Without unity government, Libya is going down to more havoc

News.UK

LIBYA will fall further into chaos if its factions fail to quickly form a unity government, the head of the state oil company has warned.

The divided country has rejected a plan to accept a United Nations-backed plan to resolve its political crisis.

And Mustafa Sanalla yesterday said there will be “neither security nor stability” without a single government.

He added: “This vacuum will permit the other terrorist group and extremist groups to step in.”

The appeal came a week after officials from Libya’s rival factions announced they would attempt to create a government of unity.

The country has been engulfed in chaos since the 2011 death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Libya’s two factions – the Islamist one in the capital, Tripoli, and the internationally backed one in the eastern part of the country – are backed by its own fighters.

Speaking after a conference at Chatham House, Sanalla said: “This problem in Libya, it is not so sophisticated.

“We have two factions in Libya. They are not looking [out] for the interests of Libya, unfortunately”

Mustafa Sanalla

“We have two factions in Libya. They are not looking [out] for the interests of Libya, unfortunately.”

The troubles also mean extremists such as Islamic State are gaining strength in Libya.

Depraved ISIS militants have been attacking Libyan oil facilities since the start of the year.

Sanalla claimed the terror group, which already controls vast swathes of Syria and Iraq, wants to disable the facilities rather than hold them.

His $68 billion estimate of lost production and exports since 2013 does not include damage and losses from the fire at the big port of Ras Lanuf last week or to any other facilities.

But he levelled his most harsh criticisms at the Petroleum Facilities Guard, the force that is meant to protect oil facilities.

He said the 27,000 member force was more of a hindrance than an asset to keeping such sites secure.

He demanded that the guards be incorporated into a professional and unified structure Islamic State will “attack and destroy more facilities”.