Libyan family forced to live in van amid energy crisis - in pictures

Tripoli is enduring chronic power cuts and a severe summer heat

Mahmud Aguil sits with his children in the back of his air-conditioned van, parked at his home in Libya's capital Tripoli, on July 5, 2022. - Aguil, 48, who has a comfortable house in central Tripoli, has been forced to sleep with his two children in the back of his air-conditioned van amid enduring power cuts of up to 18 hours a day, the latest trial for Libyans after a decade of persistent insecurity, fuel shortages, crumbling infrastructure and economic woes since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi. (Photo by Mahmud Turkia / AFP)

'This is my bedroom,' Mr Aguil says of the cramped vehicle. Its back seats have been removed to make space for him and his two young children. 'In the morning I wake up with a terrible backache. That's our life these days.'

Libyans are enduring electricity cuts of up to 18 hours a day, despite their country sitting on top of Africa's largest proven oil reserves.

The Tripoli-based authorities have sought to quell public anger over the power outages, admitting they had underestimated the problem. Interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said three power stations were to open this month, two in the west and one in the east.

'Even when we have electricity, it's very weak — just enough to keep the lights on,' says Mr Aguil, who works for a group clearing unexploded ordnance.

The electricity crisis is only the latest trial for Libyans after a decade of insecurity, fuel shortages, crumbling infrastructure and economic woes since a 2011 Nato-backed uprising toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi .

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