Libya: Benghazi port reopens after 3-year closure

Interim Prime Minister of the eastern based Beida government, Abdullah Al-Thinni, along with former member of the Presidential Council Ali Gatrani, were some of the personalities present yesterday to mark the reopening of the Benghazi port after three years of closure.

A large crowd assembled at the port to take part in the ceremony following the green light from military governor Major General Abdul Razzaq Al-Nazhuri who visited the area in July and lifted the port’s ban a fortnight ago.

The port was closed in 2014 following continued clashes when armed militants, including Daesh took over the city.

Libya descended in lawlessness when Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was killed in a NATO-backed revolution in 2011. Uncontrolled factions have since fought for power with war breaking out between different alliances and Libya’s tribal factions.

There are currently three governments in the country with Brigadier General Khalifa Haftar heading one in Benghazi, the UN-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli headed by Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj, and the Tobruk-based government of Abdullah Al-Thinni.

Read: Libya’s Benghazi airport reopens after 3-year closure during war