AFRICA/LIBYA - "There are only foreign nurses and volunteers left in the hospitals in Tripoli", say local sources of Fides
Tripoli (Agenzia Fides) - "In the healthcare facilities that we contacted this morning, foreign workers, in particular Filipinos, are doing the whole job alone: recording, taking care and feeding patients, everything is in their hands. The Libyans did not go to work", sources of the Apostolic Vicariate from Tripoli tell Fides. "But there are also volunteers who help treat the wounded - our interlocutor continues -. These people are doing their best under difficult conditions, also because stocks of drugs and other medical products are being depleted", continues the interlocutor.
With regards to the situation in Tripoli, the sources of the Vicariate inform that "most of the population is locked up in the house, because everyone is afraid to go out. However, electricity is back, but everyone remains to await developments".According to agency sources, the men who have remained loyal to Gaddafi are concentrated in two districts of Tripoli, while the rest of the city is in the hands of the Transitional National Council (TNC) fighters. The situation is however still far from being considered stabilized, as demonstrated by the kidnapping of 4 Italian journalists, who are believed to be in the hands of a pro Gaddafi group. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/08/2011)
AFRICA - What does the future hold for Gaddafi’s Libyan investments in Africa?
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - Gaddafi's Libya in recent years has been one of the biggest investors in sub-Saharan Africa, thanks to its currency reserves (100 billion dollars in 2009). According to an article in "Les Afriques" Libyan investments in Africa have been directed mainly in the hotel and agriculture sector. The latter has seen a remarkable growth in recent years in countries like Mali, Nigeria and Liberia. In Mali, for example, Libya controls a company that owns 100,000 hectares of land. In Liberia the Libya Africa Portaolio (LAP) invested through a local NGO, 30 million euros for the development of rice production.
The LAP is the holding company that manages the majority of Libyan investments in Africa, worth $ 5 billion. The LAP has a capital of 8 billion dollars and aggregates the Libya Africa Financial Company (Lafico), the pan-African company Afriqiya, the Sahelo-Saharan Bank for Industry and Commerce (SBIC) and OIL Libya Company.In addition to hotels and to the agricultural sector, Gaddafi's Libya has invested in African telecommunications, in particular in Chad and Zambia. The future of Libya therefore also concerns important sectors of the African economy, and more in general, processes to liberate the continent from Western financial and economic protection (and also Asian). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/08/2011
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