Fierce clashes raging across the southern suburbs of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, have damaged the area’s main electricity networks and power stations causing blackouts.
The power outage has added to the suffering of Libyans, especially as its majority Muslim population is observing the holy month of fasting, Ramadan.
Libya’s National Oil Corporation released a statement revealing the extent of damage inflicted by Tripoli clashes in Esippa region, where a power station was put out of work.
In the release, the NOC said that engineers are rushing to contain and repair damages.
Power lines in Tripoli are a vital target for warring parties and have been repeatedly hit in 2018. The fallout from these attacks has carried out into this year, affecting the daily lives of many.
“Electricity blackouts are a near-daily issue we suffer from as a result of erupted violence as some purposely set arsons at power stations,” Suleiman Al-Ouarfi said.
A few neighborhoods are experiencing a permanent water shortage and power blackout. The deteriorating situation is forcing the displacement of many—statics indicate that 66,000 citizens were uprooted--with a few choosing to stay around and going far distances to procure water supplies.
Southern Tripoli blackouts have taken the greatest toll on patients staying in area hospitals.
“Displacement is on the rise and more people will be driven out from their homes,” Spokesman for the National Committee for Human Rights in Libya Ahmad Abdolhkim Hamzeh said, adding that “civilians will always be the main victims in all incidents of violence and war.”
The Red Crescent Movement in Libya Tripoli branch, in an effort to reverse some of the greatest pains affecting Libyans in southern Tripoli, has distributed food aid packages to the internally displaced refugees within the group’s reach.
Relief missions, according to the movement, continue to hand out aid from the north-western coastal city of Janzur, which is adjacent to Tripoli.
The majority of internally displaced families are currently staying in private accommodation in different neighborhoods of Tripoli, the Nafusa mountains and various locations along the coastal line of Western Libya.
