Reuters) - Deep inside Libya's western Nafusa Mountains, some 10 meters into the ground, Al-Arabi Belhaj is preparing mint tea in a somewhat unusual dwelling.
Sitting on colorful rugs on the floor and surrounded by clay pots, the 43-year old describes life in what used to be his home - a troglodyte cave house.
"This house was dug out in 1666 and generations of families have lived here. I was born here and there used to be eight families living together," he said as he poured the tea from one pot to another to cool it.
"The women would go to the mountains to get wood and water before we the children would wake up. Then they would make tea together while the men looked after the animals."
Belhaj spent the first 10 years of his life in this home, dug vertically into the ground by his ancestors, who excavated caves around a central squared courtyard. Each room housed a family with cooking areas - smaller caves - used communally.
Decorated with traditional Berber designs - colorful rugs, chests and pottery, each 10 meter-long cave, was split into three sections - the parents' sleeping area, the children's bedding and a living room.
A door made out of olive tree wood at its front, the home provided insulation in winter and allowed its inhabitants to keep cool during hot summers.
"The houses are now unoccupied as the families moved out in 1985," Belhaj's nephew Abdulrahman said. "But we still come here in the summer to cool down."
Gharyan, some 100 kms (62 miles) south of the capital Tripoli, used to have hundreds such homes scattered among its rocky mountains. But many have been abandoned as their inhabitants have moved to more modern houses.
Belhaj and his family maintained theirs and opened it up to tourists several years ago. Before Libya's 2011 war, foreign visitors would sleep in the rooms and eat home-cooked meals - usually couscous - for 100 Libyan dinars ($77).
They now plan to open a hotel next year, excavating more rooms within the caves, in the hope that foreign holiday makers will eventually come back to Libya provided security in the North African country - still awash with weapons - improves.
In the meantime, Belhaj relies on internal tourism.
"Now things have changed, we have more Libyans who are coming to visit," Abdulrahman said.
"They want to see these old traditions."
Keen to learn about the ancestral dwellings, he said families from Tripoli, Benghazi in the east as well as other cities usually visit during the weekend. Seeing such homes for the first time, many take pictures among the traditional rugs, clothing and pots that are laid out around the caves.
Others inspect old shoes that hang on the white walls inside the courtyard, which is decorated with potted plants and accessed via a tunneled passageway.
"We have to learn about our culture," one visitor, who gave his name as Hassan, said as he toured the caves with his young children. "I am so proud when I look at this."
Troglodyte houses can also be found in other towns in the Nafusa mountains and neighboring Tunisia. During Libya's 2011 fighting, many families fled to the caves to escape shelling.
With government plans to boost Libya's oil-dependent revenues via tourism, Belhaj and his family hope their ancestral home can play a role in attracting visitors.
"This is history," Abdulrahman said, of the dwellings.
"If you don't have history, you don't have any future."
(Editing by Paul Casciato)
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