Libya militia groups given 2 weeks to lift oil ports blockade

The Libyan General National Congress (GNC) has given the militia groups controlling Libya’s eastern oil ports two weeks to lift the blockade of crude terminals or face fresh military action.

Nuri Abu Sahmein, the GNC president, said on Wednesday that Tripoli had “decided to give an ultimatum of two weeks at the most” for the militants to end the seizure of Libya’s eastern oil terminals.” The GNC is the highest political authority in Libya.

The Libyan senior official further stated that a military operation to retake the oil terminals was being suspended for the time being.

According to the GNC chief, if the militants refuse to respect the ultimatum, “the decision of the chief of the armed forces (Abu Sahmein himself) will be put into action by the Libyan army.”

Abu Sahmein had earlier ordered an offensive against the militants demanding regional autonomy in the east after they began exporting oil independently in defiance of the central government.

On Tuesday, the Libyan parliament sacked former prime minister, Ali Zeidan, after he failed to stop illegal oil sale by militants. The ex-premier fled to Europe shortly after his ouster.

On March 8, militants at the militant-held port of al-Sidra managed to load oil into a North Korea-flagged tanker, dubbed the Morning Glory, which had docked there without government permission.

Libyan authorities later said they had taken control of the tanker. However, the vessel broke through the naval brigade during inclement weather early on Tuesday.

Tripoli has tried to end a wave of protests at oil ports and fields across the country that has slashed oil output to 230,000 barrels per day (bpd), down from 1.4 million bpd in July.