On Sunday, the central Tripoli municipality repeatedly demanded the Government of National Accord’s (GNA) Presidential Council to consider proposals submitted in 2017 to establish a seawater desalination plant.
The municipality added that the request resulted from the continuation of water cuts in Tripoli and its suburbs. Such cuts are due to an armed group storming a control station in Shwerif and subsequently suspending its water-pumping.
In a statement, the municipality called on the Libyan Public Prosecutor to carry out investigations into the incident and issue arrest warrants for those involved in such “criminal acts” in the Shwerif district.
The storming of the control station occurred on Monday. The armed group threatened workers and forced them to turn off the supply of water to Tripoli, according to a statement made by the Great Man-Made River Project, which is one of Libya’s main water sources.
Libya’s General Electricity Company said on Thursday that another armed group had cut off gas pipelines supplying an electricity generating station in Sidi As Saih south-east of Tripoli, leaving western Tripoli without power.
The GNA claimed that the fighters behind the water and electricity cut-offs are working with the Libyan National Army (LNA), noting that Shwerif and Sidi As Saih are under the control of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. However, there are conflicting reports regarding the affiliation of those armed groups.
