Libyan Parliamentarian Blames UK, Italy for Attacks on Oil Fields in the East

Sputnik News

17:43 09.03.2017

On Tuesday, the Libyan parliament situated in the country's eastern city of Tobruk voted to withdraw from a unity government agreement following the attacks on the country's main oil-production area in the east. Parliamentarian Tarik al-Jarushi told Sputnik Arabic which European countries were behind these attacks and why.

The legislative body denounced the UN-brokered deal signed in the Moroccan city of Skhirat on December 17, 2015, which stipulated the creation of the State Council and the Government of National Accord (GNA).

The move came in response to attacks on the country's main oil-production area in the east spearheaded by the Benghazi Defense Brigades, a coalition of mostly Islamist militias and armed groups.

Libya's oil-exporting region is bitterly contested between the country's UN-backed Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and the rival Tobruk-based House of Representatives parliament. It used to be under the control of General Khalifa Haftar, who leads the Libyan National Army (LNA) in the east of the country and is a close ally of the Tobruk-based administration.

Sputnik Arabic spoke to Tarik al-Jarushi the head of the Tobruk-based parliament's National Security Council who commented on the move.

"How can we be in a dialogue with those who are fighting against Libyans, destroying wells, terminals and ports? So we made a decision to halt this political dialogue," he explained to Sputnik.

He further noted that the militants from the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda and Benghazi Defense Brigades have united their efforts to attack the oil-rich region of the country.

"We urged the Presidential Council of Libya to stop these attacks but they told us that this is none of their business. However it clearly contradicts their actions at the very start of the attacks when the GNA appointed Brigadier General Idris Buhmada the head of the Guards of the defense of the oil facilities. And after the capture of Ras Lanuf (export terminal), the terrorists held a press-conference where they transferred the management of the terminal to Buhmada. It is a very strange contradiction," he told Sputnik.

The parliamentarian further said that after the capture of Ras Lanuf terminal, the Presidential Council is urging a no-fly-zone above the terminal and the bombing of the militants. It was voiced even more loudly after the UK put forward its project to close the sky over Libya to the UN Security Council, he said.

Thus, he said, the UK wants to fully compel the Libyans and the eastern parliament into exchanging oil for food and to repeat the tragic fate of Iraq.

"The play is going on and the plot is clear. Italy supports a hospital in the city of Misurata for the rehabilitation of terrorists, where well-known leaders of al-Qaeda undergo treatment," he said.

"It is Italy and the UK who are behind these recent attacks. All they want is to take these oil terminals under their control," he finally concluded.

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