EU worried over eastern oil terminal blockades
By Callum Paton.
Tripoli, 12 January 2014:
The EU delegation in Libya has called on groups involved in blockades of eastern oil terminals to avoid obstructing the country’s economic development through “unlawful actions”.
Speaking in Brussels. Michael Mann, the spokesman for EU High Representative for foreign affairs Baroness Ashton said on Friday that the EU was concerned about the use of force by armed groups against state institutions, including the illegal seizure of energy facilities. He said that the EU had noted the declaration of a Cyrenaican government . It hoped that these issues could be resolved peacefully.
Mann added that current constitutional drafting processes should provide a framework to discuss problems, including the degree of autonomy of the different regions and the distribution of the income from the country’s natural resources.
The EU delegation in Libya said today: ”We continue to encourage the Libyan authorities and relevant stakeholders to resolve their differences peacefully, through dialogue and compromise and to the benefit of the whole of Libyan society.”
An official at the EU’s media office in Tripoli told the Libya Herald that the delegation had had no contact with the Political Bureau of Cyrenaica and only dealt with the democratically elected bodies of Congress and the government. He added that the EU had no plans to recognise an independent Cyrenaica and that Brussels fully respected the Libyan Constitutional Declaration and the transition roadmap which it contains.
The EU delegation in Libya reiterated its support for the country “along its path to democracy, stability, security and prosperity”. It urged “all political actors and stakeholders to reach a consensual political settlement that sets the transition process back on track”.
GNC wants new PM agreed before it will vote on Zeidan
By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 12 January 2014:
It appears that the General National Congress is not prepared to hold a vote of confidence in prime minister Ali Zeidan, unless it has already agreed on someone to replace him.
The GNC today suspended its sitting, to allow independent members and political blocs more time to discuss the no-confidence vote.
“No solutions have been reached yet” independent congressman, Ali Refai Zubi, told the Libya Herald.” Zubi emphasised what appears to be the widely-held view that if a no-confidence voted succeeded, a new premier should already have been agreed.
“It is important to replace Zeidan at the same time as a vote of no-confidence, to ensure that the country is not put into a political vacuum,” he said, adding that the GNC had scheduled sittings on Tuesday and Wednesday to make up for the loss of today’s proceedings.
Congress may hold extraordinary sitting to discuss Zeidan
By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 9 January 2014:
The General National Congress (GNC) may hold an extraordinary sitting today to discuss a vote of no-confidence in Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, according to GNC Spokesman Omar Hemidan.
While such a session was unlikely, Hemidan said, meetings between different GNC groups continued yesterday as Congress discussed withdrawing support from Zeidan behind closed doors.
“There is a ten percent possibility that there will be an extra sitting today, as meetings amongst the independents and political blocs are still underway,” Hemidan told the Libya Herald. It was more likely that Congress would make a decision by Sunday and a discussion would be held then, he said. Hemidan added that most members of Congress were today returning to their constituencies for the weekend.
A vote of no-confidence in Zeidan was expected on Tuesday but the session was cancelled. Later that day around 100 people staged a protest outside the GNC demanding Zeidan’s removal.
A Benghazi Congressman, who did not wish to be named, told the Libya Herald that, on Tuesday, there was agreement among sufficient Congress members to pass a vote of no-confidence against Zeidan.
He added, however, that it was agreed that this should only be done when a suitable replacement was found. Congress, he said, knew it had to avoid the chaos that could result in the absence of a prime minister.
Zeidan warns tankers not to attempt to access eastern oil export terminals
By Ahmed Elumami.
Zeidan speaking at yesterday’s press conference
Tripoli, 9 January 2014:
Pime Minister Ali Zeidan has warned foreign oil tankers not to try to access eastern oil export terminals controlled by armed protesters, saying that any ships so doing would be targeted by the Libyan Navy.
Zeidan, speaking at yesterday’s press conference, said the Navy would use force against any “state, company, or gang” trying to send tankers to load oil from terminals controlled by the armed protesters.
On Monday the Libyan Navy intercepted the Maltese-flagged oil tanker, the Baku, when it tried to illegally enter Libyan waters near Sidra oil export terminal. Zeidan said that the Maltese Ambassador to Libya, Mannie Gallea, had assured the Libyan authorities that Malta would cooperate fully with them regarding the incident.
Naval forces also detained Lebanese cargo ship the Alexandra near Tobruk on Wednesday. The ship was released after it was established that it had entered Libyan waters to shelter from bad weather.
Zeidan announces cabinet reshuffle
By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 8 January 2014:
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has announced a cabinet reshuffle in the next two weeks, saying that a number of ministers no longer felt comfortable in their posts.
Zeidan told reporters at today’s press conference that as long as the General National Congress (GNC) did not pass a vote of no-confidence against him, there would be changes to a number of ministerial posts including in the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry for Local Government. He stressed that cabinet positions would remain in the hands of technocrats and independents.
Zeidan lashed out at critics, saying they were hampering its work. Defending his government, Zeidan pointed to a number of recent successes, including registration for upcoming elections for the 60 Committee and the issuing of electronic passports, both of which have been managed through the national ID number database.
The Prime Minister added that the government had already started to rebuild the police and army in terms of recruitment and through training abroad. He said there were currently 400 trainees in Turkey, with a further 400 new recruits soon heading to Italy. As many as 3,000 recruits would be trained in Turkey and another 2,400 would go to Britain, he added.
As part of the press conference, a number of government ministers also listed the achievements of their respective ministries over the last six months.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-08/libya-warns-oil-tankers-closed-ports-will-be-destroyed
Libya Warns: Oil Tankers At Closed Ports "Will Be Destroyed"
Armed groups, demanding autonomy for eastern Libya, have invited foreign companies to buy oil from ports they have seized in defiance of the central government in Tripoli. As Reuters reports, "If a ship docks in one of the closed ports," warned Libya's defense ministry, "then we will destroy it," but the group, led by tribal leader and 2011 civil war hero Ibrahim Jathran, shrugged off Tripoli’s warning, stating "we welcome global oil companies ... The oil security guards will guarantee the safety of tankers." The development adds to an air of chaos as the weak Tripoli government struggles to rein in the armed groups that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but which kept their guns and are now demanding political power and a bigger share of the country’s oil wealth.
Via gCaptain (Reuters),
Armed groups demanding autonomy for eastern Libya have invited foreign companies to buy oil from ports they have seized in defiance of the central government in Tripoli.
In an announcement on Tuesday, they also pledged to protect tankers loading crude, after the Libyan defence ministry said it would destroy vessels using ports in the east, which are under control of the protesters linked to a self-proclaimed regional government....On Monday, the Libyan navy said it fired warning shots at a tanker trying to load oil at the eastern port of Es-Sider, which was seized with two other terminals by the autonomy group in August. The three harbours accounted previously for 600,000 barrels a day.
But the group, led by tribal leader and 2011 civil war hero Ibrahim Jathran, shrugged off Tripoli’s warning by inviting foreign companies to buy eastern oil...."We welcome global oil companies ... The oil security guards will guarantee the safety of tankers,” said Abd-Rabbo al-Barassi, prime minister of Jathran’s self-declared government in the eastern Cyrenaica region.Workers at the seized ports had returned to work, he said. A newly founded oil company called Libya Oil and Gas Corp would be dealing with potential buyers. A new army and coast guard, made up of Jathran’s battle-hardened fighters, would secure the ports.
Libya’s defence ministry had earlier warned potential buyers against any docking at the seized ports. “If a ship docks in one of the closed ports, and it does not leave the port again, then we will destroy it,” said Defence Ministry spokesman Said Abdul Razig al-Shbahi.The risks of an escalation were clear over the weekend when the Libyan navy said it opened fire on a vessel trying to reach Es-Sider before the tanker, Baku, turned back to Malta....The confrontation has raised worries that Libya, also struggling with Islamist militias and armed tribesmen, might break apart as Cyrenaica and the southern Fezzan region demand political autonomy.
Protestors besiege Congress demanding it sack the Prime Minister
By Ahmed Elumami.
The Prime Minister at Congress when he was appointed
Tripoli, 7 January 2014:
The General National Congress was blockaded this afternoon by protestors demanding that it pass a vote withdrawing confidence in Prime Minister Ali Zeidan. Members were prevented leaving by the protestors – estimated at around 100 – unless they voted to sack Zeidan.
The situation was chaotic. Some members who had left the building after the morning session were called back. Others were prevented from returning, ensuring that there were insufficient numbers to vote on any withdrawal motion. For one to succeed, 120 members must vote in favour.
In any event, the evening session, at which Zeidan’s tenure had been due to be discussed, was cancelled. Instead, members in the building were left negotiating an end to the standoff with the protestors, who were unarmed.
No one was hurt in the action.
Independent Congressman Sulaiman Mabrouk Al-Haj who represents Al-Jmail told the Libya Herald that the protestors had moved to the building after he and other members had left for a meeting at the Prime Ministers’ office.
“We had finished the first sitting and then went out for a meeting at the Prime Ministry but then we were shocked to hear that a group of protesters – they were almost 100 – had beseiged the headquarters of Congress.” He said that he and others returned but then the protestors would not allow him to take his car from the Congress car park.
It has been reported by some elements in the Libyan media that the protesters are linked to the movement that supported the Political Isolation Law which Congress voted for last May. Similar direct action to pressurise it into passing the law was used at the time.
However, a member of the group that coordinated support for the Isolation Law, Jamal Zubia, told the Libya Herald that the claims were untrue.
Today’s protesters, he said, were from towns and cities from across Libya “who had enough of the poor performance of the government and the Congress”.
The action was not wholly unexpected. The Libyan Revolutionaries Operations Room had given Congress an ultimatum about sacking Zeidan and last week, in a carbon copy of the tactics used to force the Political Isolation Law vote, a group calling itself the “Honourable People of Libya” seized the Foreign Ministry building demanding that Congress remove Zeidan.
There has also been a growing head of steam among Congress members to remove him. Last month, 72 of them tabled a motion to withdraw confidence in the government and to form a crisis administration.
“Try Zeidan before he runs away” – a poster at Congress
There was wide public expectation, in fact, that there would be a vote on Sunday. In the event it did not happen. Instead, Congress asked its various committees to discuss the matter and report back today.
At this morning’s sitting, the various political groups and the independents were given time to discuss a withdrawal of confidence, the plan being that at the evening session there would be a fuller debate on the performance of the Prime Minister and government, with suggestions as to who might replace him.
One much-respected Benghazi Congressman who did not want to be named told this paper today that that there was agreement among sufficient Congress members to make a confidence vote effective that Zeidan should go. However, he added, it was also accepted that this should only be done when there was agreement on who would replace him. Congress, he said, knew it had to avoid the chaos that would occur if there were no prime minister.
The problem, he said, was that there was no obvious replacement waiting in the wings.
The Prime Minister has constantly said that he will go if Congress decides to withdraw confidence in him, but not before.
Jadhran hires “ex-Israeli intelligence agent” for $2 million
By Libya Herald staff.
Jadhran’s $2 million consultant Ari Ben-Menashe
Tripoli, 7 January:
Federalist leader Ibrahim Jadhran is aiming to gain recognition from the Russian Federation in his efforts to establish a separate Cyrenaican state.
In a bizarre development in the increasingly critical stand-off between the Zeidan government and eastern federalists, the leader of the self-styled Political Bureau of Cyrenaica, has hired a Canadian-based Israeli lobbyist to present his case in Washington and Moscow.
The one-year engagement, worth $2 million, will see Montreal-based lobbyist Ari Ben-Menashe, who claims to have worked for Israeli intelligence, promoting the recognition of the break-way eastern federalist group. According to Canada’s National Post, which broke the story, Ben-Menashe’s brief also includes pushing the legality of oil sales from eastern export terminals controlled by Jadhran, which means bypassing the National Oil Corporation.
According to documents filed in Washington, Ben-Menashe’s consultancy firm Dickens & Madson (Canada) Inc. is representing four foreign principals: “Cyrenaica Transitional Council, Ibrahim Said al-Jathran, Political Bureau of Cyrenaica, Usama Buera”.
The consultancy agreement, headed “Government of Cyrenaica” included with the filing says that Dickens & Madson will lobby the executive and or legislatures of the Russian Federation and the United States as well as any other governments, organisations or companies that the client may agree on with the lobbyist.
The document goes on to include “security services” along with the media and PR work that the Montreal firm will undertake.
It reads: “ In particular we shall strive, among other goals to gain political recognition for your government from the Russian Federation, to strengthen your military forces by providing you grants for military equipment and training from various governments.”
The agreement continues “In addition we shall strive to provide you with economic aid by soliciting buyers for your oil when the need arises as well as tankers for the transport of oil”.
Dickens & Madson also indicate that if asked, they will provide not simply security advice but regional and international foreign policy guidance “ with the intention of pacifying the region and achieving economic and political ability”.
One part of the agreement, mentioning the account to which the $2 million should be paid, immediately the agreement had been signed, which was 19 December 2013, has been redacted. However, the redaction appears to take up around 14 lines of text, which would appear to exceed the space necessary for merely giving bank account details.
The agreement is signed by Ben-Menashe and for “the government of Cyrenaica” by Osama Buera, “member of the Transitional Council”.
The documents filed with the US Department of Justice are a registration statement under the Foreign Agents Representation Act. Patrick Hughes of Wichita, Kansas lawyers, Adams Jones Law Firm P.A., which made the filing on behalf of Dickens & Madson, told the Libya Herald today that his firm had no other relationship with Ari Ben-Menashe and Dickens & Madson.
The Libya Herald was unable to contact Ibrahim Jadhran for a comment. The number given for Dickens & Madson in Montreal, which is listed as having three employees, appeared to be out of service
Armed Groups In Libya Are Selling The Oil They Seized
REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori
A member of the Libyan army's Thunderbolt Brigade flies the Libyan flag as the army prepares for deployment in Benghazi, November 8, 2013.
In an announcement on Tuesday, they also pledged to protect tankers loading crude, after the Libyan defense ministry said it would destroy vessels using ports in the east, which are under control of the protesters linked to a self-proclaimed regional government.
The development adds to an air of chaos as the weak Tripoli government struggles to rein in the armed groups that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but which kept their guns and are now demanding political power and a bigger share of the country's oil wealth.
The conflict is hurting oil revenues, which fund the OPEC nation's government and the import of wheat and other staple foods. The government has warned it will be unable to pay public salaries if the standoff continues.
On Monday, the Libyan navy said it fired warning shots at a tanker trying to load oil at the eastern port of Es-Sider, which was seized with two other terminals by the autonomy group in August. The three harbors accounted previously for 600,000 barrels a day.
But the group, led by tribal leader and 2011 civil war hero Ibrahim Jathran, shrugged off Tripoli's warning by inviting foreign companies to buy eastern oil.
OIL COMPANIES
"We welcome global oil companies ... The oil security guards will guarantee the safety of tankers," said Abd-Rabbo al-Barassi, prime minister of Jathran's self-declared government in the eastern Cyrenaica region.
Workers at the seized ports had returned to work, he said. A newly founded oil company called Libya Oil and Gas Corp would be dealing with potential buyers. A new army and coast guard, made up of Jathran's battle-hardened fighters, would secure the ports.
Barassi said his group had nothing to do with the tanker shot at by a Libyan navy vessel on Sunday on its way to Es-Sider. Tripoli has said the tanker was intending to load oil at the seized port, but Barassi said this was a "lie."
The confrontation has raised worries that Libya, also struggling with Islamist militias and armed tribesmen, might break apart as Cyrenaica and the southern Fezzan region demand political autonomy.
But Barassi said in a television broadcast that his group had no plans to secede.
He also invited Tripoli to send a delegation to help oversee oil sales. "We assure all Libyans that the sale of oil will be according to the law."
The group is campaigning for a federal state sharing power and oil wealth between Cyrenaica, Tripolitania in the west, and Fezzan, as was the case in the kingdom that preceded Gaddafi's rule. Oil sales were then shared between the regions.
STANDOFF
Libya's defense ministry had earlier warned potential buyers against any docking at the seized ports. "If a ship docks in one of the closed ports, and it does not leave the port again, then we will destroy it," said Defense Ministry spokesman Said Abdul Razig al-Shbahi.
Tribal leaders have sought to negotiate on behalf of the government with the group holding the ports. Those negotiations to have gone nowhere despite pressure from tribal leaders, some of whom look down on Jathran as a warlord leading the country into chaos.
The risks of an escalation were clear over the weekend when the Libyan navy said it opened fire on a vessel trying to reach Es-Sider before the tanker, Baku, turned back to Malta.
The owner of the tanker said on Tuesday the vessel had been in international waters and denied it was involved in trying to smuggle crude oil.
The owner, Palmali, said a Libyan naval vessel fired warning shots even after it provided written confirmation to the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) that it was no longer sailing to Es-Sider.
TRIBESMEN PROTEST
While negotiations with Jathran have failed, they worked elsewhere: Output at the southern government-controlled El Sharara oilfield rose further on Tuesday to over two-thirds of full capacity and a pipeline shipping condensate - very light crude - to a western port reopened.
Talks had ended a protest by tribesmen at El Sharara with production there climbing to 277,000 bpd on Tuesday and expected to reach full capacity of 340,000 bpd by Wednesday. Libya's output was over 1 million bpd in July before the strikes started.
"I think if we keep up at this level we will reach capacity by tomorrow," NOC spokesman, Mohamed al-Harari, said.
Protesters, who had blockaded the El Sharara field for two months, had been calling for the establishment of a local council and the granting of national identity cards for tribesmen from the Tuareg minority.
The pipeline carrying condensates from Wafa oilfield to Mellitah port, jointly operated by Italy's ENI in the west, has also been reopened after protesters briefly blocked the line, with output now at around 30,000 bpd, the NOC said.
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