Due to a new partnership between Libya-Analysis.com and Industry Arabic, this blog will attempt to host a relevant article about some aspect of Libya's economy and politics translated from a major Arabic source such as al-Wasat or al-Hayat or a series of relevant tweets. This should give Libya-Analysis.com much added functionality and dynamism as English-language sources are not suffecient to grasp developments in Libya, particularly at the present moment as most reporters and foreign experts cannot visit the country due to the security situation.Without further ado, the first article gives us a little bit of insight into the inner workings of a local council. It deals with the Sirte local council which is undergoing some changes as Ansar Sharia are coming under threat there as the Misratans wish to kick them out and make the council loyal to Operation Dawn. The Second article is a little out of date but very interesting as it deals with the closure of the Jalu and Abu Tifl field by protestors.Enjoy. And I hope to be able to bring more of this content to you my readers on a regular basis possibly every tuesday or wednesday.
Source: http://www.alwasat.ly/ar/news/libya/44422/Sirte Local Council Discusses City Service and Security ProblemsSirte – Al-Wasat – Mohammed Ali – 28 October 2014The Sirte Local Council convened Tuesday in an emergency session to discuss a number of security and service provision problems facing the city.The meeting attendees included executive sector officials, executives of electricity companies, administrative and service centers, Urban Planning and Passports & Nationality officials, the Sirte Crisis Committee, head of the Authority for Manmade River Water Investment in the Central Region, and the designated head of the Union of Sirte Revolutionaries.A Sirte media official told Al-Wasat that the attendees discussed issues related to water, sanitation, anticipated housing projects, and infrastructure.The Council heard the reports of the sector coordinators on the current year and the constraints facing each sector, which include security, and the encroachments on state owned lands, caused by the work stoppage of the judiciary, security services, and the National Security Directorate in recent months.The Council received a report on job-seekers and expatriates from the Labor and Rehabilitation Office that there are 3,000 expatriates registered in Sirte, and that inventory levels in Sirte stores are enough for four months. The report also covered displaced families, which put the number of internally displaced persons from Warshefana and Benghazi at greater than 6,000.Both the Council and its Executive Committee for Sectors underscored the need to activate security and the judiciary in the city, at Sirte International Airport, Sirte’s commercial seaport, and the need for the Municipal Guard to fulfill their duty of providing services to citizens.During the meeting, the Council also discussed the shortage of medicine and medical equipment for Sirte’s 37 health facilities, and work to meet this need, to provide health services to the people of the area, and to address the shortage of drinking water and some medicines.The Council also received a report on the housing and facilities sector regarding the Committee to Inventory Dilapidated Housing. In addition, the Council and the Executive Committee for Sectors discussed the work of the Personal Property Subcommittee formed by the Council of Minister’s decree to inventory items lost from homes during the 2011 War of Liberation for referral to the Central Committee in Tripoli to compensate their owners.The meeting then turned to a discussion of the repeated attacks on utility poles and the ongoing phone network outages on the Madar and Libyana phone networks in Sirte.The committee also followed up on progress of education in Sirte, including the provision of textbooks, special exams for elementary and middle school students this year, and work to provide the necessary support to the sector.The Council and Executive Committee discussed a report from the Sirte Media Office on supporting “Radio Free Sirte” with equipment and funding to fulfill its informational role. Source: http://bit.ly/1GaCyVXThreats to Close a Second Oil Field in LibyaTuesday, 14 October 2014 – 17:24 Abu Dhabi timeAbu Dhabi - Sky News ArabiaProtestors have threatened to close Abu Tifl, a second Libyan oilfield, to compel the government National Oil Corporation to hire hundreds of local residents, according to their official spokesman.Amid a wave of strikes that began in July 2013, Libyans demanding work have shut down Abu Tifl oilfield, a year-old joint project between the Italian oil company ENI and the Libyan National Oil Corporation.Protests at other oil fields have ended but the Abu Tifl field located in the eastern Libyan city of Jalu remains closed, according to a Reuters report.In addition to the 60 thousand barrel per day Abu Tifl field, protesters are now closing the Jalu 59 field and Field 103 A.A spokesman said that the protestors are planning a third move to close the nearby field 103 B, adding “If the National Oil Corporation does not accept our demands, by Thursday, Field 103B will be closed.Oilfield closures have caused Libya’s oil production to drop below 900 thousand barrels per day, although the NOC will not release the latest production figures.Libya, an OPEC member state, has seen its oil industry recover with the reopening of three main ports in the east of the country earlier this year, in the context of an agreement with protesters who had closed the ports, demanding self governance. The eastern Port of Zueitina remains closed as oil workers demand a change to the administration of the port management company.