Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, was featured on the Press TV News Analysis program on March 7, 2012. The segment focused on the secessionist plot to divide the oil-rich North African state of Libya., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
'US, puppets attempt to divide Libya into pieces'
Interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of Pan-African News Wire
Thu Mar 8, 2012 2:34PM GMT
To watch this interview with Abayomi Azikiwe on Press TV News Analysis just log on to the URL below:
http://presstv.com/detail/230617.html
The Libyan oil-rich eastern region of Cyrenaica has unilaterally declared autonomy and has called for a federal government in the country.
The NTC has strongly responded to the move by both calling for dialogue and threatening to use force to maintain the integrity of the country.
Press TV has talked with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of Pan-African News Wire from Detroit, to further discuss the issue.
What follows is a rough transcript of the interview.
Press TV: When we look at what our guest Sabri Malek said, in terms of the threats that the NTC head has made, is Saudi Arabia the country that perhaps Mustafa Abdel Jalil, not directly said, but is the country afraid of democracy knocking at its doors?
Azikiwe: I think there are a number of countries that are involved in this whole plot to bring about the division of Libya and other countries in North Africa and throughout the entire Middle Eastern region.
Even though in the war last year, there were actions that were taken early on in February and March that clearly indicated that this insurgency was designed to divide the country.
Now the United States, Britain and France all have a vested interest in a weaker and divided Libya.
Most of the oil resources that exist in Libya are located in these regions which have been declared semi-autonomous.
They are calling it something that harkens back to the days of the Ottoman empire, to the times of the Italian colonialism inside of Libya, Cyrenaica, and also it is called a Barqa. These elements have also created separate military units called the Supreme Military Council of Barqa.
Therefore I believe very strongly that this is a conjunction of forces in the West as well as the conservative [Persian] Gulf states that are attempting to partition Libya in order to further exploit the country in regard to its oil and its natural gas resource.
And it is really a tragedy because Libya has the largest known oil reserves on the African continent and the country has and could be in a good position to foster not only economic development inside of Libya but also to assist economic development in other parts of North Africa and throughout the region.
So, I think this is clearly a plot to further weaken Libya, to underdevelop Libya and also to exploit the vast resources that exist inside that North African State.
Press TV: Who is controlling the oil fields right now because according to certain reports, right now there are Qatari’s, UAE nationals along with other nationalities other than Libyans, who are dying for work, who are controlling these oil fields and we understand that the oil output has reached over a million barrels just in oil not to mention the gas and where is this going?
Why is it then that after this war imposed by NATO and its allies, the United States mainly, that the country is still not reeling back in terms of its infrastructure?
Azikiwe: Well, the war in our opinion, was a war for oil. And when that happens that means that the people who control the international petroleum industry are not Libyans.
The people who control the oil industry are not people in the countries where oil is produced. They are in the countries in which the multinational oil companies are based i.e., the United States and Europe and it is not surprising that you would have people involved from other [Persian] Gulf, Arab states who were engaged in the war against the Jamahiriya [Colonel Gaddafi’s government] government that was overthrown last year.
There were Qatari’s Special Forces involved. You had air strikes by countries from the [Persian] Gulf region right alongside of NATO and the United States that were involved in this massive air campaign and naval blockade against the previous government of Muammar Gaddafi.
So therefore it is not surprising that you would have non-Libyans being in control of the oil fields and also being in control of the export of oil to the international community.
Press TV: Sorry to jump in but maybe that is why Cyrenaica has called for this autonomy. Don’t you think that they obviously see what is going on given that five of the major oil fields are in the region where they are at?
Maybe they say that hey, we need to make sure that this oil stays and that we reap the rewards of that revolution that they fought for, which began in Benghazi by the way in the eastern part of Libya.
Azikiwe: But they are not in a position as a small isolated enclave within a country in North Africa to compete with the European Union to compete with the transnational oil corporations, to compete with the United States and this is why this is such a contradiction because you have the consolidation of Europe, of the European Union, NATO has grown in number as well as in strength over the last two decades.
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