The major news this week from outside Libya is that Ahmed Al-Dam, a former close aide and cousin of Gaddafi, will be put on trial in Egypt for the offences committed when he was arrested on 19th March; namely, ‘attempted murder, resisting authorities and unlicensed weapons possession’. The Egyptian authorities have already turned down Libya’s extradition request.
Security incidents in Libya this week have been minor with nothing significant to report.
Tripolitania (Western Libya)
Human Rights Watch this week reported that Abdullah Senussi, Gaddafi’s Chief of Intelligence has not been given access to a lawyer despite being held in detention in Tripoli Prison for over 8 months since his extradition from Mauritania.
It is unclear whether the Buraq Air passenger plane that was hit with small arms fire on 17th April as it attempted to land was accidental or deliberate. No one is claiming responsibility and so it must be assumed that it was as a result of celebratory gunfire – a regular occurrence.
A Police convoy taking detainees to the Reform and Rehabilitation Institution in Tajoura, east of Tripoli, was ambushed on 18th April with one prisoner being killed, others wounded or kidnapped. The incident was a significant one although the prisoner who was taken has not been named. This, however, is the latest in a series of such attacks on prisoners being moved. It took place in the Sidi Meri district, near the University.
A member of the Counter Crime Agency was killed and another seriously wounded in a raid on a drugs gang in Tripoli on 20th April. Since the Revolution the porous nature of the borders has added to the drug trafficking in Libya although the Coastguard has had some notable successes.
Cyrenaica (Eastern Libya)
The authorities have now reported that the recent explosion on the oil pipeline from Field 103 to the Zueitina terminal is assessed to have been sabotage. The explosion that happened late at night on 2nd April struck the light oil condensate section of the pipeline seriously, with only minor damage to the crude oil section which was quickly back into operation. Both pipeline sections are now back in operation.
Finally, the lawlessness in Derna continues with the President of the Appeal Court, Abdul-Aziz Mustafa Trabulsi, being carjacked on 19th April on his way home.
