Tribal conflicts cut off power in eastern Libya

Since late 2013, a disagreement between the Tebu and Zwai tribes in the region of Sarir, approximately 700km south of Tobruk, has deteriorated into bloodshed. The conflict has damaged the 450MW Sarir power station, one of the largest plants in the east of the country and the main source of power for the Man-Made River (MMR), and the plant is unlikely to be repaired for some time. On 1 February, fighters from the Brigade 427 militia, which is drawn from the ethnically Arab Zwai tribe, were reported to have fired a missile at the power station, damaging a pair of turbines.