Die Haftar-Truppen haben den Hafen von Tripolis mit Raketen beschossen. Zudem wurde ein türkischer Frachter beschossen, der Waffen liefern wollte. Alle Schiffe hätten darauf hin den Hafen verlassen.
It appeared to be the first such attack on Tripoli’s port since Hifter’s forces besieged the city almost a year ago.
The country’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), which dominates Libya’s critical oil industry and is based in Tripoli, said projectiles struck meters away from a highly explosive liquefied petroleum gas tanker discharging in the port, prompting it to evacuate fuel vessels from the area and cancel offloading operations.
Mustafa Sanalla, head of the NOC, warned that Tripoli does not have operational fuel storage facilities because the capital’s main storage warehouse was evacuated due to the fighting.
“The consequences will be immediate: Hospitals, schools, power stations and other vital services will be disrupted,” he said in a statement.
Das bislang in vielen Teilen noch intakte Alltagsleben in Tripolis drohte auch vor diesem Angriff schon aus den Fugen zu geraten. Der IKRK Präsident hatte zwei Tage vor diesem Angriff von einer „Zerrüttung der libyschen Mittelschicht“ gesprochen. Noch müsse niemand hungern, aber die Reserven seien aufgebraucht, der Bevölkerung habe kein Einkommen mehr und der Staat kein Geld. Es sei zu erwarten, dass sich zu den Boat-people nun auch bald Menschen aus Libyen selbst gesellen würden.
Nachrichten über die Situation der Menschen in Haftars Einflussgebiet sind rar. Einen Eindruck gibt der Bericht von David D. Kirkpatrick in der NYT vom 20.02.2020 über einen Besuch in Benghazi, in dem auch eine Reihe von Fotos zu finden sind. Wir empfehlen besonders denjenigen, die von Haftars Vormarsch wenigstens eine Verbesserung von Staatlichkeit und Ordnung erwarten, diesen Bericht zu lesen. Das Zentrum von Benghazi ist zerbombt und entvölkert, wie schon seit Jahren. Belebte Viertel finden sich in der Peripherie. Gefügige Milizen, ehemalige Ghadaffi-Offiziere und salafistische Prediger haben die Macht übernommen. Die Willkürherrschaft der Milizen wird ergänzt durch den Terror des Geheimdiensts. Ganz sicher ist das keine wünschenswerte Alternative für Tripolis.
Mr. Hifter has promised to build a stable, democratic and secular Libya, but he has largely shut Western journalists out of his territory. A rare visit there by a New York Times correspondent and photographer revealed an unwieldy authoritarianism that in many ways is both more puritanical and more lawless than Libya was under its last dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
In Mr. Hifter’s Benghazi stronghold, we found a half-ruined city beset by corruption, where security agents trailed foreign journalists, residents cowered in fear of arbitrary arrest, and pro-government militias answered to no one.
Residents complain of corruption and self-enrichment by tribal militia leaders and former Qaddafi officers. There are reports of unexplained bombings, abductions and detentions without trial. Islamist extremists have taken over the mosques and may be infiltrating the police force.
“Everyone is afraid, even afraid of their fellow citizens,” one Benghazi resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity for his safety.Jonathan Winer, a special envoy to Libya under President Obama, described a brutal system. “If you are with Hifter then you are under his umbrella and you can do whatever you want,” he said. “If you aren’t, you are an enemy and you may be jailed, killed or exiled.”
Aging and distracted, Mr. Hifter is seldom seen in Benghazi. He presides from his mountain home an hour’s drive to the West. He holds salons with tribal elders and depends on family as his closest advisers. Two of his sons are among his top military commanders, as well as his caretakers.
“They make sure he is well fed,” said Faraj Najem, a director of a government-run research center who is close to Mr. Hifter. “They make sure he takes his medicine. They provide him with security when they are around him.”