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By Jamal Adel.
Tripoli, 19 February 2014:
Water shortages that have affected an area from Benghazi to Sirte since the . . .[restrict]end of January are set to end as electricians finally head to the Sarir area to repair power lines brought down in clashes between rival Tebu and Zwai military units at the end of January. Power to pumps on the Man-Made River (MMR) were stopped as a result.
Staff from the electricity company GECOL then refused to carry out repair work until the fighting ended.
That is now happening.
“The Omar Mukhtar Brigade now has members securing the Al-Shula oil compound and a team of engineers from both the Sarir power station and the Man-Made River have started to arrive back in the area to reconnect the power lines that were cut during the missile attack on the Sarir power station on 1 February” said Saleh Mohamed, a commanding officer in largely Tebu 25th brigade of the Petroleum Facilities Guard. It has been protecting the various facilities at Sarir, including the power station and the Al-Shula oil company compound.
The Benghazi-based Omar Mukhtar brigade, led by Zeyad Balam, was deployed to the area a week ago.
“We have been officially appointed by the General Staff to secure the area and put an end for the long ongoing struggle, and we’ve succeeded in brokering a ceasefire deal,” Balam told the Libya Herald.
“We made significant progress in negotiating with the combatants. They have all been cooperative with us so far, agreeing to hand over checkpoints and positions to us,” he explained.
“We’ve met with the Omar Mukhtar Brigade commander, Zeyad Balam and discussed the various possible ways to end the conflict in the area”, commanding officer Mohamed said. “We handed one of the Man-Made River Company stations to him, located some 40 kilometres north of the Al-Shula oil compound, which the Sarir attackers used as base.”
The station had been captured from the largely Zwai 427 Brigade which was deployed to it in January. [/restrict]
