Prime Minister-designate Fayez Al Sarraj has called on Libyan armies throughout the land to join the central state and combat Islamic State’s presence, according to Gulf News. ISIS entered Libya in 2011 after NATO-backed rebels ousted and murdered former leader Muammar Gaddafi. Libya’s economy has since collapsed as various factions compete for power.
Libya’s eastern government defied the wishes of the central government for the first time by selling oil to an oil tanker, according to Reuters. The UN Security Council responded by blacklisting the tanker, and officials fear that the move could spark future unofficial sales that would weaken central state revenues. Oil is the primary income source in Libya, but production has declined due to political instability, security concerns and labor disputes.
Libya’s prime minister Ali Zeidan has promised to act “in a timely manner” to break up protests at several large export terminals and oil fields across the country, after he claimed on Wednesday that the strikes had been costing nearly $130 million a day in lost oil revenue over the past month.
“I won’t let anyone hold Libya and its resources hostage to these groups for long,” the prime minister said, following the announcement of arrest warrants for the leaders of the oil strike.
The killing of four U.S. diplomatic personnel in Libya has exposed the consequences of the Arab uprisings. In Libya, NATO simply didn’t understand or care about the whirlwind that it was unleashing. One can only hope that a similar scenario will not happen in Syria.
Last week, four American diplomats were killed when armed men attacked the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The attackers’ apparent motivation was that someone, apparently American but with an uncertain identity, posted a video on YouTube several months ago that deliberately defamed the Prophet Mohammed.
The deaths of US envoy to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other American diplomats in a rocket attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, has placed a made-in-America, anti-Islamic, amateur film in the global spotlight. But though the movie has been identified by politicians as the root cause of violent anti-U.S. protests across the Arab world, the true reason for the clashes can actually be tied back to past U.S. intervention strategy.
All the deliberations over what military action to take against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya have failed to answer the most fundamental question:
• Is it merely to protect the Libyan population from the government ???
• Or is it intended to fulfill President Obama’s objective declared two weeks ago that Colonel Qaddafi “must leave”?
Forecasting Libya’s economy has in past years been fairly straightforward, since its economy is dominated by oil. Oil contributes 95% of export revenues, 25% of GDP, and 80% of government income.
The 2011 Libyan uprising and resulting civil war have changed things significantly, however.
As of 2010, agriculture constituted 4.2% of the Libyan economy, 60.7% was industrial, and 35.1% was services.
Should Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s remain in power or step down as Libya’s leader?
Thousands of government supporters gathered last night at Martyrs’ Place in the centre of the capital Tripoli following a televised speech by leader Col Muammar al-Gadhafi in which he condemned ongoing anti-government demonstrations across the country –
Gadhafi called on supporters of his regime to attack street protesters and threatened major security operations in the north-eastern cities of Derna (Derna province) and Bayda (Al Jabal al Akhdar province).
