Tunisian Merchants Purchase Generators From Algeria, Smuggled Into Libya

Dubai Market in El Eulma locality, Setif province, witnesses an unprecedented rush of Tunisian traders seeking power generators in order to be resold in Libya, where many regions are suffering black out, amid clashes between Gaddafi forces and rebels.

According to Habib, a Tunisian merchant, Gaddafi regime forces tend to cut electricity supply on the district of Al Jabal al Gharbi, to surround the stronghold of Libyan rebels. In return, the rebels tend to acquire power generators through the secured crossing point on the border with Tunisia, to restore electricity. 

Habib further added that he has come to Setif in order to purchase a load of small and medium sized generators from retailers in Dubai Market in Eulma, transport them to Tebessa province, near the borderline with Tunisia, where he would carry them to Tunisia and then resold them in Libya.   

A retailer in El Eulma said the high demand on generators turned these devices into precious objects, as Tunisian merchants tend to exploit their personal acquaintances with their Algerian counterparts to find hundred generators a day. 

In fact, generators acquired from Algeria are being sold in Libya, and yet contribute in helping local dwellers to bring up water from wells and restore power in their houses.