Libya's Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNA), which is recognized by the UN, denied on Thursday that it had ceded the rights to a strategic alliance political port, or that it had approved its use as a military base by foreign forces.
"What is said about the state granting or authorizing the use of the port of Homs as a foreign naval base is wrong and non-existent," said Mohamed Hamouda, a spokesman for the government of Abdelhamid Dbayba.
He made this statement at the port of Homs, flanked by Libya's chief of naval staff, Noureddine el-Buni, and director of the Ports and Maritime Transport Authority, Mohamed el-Siwioui.
He was reacting to protests by hundreds of residents of the coastal town, about 120 kilometers east of Tripoli, who accuse the authorities of wanting to cede part of the civilian port to Turkey, an ally of the Dbayba government, for military purposes.
From Sunday to Thursday morning, they set tires on fire, blocked roads and blocked access to this key commercial port, according to videos uploaded to social media.
Calling for restraint, Mr. Hamouda warned against any "actions that harm the public interest," adding that they "expose the perpetrators to the risk of criminal prosecution."
Prime Minister Dbayaba attaches "great importance" to this commercial port, for which there are development plans to increase exchanges "with other states", he assured.
The port of Homs, one of the most important and largest in Libya, can receive one million tons of goods annually. Along with that in Misrata, further east, it is considered an installation of strategic importance.
Demonstrations in the city were overshadowed by bloody hostilities on Monday and Tuesday between two powerful armed groups in Tripoli (west), the worst in a year, which left 55 dead and 146 wounded.
The oil-rich north African country remains mired in chaos since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, undermined by the east-west divide.
Two governments are vying for power: the one in Tripoli under Mr Dbayba and a second one in the east backed by strongman Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
Source: KYPE