The moves signal deepening animosity in a war that could worsen regional instability and swell the flow of migrants from the Middle East and Africa almost a decade after Muammar Gaddafi’s fall in 2011.
From his large villa in Libya’s east, tribal leader Sanoussi al-Zwai sees plenty more trouble ahead for the huge country, for years contested by two rival authorities in the east and west.
He is an ally of Commander Khalifa Haftar, whose self-styled Libya National Army (LNA) also has the support of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan and Russian mercenaries as it tries to capture the capital Tripoli.
Zwai’s tribe backs the oil port blockade, resisting calls by the United States and the United Nations to restart flows of Libya’s vital income source, which is run by Haftar’s foe, the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA).
Zwai’s price for unlocking the ports is for the GNA, based 1,000 km (620 miles) away in Tripoli, to funnel more income to his people. If the GNA resists, he suggests there could be worse to come.
“We are not happy with what is happening now, but we have ways to escalate if the international community does not listen to us,” said Zwai, leader of a tribe living near eastern oil facilities.
“There will be a major escalation. We have other things (means) to use at the time. If it comes to it, the world knows what escalation is,” he told Reuters in the main eastern city of Benghazi, without saying what any escalation would involve.
