Libya will "run out of money" in 18 months despite once being one of Africa's richest countries, officials have told The Telegraph as internecine fighting grinds its oil and gas industry to a halt.

Mashala Zwai, the oil minister for one of Libya's two rival governments, warned that the country was becoming "a second Somalia".

"This is a critical time in a critical situation," said Mr Zwai, speaking from the Tripoli offices of the National Oil Corporation, which manages Libya's energy sector. "By next year the state will not be able to pay Libyans' salaries."

With the government split into two rival authorities, Libya's oil installations are becoming battlefields where affiliated militias vie for power.

They are also the focus of attacks by Islamist extremists, including a local branch of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), who are thriving in the country's state of lawlessness.

On Friday, gunmen attacked al-Ghani oilfield south of the coastal city of Sirte, killing 11 workers and kidnapping 10 foreign employees, including one Czech and one Austrian national. In recent days Isil claimed it had seized the Mabrouk, Bahi and Dahra oilfields.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/11458811/Inside-Libya-how-battle-for-oil-has-left-country-close-to-collapse.html

With the country entirely dependent on its income from oil and gas, it was in everyone's interests to protect it.

But in August of last year the state fragmented further, with militias in Tripoli allied to Misrata and Libyan Dawn forcing the elected House of Representatives to flee to the eastern city of Tobruk.

Now, tribes and cities are scrambling to lay their claim to the country's wealth.

"With no clear authority, everyone now wants a piece of the cake," said Claudia Gazzini, Libya expert for the International Crisis Group think tank.

The economic impact of the violence in a country with a swollen public sector, whose population relies on fuel and wheat subsidies, is catastrophic. Libya's oil revenues have dropped from $60 billion in 2012 to $15 billion, said Mr Zwai.

The conflict is complicated by international players taking sides, with Egypt, the UAE and Russia backing the Tobruk government. Qatar and Turkey have supported Libyan Dawn, encouraging its alliance with Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

Unlike in Syria, where the extremists have used oilfields to generate revenue, the objective of these attacks appears to have been destruction.
"They burned the oilfield. Then they gathered the employees, gave them a lecture on Islam," a witness to one attack said.

Some claimed the attacks were a message to the West because every destroyed plant was part-owned by foreign companies.

we seem to be on same track. we are supposed to choose between bitter party and thieves party.

Let us know that War is good for no one. The rich will run and come back after we finish killing ourselves. Lets be wise and eschew peace, no matter the political party or religion.