TRIPOLI: Oil production has resumed at two major Libyan oil fields, the oil ministry said Sunday, after a brief shutdown by demonstrators protesting the arrest of a former minister.
“Operations have resumed in the Al-Sharara and Al-Fil oil fields... after they were suspended” Thursday, said the ministry, part of the UN-brokered Government of National Unity based in Tripoli.
The ministry made no mention of the cause of closure in its brief Facebook statement.
Former finance minister Faraj Abderrahmane Boumtari was among a number of people targeted in what the United Nations has described as a campaign of “continued abductions, arbitrary arrests, and disappearances.”
He was arrested and taken to an unknown location on Wednesday upon his arrival at Mitiga international airport in Tripoli by internal security agents.
Members of his Zouaya tribe on Thursday threatened to block oil terminals in the east if he was not released.
Boumtari was released Saturday upon an order from the prosecutor general, local media reported.
Libya sits on Africa’s largest oil reserves but production has been frequently disrupted during over a decade of chaos since a NATO-backed uprising led to the ouster and killing of former dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
Both Al-Sharara, which provides a quarter of Libya’s daily oil output, and Al-Fil have seen frequent interruptions amid clashes between groups loyal to the Tripoli-based GNU and those backed by a rival government in the east.
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Production resumes at key Libya oil fields days after protests
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Production resumes at key Libya oil fields days after protests
- Libya's oil ministry made no mention of the cause of closure in its brief Facebook statement
RSF committed atrocities during El-Fasher capture, UN body says
- UN Human Rights Office documented more than 6,000 killings in the first three days of the October offensive
Rapid Support Forces violations in Sudan during the capture of the city of El-Fasher amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday.
Darfur’s El-Fasher fell to RSF forces in October 2025 after a long siege that led to mass killings.
Based on interviews with over 140 victims and witnesses conducted in Sudan’s Northern state and in eastern Chad in late 2025, the UN Human Rights Office documented more than 6,000 killings in the first three days of the RSF offensive on El-Fasher after the siege, it said.
RSF committed “widespread atrocities that amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity,” said a report published by the Human Rights Office.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk renewed his call on parties to the conflict to take effective steps to end the grave violations by forces under their command, he said in a statement.
He appealed to states with influence to act urgently to prevent the repetition of violations documented in El-Fasher. “This includes respecting the arms embargo already in place, and ending the supply, sale or transfer of arms or military material to the parties.”
Darfur’s El-Fasher fell to RSF forces in October 2025 after a long siege that led to mass killings.
Based on interviews with over 140 victims and witnesses conducted in Sudan’s Northern state and in eastern Chad in late 2025, the UN Human Rights Office documented more than 6,000 killings in the first three days of the RSF offensive on El-Fasher after the siege, it said.
RSF committed “widespread atrocities that amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity,” said a report published by the Human Rights Office.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk renewed his call on parties to the conflict to take effective steps to end the grave violations by forces under their command, he said in a statement.
He appealed to states with influence to act urgently to prevent the repetition of violations documented in El-Fasher. “This includes respecting the arms embargo already in place, and ending the supply, sale or transfer of arms or military material to the parties.”
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