EU: Gaddafi Losing Grip on Oil

Tripoli, Libya

Embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s government has lost control over majority of the country’s oil and gas installation, the European Union’s commissioner for energy has said.

In a press conference on Monday EU’s energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger said there was a reason to believe that the majority of the oil and gas fields were no longer under Gaddafi’s control.

He dismissed claims that the EU was creating a blockade on oil export from Libya, saying that a blockade would potentially be punishing the wrong people, referring to groups opposed to Gaddafi.

Meanwhile, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) operating in Libya announced that it has stopped production and evacuated all of its employees. The Chinese state owned company said in a statement suspending production and sealed up their equipment, owing to attacks on some of their sites in the ongoing unrest in the country.

The CNPC which has been operating in Libya since 2002 is the largest foreign operator in the country’s oil and gas productions.

On Saturday the United Nations Security Council voted on an arms embargo on the country and freezing of foreign assets owned by Libyan government officials. The council also conceded to refer Col Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity.

Foreign ministers are gathering in Geneva to discuss on ideal response to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Libya. The UN estimates of about 100,000 people have fled the country since the wake of the unrest.

Foreign countries are evacuating their nationals by air and sea as migrant workers continue to cross the border over to Tunisia. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has set up transit camps on the border as evacuation plans are under way for the immigrants who are mainly from Egypt.

Fighting between forces loyal to Gaddafi and the rebels- who are controlling the eastern part of the country-over control of cities close to the capital, Tripoli continues to intensify, making the situation there too dangerous for humanitarian interventions.

International pressure on Gaddafi to end the crackdown continues to mount. He denies reports that troops and mercenaries loyal to him were firing on protesters. The US has said it was moving its warships and air forces closer to Libya, while France said it would supply humanitarian aid to the eastern region which is under opposition control.

The uprising, sparked in the eastern city of Benghazi, has spread to other cities, as government forces and officials continue to defect to the opposition. Col Gaddafi has called upon those loyal to him to declare “a national battle” against those opposing his rule.

This is the greatest resistance staged against the Libyan leader who rose to power 42 years ago in a bloodless coup. About 1000 people are reported to be dead in the unrest which rights groups have called for immediate intervention by the international community.

Kinshasa, DR Congo

 Mass Rape Still Rampant in Eastern Congo

Over 200 victims of mass rape have been treated since January by a medical aid agency operating in Fizi town of South Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

 The Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said it has been providing medical treatment since January to more than 200 men, women and children, survivors of sexual violence perpetrated by armed movements carrying out coordinated attacks on civilians.

 The most recent incident involves at least 56 victims around villages of Milimba and Bwala in Fizi between 12 and 19 February where the attacks were allegedly conducted by Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) .

 The victims told MSF that they were taken hostage, undressed and restrained with ropes, where they were systematically beaten and raped by the fighters who also made away with all their belongings.

 Earlier in January this year 100 people were raped on the New Year’s Day by attackers identified by the locals as Congolese troops who had descended upon a village in Fizi, to avenge death of a fellow soldier killed in a love dispute.

 Holed up in eastern DRC, the Rwandan-Hutu FDLR rebel movement -implicated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide that claimed over 800,000 lives-continues to attack, loot and rape civilians in eastern DRC region.

 In August last year over 154 civilians in Luvungi town in North Kivu province were targeted in three days of sexual violence and attacks by FDLR and Mai Mai rebels, which the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUSCO was highly criticised for failing to protect civilians.

The Head of MSF mission in South Kivu Annemarie Loof in a statement to the IRIN news agency expressed extreme concerns about the fate of civilians who are being targeted in the increasing violence and insecurity in eastern DRC.

Chief information officer at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Kinshasa condemned the use of gang rape as an unacceptable weapon of war.

Over 8000 rape cases were reported in eastern DRC last year by humanitarian organisations working in the region. The long-going unrest in eastern Congo has led to the wide use of rape as a weapon of war by militia groups fighting in the region.