Libya War Draws Chavez, Arab Mediation Offer as Qaddafi Attacks
March 03, 2011, 5:28 AM ESTBy Alaa Shahine and Mariam Fam
(See EXTRA and MET for more on the Middle East.)
March 3 (Bloomberg) -- The Arab League said it’s weighing an offer to mediate in Libya’s civil conflict by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, as his ally Muammar Qaddafi struggles to break out of his Tripoli base and regain rebel-held parts of the country.The Arab League is holding discussions with Venezuela on sending mediators to Libya, said Hesham Youssef, chief of staff for the group’s Secretary General Amr Moussa, in a phone interview today. He didn’t give details and said Venezuela is also in talks with other countries. Chavez and Qaddafi have spoken about the proposal, Venezuelan Information Minister Andres Izarra said in a March 2 Twitter posting. Oil fell from a 2 1/2-year high on the peace initiative.
Qaddafi’s air force resumed attacks on the rebel-held oil port of Brega on the Gulf of Sidra today, the Associated Press said. The town was fought over for much of yesterday, with government troops seizing control before losing it again to the insurgents. Opposition leaders are calling for international air strikes against Qaddafi’s forces, as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that setting up a no-fly zone over the north African country would be a “big operation” requiring the bombing of Libyan air defenses.
‘Prolonged, Violent Struggle’
While the rebels hold the military advantage, Qaddafi’s regime is “not yet out of the fight, and a prolonged, violent struggle is shaping up,” said Jeffrey White, a defense fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and specialist on the region. “Both sides lack the offensive capability to bring the conflict to a rapid conclusion,” and an extended conflict will “increase pressure for external military intervention,” he said in a report on the group’s website.
Crude oil for April delivery fell 0.2 percent to $102 a barrel at 9:50 a.m. in London, after rising as high as $102.94. It has surged about 20 percent since the Libyan uprising began two weeks ago. Gulf shares extended declines, with Dubai’s main index dropping 2.5 percent and the Bloomberg GCC200 regional benchmark falling 0.2 percent to the lowest in more than a year.
The conflict’s focal point moved eastward yesterday after earlier clashes close to the capital, Tripoli, where Qaddafi has retained control. Northeast of Brega, jets bombed an area near Ajdabiya, where the rebels have seized an army camp, and Al Arabiya television reported that 16 people were killed. Doctors at Brega hospital said at least 10 opposition fighters were killed there and 18 others wounded, according to the AP.
Brega Refinery
The refinery at Brega has an effective capacity of about 8,400 barrels per day, and the town also has a gas liquefaction plant with an effective capacity of 2.5 million cubic meters a day and an export terminal for crude oil and refined products, according to the Arab Oil and Gas Directory for 2006.
Oil output in Libya, which holds Africa’s largest oil reserves, has dropped by as much as 1 million barrels a day, the International Energy Agency said yesterday.
Qaddafi, speaking on state television, warned that “thousands would die” in a NATO or U.S. attack on Libya. He said his loyalists have surrounded opposition forces, though they aren’t firing on them. Rebel leaders may be allowed to escape to Egypt or Tunisia while their young supporters who were “misled” will be pardoned, he said.
Chavez has historically had warm relations with Qaddafi, comparing him to South American liberator Simon Bolivar and hosting him in Venezuela in 2009 for a summit of African and South American leaders.
Evacuation, Refugees
The U.S. and other countries are seeking to evacuate their citizens from Libya and ease the plight of refugees, at the same time as they debate measures to end the fighting.
Two U.S. Navy warships, with 800 Marines aboard, will arrive off Libya within a day or two for possible humanitarian operations, and another 400 Marines have been dispatched, said Josh Diddams, a spokesman for the Marine Corps at the Pentagon. U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead said two aircraft carriers are already in the region and a third, the USS George H.W. Bush, is preparing for deployment there from Norfolk, Virginia.
U.K. Foreign Minister William Hague spoke with General Abdul Fattah Younis, who resigned as interior minister on Feb. 23 to join the opposition in Benghazi, and told him Britain is working on contingency planning “for all eventualities, including a no-fly zone,” according to Hague’s office.
China joined Russia yesterday in signaling likely opposition to action by the United Nations Security Council to authorize a no-fly zone.
Workers Stranded
More than 150,000 people have fled Libya to neighboring Egypt and Tunisia since Feb. 19, the UN refugee agency said on March 1. Thousands of foreign workers are stranded in Benghazi and on the Tunisian border, New York-based Human Rights Watch said yesterday. The UN’s World Food Program called for “increased humanitarian action to prevent a disaster.”
The Libyan revolt follows the ousting of longtime rulers by protest movements in Tunisia and Egypt in the past two months. Anti-government demonstrations have also erupted in Yemen, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Iran and Iraq.
In Egypt, the ruling army council, which took power when Hosni Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, today accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik and invited former Transport Minister Essam Sharaf to form a government. Shafik, an ex-general, was a Mubarak appointee and had been the target of protesters who are urging a break with the old regime.
Yemen’s opposition coalition said today it has given President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power for more than 30 years, a “road map” for a peaceful transition involving the ruler’s departure this year.
Governments throughout the region, including the royal family in Saudi Arabia, holder of the world’s biggest oil reserves, have announced increased spending on social programs, such as food and energy subsidies and job-creation plans, to assuage the unrest. The protesters are demanding moves toward democracy as well as higher living standards.
--With assistance from Vivian Salama in Abu Dhabi, Massoud A Derhally in Beirut, Zainab Fattah in Dubai, Viola Gienger in Washington, Bill Varner at the United Nations and Abdel Latif Wahba in Cairo. Editors: John Brinsley, Ben Holland, Heather Langan.
(source:bloomberg)
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To contact the reporters on this story: Ola Galal in Cairo at ogalal@bloomberg.net; Mariam Fam in Cairo at mfam1@bloomberg.net; Alaa Shahine in Dubai at asalha@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net
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