Libya Crisis Never Ends: Armed Group Cuts Off Water To Capital And Other Cities – OpEd

Forces loyal to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar have been besieging Tripoli since April 4 to take it from the UN-backed government of national accord (GNA). They have done everything to control Libya.

As part of the latest crisis during Ramadan, Haftar’s forces cut off water to the capital and other cities on Sunday, an armed group stormed a pumping station some 400 km south of Tripoli, forcing employees to turn off the pipes by the Great Man-Made River, forcing employees to shut down water pipes connected to underground wells.

The pipes supplied water to Tripoli, a city of more than 2 million people, and other coastal areas.

Water supplies to the Libyan capital and surrounding cities were restored two days after they were cut off when an armed group stormed a control room, averting shortages that could have caused a humanitarian crisis.

The crisis has escalated in Libya, the United Nations had condemned the closure as possible war crime. Haftar’s forces denied they were responsible for cutting off the water. They said they had sent reinforcements to secure the pipe. But United Nations replied that Haftar in trying to capture Tripoli, was behind the blockage.

The crisis in Tripoli from April to date has resulted at least 510 people, forced 75,000 out of their homes, trapped thousands of migrants in detention centers and flattened some suburbs, according to the United Nations.