Tunisia has reopened its consulate in the Libyan capital, the Libya foreign ministry said on Saturday, the latest mission to return to Tripoli.

The Tunisian consulate resumed work after talks between the two countries, the Libyan foreign ministry said. The Tunisian foreign ministry declined to comment, but a diplomatic source confirmed the move.</s>TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Tunisia has reopened its consulate in the Libyan capital, the Libya foreign ministry said on Saturday, the latest mission to return to Tripoli.

Most embassies left Tripoli in 2014 when heavy fighting broke out between rival factions and few came back when a U.N.-backed administration took office in 2016.

The Tunisian consulate resumed work after talks between the two countries, the Libyan foreign ministry said. The Tunisian foreign ministry declined to comment, but a diplomatic source confirmed the move.

Tunisian had closed its mission 2015 after ten staff were kidnapped.

In recent weeks some Western embassies have sent diplomats for longer stays to Tripoli as security has improved, although few stay full time on the ground.

The Italian and Turkish embassies as well as the U.N. mission are among the few open.

Tripoli is formally run by a Government of National Accord backed by the U.N. but in reality controlled by a patchwork of armed groups.

Big street clashes between rival groups have ended, but several rockets which hit Tripoli airport this week were a reminder that security remains shaky.

The U.N has been trying to meditate to produce a national government and end the rift between the administration in Tripoli and a rival one in the east, part of a conflict gripping the oil producer since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.</s>Tunisia has reopened its consulate in the Libyan capital, the Libya foreign ministry said on Saturday, the latest mission to return to Tripoli.

 Most embassies left Tripoli in 2014 when heavy fighting broke out between rival factions and few came back when a UN-backed administration took office in 2016.

 The Tunisian consulate resumed work after talks between the two countries, the Libyan foreign ministry said. The Tunisian foreign ministry declined to comment, but a diplomatic source confirmed the move.

 Tunisian had closed its mission 2015 after ten staff were kidnapped. In recent weeks some Western embassies have sent diplomats for longer stays to Tripoli as security has improved, although few stay full time on the ground.

 The Italian and Turkish embassies as well as the UN mission are among the few open. Tripoli is formally run by a Government of National Accord backed by the UN but in reality controlled by a patchwork of armed groups.—Agencies</s>TRIPOLI: Rockets hit Libya's main airport and damaged a plane as it was waiting to take off early on Thursday, a security force said, the same day as the United Nations envoy and France's ambassador were visiting the capital to discuss a peace plan.

One rocket hit an Airbus 320 and others struck the arrivals hall at Tripoli's Mitiga airport at around 2 a.m. (midnight GMT), but no one was injured, a spokesman for the Special Deterrence Force (Rada) said. U.N. envoy Ghassan Salame and French ambassador Brigitte Curmi arrived at the same airport - the only one operating in the city.

Their offices did not immediately release a statement on the attack or say when they landed.

Tripoli has been controlled by a patchwork of armed groups since a 2011 uprising that toppled long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi and splintered the country.

There have been rival governments in Tripoli and the east since 2014, when most diplomatic missions evacuated to neighbouring Tunisia.

Armed groups fighting for territory and power have regularly attacked Tripoli's transport hubs - undermining the government's efforts to persuade diplomatic missions to return to the capital.

Airlines have also struggled to maintain services and keep the oil-producing country connected to the outside world as attacks damage their planes.

Rada, a security grup that controls the airport alligned to Libya's internationally recognised government, said the rockets were fired by men loyal to a militia leader known as Bashir "the Cow", a group it has clashed with before.

France's Curmi met representatives of that govenrment in Tripoli at around 9 a.m., and the U.N.'s Salame held his meeting in the early afternoon.

When asked whether elections would be held this year, Salame said after meeting Foreign Minister Mohamed Taher Siala: "Sure. We promised this the U.N.Security Council."

He did not elaborate.

The United Nations launched a new round of talks in September in Tunis between the rival factions to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections in 2018 but divisions have prevented reaching an accord.

Mitiga is a military air base near the centre of Tripoli that began hosting civilian flights after the international airport was put out of service in 2014.</s>TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Rockets hit Libya's main airport and damaged a plane as it was waiting to take off early on Thursday, a security force said, underscoring fragile security.

One rocket hit an Airbus 320 of state-run Libyan Airlines, and others struck the arrivals hall at Tripoli's Mitiga airport at around 2 a.m.(0000 GMT), but no one was injured, a spokesman for the Special Deterrence Force (Rada) said. 

 Photos circulating on social media showed a tear in the tarmac and holes in the wing and body of the plane. 

 Tripoli has been controlled by a patchwork of armed groups since a 2011 uprising that toppled long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi and splintered the country. 

 Armed groups fighting for territory and power have regularly attacked the city's transport hubs - undermining the government's efforts to persuade diplomatic missions to return to the capital.

 There have been rival governments in Tripoli and the east since 2014, when most diplomatic missions evacuated to neighboring Tunisia.

 Airlines have struggled to maintain services and keep the oil-producing country connected to the outside world as attacks damage their planes.

 Mitiga is the only operating airport in Tripoli. Fighting in 2014 put the main international airport out of service.

 Rada, a security group aligned to Libya's internationally recognized government that controls the airport, said the rockets were fired by men loyal to a militia leader known as Bashir "the Cow" Khalfalla, a group it has clashed with before and which it blames for regular nighttime shelling of Mitiga.

 Italy and Turkey reopened their embassies in Tripoli last year. U.N. envoy Ghassan Salame is now based in the city, where he held a series of meetings on Thursday and attended an art exhibition with Prime Minister Fayez Seraj in the evening. French Ambassador Brigitte Curmi was also in the capital, holding talks with Libyan officials. 

 When asked whether elections would be held this year, Salame said after meeting Foreign Minister Mohamed Taher Siyala: "Sure. We promised this the U.N. Security Council." He did not elaborate.

 The United Nations launched a new round of talks in September in Tunis between the rival factions to prepare for elections in 2018, but divisions have so far prevented any accord.

 

 (Reporting by Tripoli newsroom; writing by Ulf Laessing and Aidan Lewis; editing by Andrew Heavens and Cynthia Osterman)</s>TUNIS/LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - Libya is considering whether to intervene in a $450 million deal that French major Total announced last month to buy Marathon Oil’s stake in the country’s Waha concessions, several sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Officials were considering a range of options ranging from pushing for better terms - after some in the oil industry and the media said the price was too low - to a counter-offer from the state National Oil Corporation (NOC), the sources said.

“The NOC wants to buy the Total part,” one source from the leadership of Libya’s internationally recognised government, the Presidency Council, said.

He added that officials were examining the value of the 16.33 percent Waha share with a view to possibly raising funds for a counter offer with money from Libya’s $67 billion sovereign wealth fund, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA).

“They think of the LIA as a potential financier ... LIA is exploring it, the process is just starting,” the source said

Libya had not given the required formal approval to the Total-Marathon deal, meaning it could be blocked, the source added.

NOC declined to comment. The Libyan Investment Authority did not immediately provide a response.

Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne told reporters at an industry event in Paris on Thursday that the deal was all but settled.

“The transaction is closed,” Pouyanne said. “There are some discussions on some fiscal issues with the government, but it will be done.”

A spokeswoman for Marathon Oil said the company had already received payment for the sale of its share.

A Libyan oil source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that at least some within the NOC found the price Total was paying too low.

The deal was “still under consideration and negotiations between many parties here in Tripoli”, a second oil Libyan oil source said.

NOC holds a 59.18 percent stake in Waha Oil Co. Other stakeholders are ConocoPhillips with 16.33 percent and Hess with 8.16 percent.

Waha’s output of 300,000 boe/d is expected to rise to 400,000 boe/d by the end of the decade, according to production figures given by Total when it announced the deal in early March.

Total said the deal would give it access to reserves and resources in excess of 500 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), with immediate production of around 50,000 boe/d (per day) and “significant exploration potential” in concessions in the Sirte Basin.

The stake carries production risks - a Waha pipeline has been hit twice in the past four months by suspected attacks, most recently on Saturday.

But it also gives Total a presence at fields in eastern Libya, where most of the country’s oil resources lie. Total already had stakes in the giant southwestern Sharara field, and the offshore Al Jurf field along the Tunisian border.

Libya has been split between rival military factions and governments based in the west and east of the country since 2014. The eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) has allowed the NOC in Tripoli to operate facilities on LNA territory, while opposing the internationally recognised government in the capital.

The Waha concessions, granted decades ago, are governed by a law that stipulates that Libya’s oil ministry must approve the deal, the Presidency Council source said.

Since the oil ministry is not currently operational, that power falls to the Presidency Council, he said, though the NOC has previously disputed the Council’s attempts to take over oil ministry powers. (Additional reporting by Ron Busso in London, Bate Felix in Paris and Ernest Scheyder in Houston)
Tunisia reopens its embassy in Tripoli, Libya. The embassy has been closed since the kidnap of ten staff in 2015.