Protesters Partially Shut Libya Oilfield, Demand Unpaid Wages

A general view shows Libya's Sharara oilfield. (File photo: Reuters)
A general view shows Libya's Sharara oilfield. (File photo: Reuters)
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Protesters Partially Shut Libya Oilfield, Demand Unpaid Wages

A general view shows Libya's Sharara oilfield. (File photo: Reuters)
A general view shows Libya's Sharara oilfield. (File photo: Reuters)

Members of the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) in Libya announced that an armed group took control and shut down oil and gas fields in the southwest, demanding their unpaid salaries and other benefits.

In a statement, the protestors said they had granted the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) a 48-hour deadline to meet their demands, but "to no avail."

They noted that head of the GNU Abdulhamid Dbeibeh had ordered authorities to grant them their dues, but nothing happened.

The statement said there was "no adherence" to any of Dbeibeh’s instructions to "consider the situation of the PFG and its members, restore their full rights, and implement the decisions regarding their financial dues."

Members of the PFG lined up in front of the North Hamada field in southern Libya to protest the authorities’ neglect of their legitimate demands.

They said they had held several peaceful protests without sabotaging or violating state property.

Since Libya slid into chaos after the 2014 revolt, various forces have used oil revenues as a "pressure card" against politicians to meet their demands.

The PFG said they were loyal "soldiers to the Libyan people," pointing out that since the Feb. 17 revolution, they had left their jobs and families to "protect the homeland and source of the Libyans' livelihood", including oil and gas fields.

They said they had resorted to the partial closure after having grown "fed up" with the authorities for failing to meet their demands.

Last Tuesday, employees of the Petroleum Facilities Guard at the Zawiya Refinery announced the closure of the refinery and the Mellitah and Misrata oil complexes, demanding their rights, including unpaid salaries and settlements.

They also demanded the implementation of the decision to grant them health insurance, similar to the employees of the National Oil Corporation.

Libya’s oil production will once again fall victim to the cycle of "partial closure" if the Petroleum Facilities Guard continue the shutdown.

On Jan. 3, "Youth and Women in Fezzan" protesters shut down the Sharara oilfield, forcing the National Oil Corporation (NOC) to declare force majeure.

It lifted the "force majeure" on Jan. 23 and announced the resumption of production.



UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
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UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)

More than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad on Dec. 8, including 800,000 people displaced inside the country and 280,000 refugees who came back from abroad, the UN said on Tuesday.

“Since the fall of the regime in Syria, we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.

“Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!” he said.

Last January, the UN's high commissioner for refugees urged the international community to back Syria's reconstruction efforts to facilitate the return of millions of refugees.

“Lift the sanctions, open up space for reconstruction. If we don't do it now at the beginning of the transition, we waste a lot of time,” Grandi told a press conference in Ankara, after returning from a trip in Lebanon and Syria.

At a meeting in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Türkiye, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to “work together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria.”

The meeting's final statement also pledged support for Syria's new authorities in the fight against “all forms of terrorism and extremism.”

Meanwhile, AFP reported on Tuesday that displaced people are returning to their neighborhoods in Homs, where rebels first took up arms to fight Assad's crackdown on protests in 2011, only to find them in ruins.

In Homs, the Syrian military had besieged and bombarded opposition areas such as Baba Amr, where US journalist Marie Colvin was killed in a bombing in 2012.

“The house is burned down, there are no windows, no electricity,” said Duaa Turki at her dilapidated home in Khaldiyeh neighborhood.

“We removed the rubble, laid a carpet” and moved in, said the 30-year-old mother of four.

“Despite the destruction, we're happy to be back. This is our neighborhood and our land.”

Duaa’s husband spends his days looking for a job, she said, while they hope humanitarian workers begin distributing aid to help the family survive.