Libya electricity blackout protests expose country’s failing grid

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that severe electricity cuts during an intense heatwave have triggered protests and civil disobedience in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, and nearby districts. With temperatures reported above 48C and outages lasting about 10 hours a day, demonstrators have blocked roads, burned tyres and obstructed access to public buildings, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while demanding action on corruption claims, collapsing services and divided political institutions.

According to the report, the campaign has been led by the Souq Al-Jumaa Movement and joined by activists in Tajoura and Janzour. The unrest widened when protesters entered the Mellitah oil and gas complex, prompting the National Oil Corporation to stop operations at the El Feel oilfield and partly suspend the Wafa field. Al Jazeera says gas flows later resumed after the Government of National Unity secured the site, but the disruption briefly worsened fuel constraints for power generation.

Residents and specialists quoted by Al Jazeera described the crisis as national rather than confined to western Libya. An energy systems engineer said Libya needs transmission upgrades and long-term planning, including renewables, while a Benghazi resident said generators have become essential for reliable power and that outages affect water supplies, food storage and vulnerable people.

The report places the blackouts in the context of Libya’s post-2014 political split, with the Tripoli-based GNU and an eastern rival administration still operating despite a 2020 ceasefire. Former electricity-sector officials and experts cited unfinished power projects, ageing plants, weak transmission infrastructure, delayed maintenance and rising demand as core reasons the grid remains vulnerable.