Militia determine how electric power is distributed in Tripoli

 In a speech last night, Prime Minister-elect of the UN-brokered Government of National Accord (GNA), Faiez Serraj admitted that militias are controlling the distribution of electricity in Tripoli.

Faiez Serraj

In a short 15-minute TV speech, Ferraj said that " many challenges started prior to our (GNA's) arrival in March." He claimed the challenges had accumulated over the years.

On the electricity shortage, he described the problem as multifaceted. Many power stations were damaged since the revolution. The foreign technicians performing maintenance have left the country. It is not clear why the GNA is not able to get them back to help the electrical company and the new government. As a result many stations are not performing at full capacity. There are rolling blackouts.

The Libya Herald then reports: He then admitted that his GNA still had no control in Tripoli, let alone the whole of Libya, outside its Baghdad-like ‘’green zone’’ of the Bu Sitta Naval base by confirming that Tripoli militias were coercing the employees of the electricity company to distribute the electricity supply according to their wishes.

Serraj called on Libyans to be patient but had no new or radicals ideas on how to improve the situation although he promised to solve problems.

The inability of the GNA to provide security in Tripoli was made evident bythe recent murder of 12 former Gadaffi soldiers who had been released from jaii. All 12 had been shot and some bodies showed evidence of torture.

The power situation in Tripoli is so bad that the General Electricity Company of Libya (GEOCOL) has warned authorities that the power supply to Tripoli could collapse completely due to certain areas of the city such as Abu Sleem and elsewhere refusing to accept power cuts. Power cuts in the city are over 12 hours per day. In a statement the company said that it could not be held responsible for what might happen to the electricity supply throughout the west of Libya. It claimed that militia had physically threatened its employees forcing them, to leave the power on in certain areas. The areas mentioned included Misrata, Zawyia, Khoms and Jebel Nafusa mountain as refusing to share in the same power cuts as Tripoli. Also in certain parts of Tripoli such as Abu Sleem the cuts have not taken place.Kamal, an Abu Sleem resident, told the Libya Herald: “We are enjoying full time power with not even a single hour of cuts for three days now. Many thanks to our strong man Ghenaiwa,”