Huge blaze out of control in Tripoli battle as Libya slides into chaos
Mon Jul 28, 2014 3:40pm GMT
By Patrick Markey and Aziz El Yaakoubi
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A huge fuel depot in Libya's capital burned out of
control on Monday, set ablaze in fighting between rival militias that has
driven the country to chaos three years after the NATO-backed revolt that
toppled Muammar Gaddafi.
Combat over control of the nearby airport forced firefighters to withdraw,
abandoning their attempts to extinguish the blaze ignited by a missile
strike that hit millions of litres of fuel.
Foreign governments have looked on powerless as anarchy sweeps across the
North African oil producer. Western countries have urged their nationals to
leave, shut their embassies and pulled diplomats out, after two weeks of
clashes among rival factions of former rebels killed nearly 160 people in
Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi.
The Netherlands, the Philippines and Austria on Monday prepared to evacuate
diplomatic staff. The United States, United Nations and Turkish embassies
have already shut operations after the worst violence since the 2011
uprising.
Two rival brigades of former rebels fighting for control of Tripoli
International Airport have pounded each other's positions with Grad rockets,
artillery fire and cannons for two weeks, turning the south of the capital
into a battlefield.
"It is out of control. The second tank has been hit and the firefighters
have withdrawn from the site as the fighting has resumed in the area," said
Mohamed Al-Harrai, a spokesman for the national oil company said of the
blaze, which choked the sky above the city with black smoke.
In the three messy years since the fall of Gaddafi, Libya's fragile
government and fledging army have been unable to control heavily armed
former anti-Gaddafi fighters, who refuse to hand over weapons and continue
to rule the streets.
Libya has appealed for international help to stop the country from becoming
a failed state. Western partners fear chaos spilling across borders with
arms smugglers and militants already profiting from the turmoil.
After the U.S. evacuation, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the
"free-wheeling militia violence" had been a real risk for American diplomats
on the ground, and called for an end to the violence. U.S. ambassador Chris
Stevens was killed by militants along with three others in Benghazi in
September 2012. In neighbouring Egypt, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has
repeatedly warned about militants capitalising on Libya's chaos to set up
bases along their mutual frontier.
PALL OF SMOKE OVER TRIPOLI
Libya's government has asked for international help to try to contain the
disaster at the fuel depot on the airport road, close to other tanks holding
gas and diesel.
The conflict has forced Tripoli International Airport to shut down.
Airliners were reduced to smouldering hulks on the tarmac and the aviation
control centre was knocked out.
"This crisis is causing lots of confusion, lots of foreigners are leaving
and diplomats are also departing through here," said Salah Qahdrah, security
controller at Mitiga air base, now a secondary airport operating limited
flights.
Monday was the start of Eid el-Fitr festivities to mark the end of the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and fighting had eased in the morning. But
fuel supplies were growing scarce in the capital with power cuts
increasingly frequent.
The health ministry said on Sunday nearly 160 people had been killed in
fighting in Tripoli and in Benghazi where regular forces and militias have
clashed in open street battles with Islamist militants entrenched there.
WARPLANES, ATTEMPTED HIJACKING
With Libyan security deteriorating, the United States evacuated its embassy
in Tripoli on Saturday, spiriting diplomats across the border into Tunisia
under heavy military guard including warplanes and a Marine escort.
A British embassy convoy leaving by road for Tunisia came under gunfire in
an apparent attempted hijacking on Sunday outside Tripoli as it headed to
the border. There were no injuries, but one of its armoured vehicles was
damaged.
The Italian embassy has helped 100 citizens and other nationals leave by
road or by military aircraft, foreign ministry officials said, while the
Dutch embassy was preparing to temporarily close with the departure of its
last citizens.
Austria and the Philippines were also down to basic staffing on Monday, with
Manila urging its nationals to evacuate "before all routes and options
become extremely difficult."
Libya's government and special envoys from the United States, the United
Nations and European countries on Saturday pushed for a cease-fire and a
political deal within the newly elected parliament due to begin sessions in
August.
"We have been working to try and improve the situation in Libya through the
work of our special envoy alongside the U.S. special envoy, to try and get
more of a dialogue going," British Prime Minister David Cameron's
spokeswoman said.
Since Gaddafi's demise, Libya has struggled to keep its transition to
democracy on track, with its parliament deadlocked by infighting among
factions and militias often using threats of force against political rivals.
FACTIONS, TRIBES AND OIL
Former fighters have repeatedly stormed parliament and taken over
ministries. One former rebel commander working for the state mutinied and
blockaded oil ports for nearly a year to demand more autonomy for his
eastern region.
Libya's oil production was at 500,000 barrels per day last week, down
slightly from previous levels when output had begun to recover following the
end of the port blockade. Oil ministry officials on Monday declined to give
updates on output.
Production was more than three times as high before the civil war that
toppled Gaddafi. The desert country depends almost entirely on oil exports
to feed and employ its population of around 6 million people.
Thousands of ex-rebels have been put on the state payroll as semi-official
security forces in an attempt to co-opt them, while others have joined the
nascent armed forces.
But often their loyalties are stronger to region, tribe or faction. Fighting
now involves two loose confederations of armed factions and their political
allies in Tripoli and Benghazi, whose deepening standoff is shaping Libya's
transition.
In Tripoli, on one side are troops from the western town of Zintan and their
allies the Qaaqaa and al-Sawaiq brigades, who include some former Gaddafi
troops who rebelled in 2011. They have controlled the airport since the fall
of the capital.
Against them are ranged various Islamist-leaning militias allied to the port
city of Misrata, which is closer to the Muslim Brotherhood movement in
Libya. Those militia have now dug in a few kilometres from the airport.
In Benghazi, regular special forces and air force units have joined up with
a renegade former army general who has launched a self-declared war on
Islamist militants in the city. More than 55 people have been killed over
the last week there.
(Additional reporting by William James, Georgina Prodhan, Anthony Deutsch
and Paul Day; Editing by Peter Millership and Peter Graff)