Evacuation plan in place as trouble brews in eastern Libya

Malta and other countries have an emergency evacuation plan in place if the situation in Libya takes a turn for the worse, Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella said. 

Asked whether his ministry is in contact with third countries, over the possible evacuation of oil field workers in the troubled east Libya, Vella said, “It cannot be denied that ongoing contacts do not exist between Malta and other interested countries about an emergency evacuation plan which would come immediately into action when the need arises”.

MaltaToday is informed that a number of Maltese citizens who work in the oil fields in eastern Libya have been put on alert as earlier this month, up to 12 French nationals were evacuated from the area over security fears.

However, Vella categorically denied that the ministry received any requests for the evacuation of Maltese citizens working in eastern Libya.

The evacuation follows the murder of a French engineer in the eastern city of Benghazi and the capture of a North Korea-flagged tanker that had been loaded with crude oil at a rebel-held port in eastern Libya by US Navy Seals.

The operation to take control of the oil tanker took place a week after the Libyan government failed to prevent the vessel from leaving the rebel-controlled eastern port and Libya’s largest oil depot in Es Sider, loaded with an estimated €14.3 million cargo, in a crisis that has brought the country to the brink of civil war.

Fearing retribution from Libyan rebels, foreigners working in oil rich eastern Libya were put on maximum alert and were readying themselves for a swift exit from the country.

Sources told MaltaToday that a number of Maltese workers who were expected to return to work in Libya earlier this week were advised to postpone their return until further notice.

The foreign affairs minister also confirmed that following the evacuation of Joe Pitotta, the Maltese consul in Benghazi, late last year, the consulate was being operated by “locally engaged persons”.

Vella said that the consulate of Benghazi was still working “by making use of locally engaged persons who file applications for visa by interested persons and pass them on for subsequent consideration and decision re-approval or otherwise to Tripoli embassy and then to Malta”.

In October, Malta’s consul in Benghazi, Joe Pirotta, was evacuated and brought to Malta after threats by unknown sources were sent to the Maltese diplomatic mission.

However, the Maltese government has not divulged information on the nature and the source of the threats and the reason behind them.

The Islamist insurgency

The weak central administration in Tripoli has been fighting a bloody battle on two separate fronts in eastern Libya.

On the one hand, the government is facing an uphill struggle to regain control of the oil-rich territory which is under control of defiant militia groups, while on the other it faces another fierce battle against Islamist groups. 

Benghazi, the principal city of eastern Libya, is one of Libya’s major economic centres, however since the end of the revolution which overthrew Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, it has been plagued by violence and instability. 

The coastal city, where many people demand autonomy from Tripoli, has seen a string of attacks on foreign embassies and companies as well as assassinations of army and police officers.

Benghazi has become a regional hub for Islamist extremists seeking to hone their combat skills, with hundreds of fighters from Syria, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan and Nigeria all thought to receive training in the city.

For months, armed forces loyal to the Tripoli government have been battling militants from hardline Islamist groups such as Ansar al Sharia, listed as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US.

The Salafist group advocates the implementation of strict Sharia law across Libya and has been behind a series of violent attacks on foreigners and forces loyal to the Tripoli administration, which the jihadists hold as un-Islamic.

This week, a powerful car bomb attack targeted a military academy in Benghazi, killing at least eight people and wounding more than a dozen.

In a separate explosion a few hours later, a man was killed when another car bomb went off near the state oil firm Brega Petroleum Marketing Co, which sells fuel products inside Libya.

Most countries have closed their consulates in Benghazi and a number of airlines have stopped flying to the city following the murder of the American ambassador by Islamist insurgents two years ago.

In September 2012, the US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and four other Americans were killed during a series of raids on the US Diplomatic Mission by around 150 heavily-armed men. 

More recently, police found seven Egyptian Christians shot dead execution-style on a beach outside Benghazi, home to several oil firms. An American schoolteacher was also killed by gunmen in December.

Following the series of deadly attacks in Benghazi and other parts of eastern Libya, justice minister Salah Marghani said, “It is about time for Libyans to declare war on terrorists who have been killing Libyans and foreigners in the cities of Benghazi and Derna in eastern Libya.”

Admitting the state’s incapability to carry out a simple crime investigation, the justice minister’s words exposed the government’s helplessness in dealing with the armed rebels and militiamen.

Yet, an angry Marghani said: “The Libyans must decide if they want a state or they want warlords.”

Oil militias

Three years after the uprising, which overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, Libya still suffers from militia violence and an ailing economy, with the government struggling to maintain control over much of the vast country.

On 11 March, Libya’s parliament removed Zeidan after rebels holding three key ports in eastern Libya disobeyed government orders and let shipments be handled by the state-run National Oil Corporation.

Ibrahim Jadhran, the self-styled leader of the federalists occupying the eastern ports, accused Zeidan’s government of trying to bribe him with 30 million Libyan Dinars (€17.2 million) to end the blockade in September last year.

Yesterday, Libyan troops fought with rebels occupying oil ports in the east. Anti-aircraft gunfire and explosions were heard late Friday night and again after dawn on Saturday in Ajdabiya, the hometown of rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran, outside Benghazi.

Following Zeidan’s removal, the interim government gave Jathran a two-week deadline to end a blockade of three oil ports or face a military assault.

Jathran’s movement seized three eastern oil ports and is demanding regional autonomy and a greater share of oil wealth, pushing the country closer to the growing possibility of partition.