Reuters: Libya asks UN Security Council for help protecting oil, airports

Libya asked the U.N. Security Council on Thursday for help protecting its oil installations, oil export ports and civil airports, warning that without more international assistance the North African oil producer could become a failed state.

Libya's Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdelaziz appealed to the council "to take the case of Libya seriously before it is too late," making it clear that Libya's central government is too weak to control the militias that helped oust late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Tripoli International Airport has been a battlefield since fighters attacked it with heavy guns on Sunday to wrest control from a rival militia, while months of protests at oil fields and ports caused government revenues to collapse last year.

"Lack of protection of oil fields and the ports through which we export our oil remain to be a serious problem," said Abdelaziz, adding that the government had lost $30 billion in revenues while rebels controlled the ports.
MORE