Armed Group Threatens to Blow Up Pipeline that Transmits Libya's Gas to Italy

 Eni's Bouri Offshore oil terminal is seen off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean sea. AP
Eni's Bouri Offshore oil terminal is seen off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean sea. AP
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Armed Group Threatens to Blow Up Pipeline that Transmits Libya's Gas to Italy

 Eni's Bouri Offshore oil terminal is seen off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean sea. AP
Eni's Bouri Offshore oil terminal is seen off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean sea. AP

A Libyan armed group has threatened to blow up the pipeline that transmits gas to Italy within 72 hours, according to the German news agency.

The group, which said it was following officer Ali Kanna, issued Wednesday a videotape next to a gas transmission pipeline from the Libyan south to the industrial Mellitah Complex, which pumps Libyan gas to Italy via the Mediterranean.

It threatened to blow up the gas pipeline within 72 hours if Al-Mabrouk Ehnish, who was arrested by the Special Deterrence Force (SDF), which works under the umbrella of the Government of National Accord (GNA), early this week.

The group showed its ability to shut down or blow up any of the oil and gas transmission pipelines from the oil-rich south of Libya, and it took photos of one of the pipelines with all its meters and shutter valves and released these photos for the government to see them.

On October 16, an armed group dressed in military uniforms has threatened to cut off the water supply to Tripoli from the man-made river water wells in the south if Ehnish was not released.

“If he was not released, we will burn down the man-made river water system, close Tripoli-Sabha road and gas pipelines,” the group, loyal to former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, threatened from inside the control room of the man-made river system in Hasawna.

Notably, Ehnish is one of the leaders of the so-called "Popular Front for Liberation of Libya" that is headed by Gaddafi's henchmen who live abroad.



France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
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France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)

Paris declined to comment on Algeria’s “strong condemnation” of the French government’s decision to recognize Morocco’s claim over the Sahara.

The office of the French Foreign Ministry refused to respond to an AFP request for a comment on the Algeria’s stance.

It did say that further comments could impact the trip Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is set to make to France in late September or early October.

The visit has been postponed on numerous occasions over disagreements between the two countries.

France had explicitly expressed its constant and clear support for the autonomy rule proposal over the Sahara during Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne’s visit to Morocco in February, reported AFP.

The position has helped improve ties between Rabat and Paris.

On Thursday, the Algerian Foreign Ministry expressed “great regret and strong denunciation" about the French government's decision to recognize an autonomy plan for the Western Sahara region "within Moroccan sovereignty”.

Algeria was informed of the decision by France in recent days, an Algerian foreign ministry statement added.

The ministry also said Algeria would draw all the consequences from the decision and hold the French government alone completely responsible.