Responding Monday to the ouster by the Western authorities of the governor of the BCL, who manages the oil windfall and the state budget distributed between the different regions, their rivals in the East stopped production and export oil companies.
The UN and the United States yesterday called political actors in Libya for an “urgent” meeting to defuse the crisis surrounding the Central Bank (BCL) and the blockade of oil production and exports, reports AFP. Expressing its “deep concern at the deterioration of the situation”, the UN Support Mission in Libya (Manual) “convened an emergency meeting of all parties involved in the BCL crisis to reach a consensus based on political agreements, laws, and the principle of the independence of the BCL,” according to a press release.
The U.S. Embassy in Libya called the proposal “a path forward to resolving the crisis surrounding the Central Bank.”
Responding Monday to the ouster by the Western authorities of the governor of the BCL, who manages the oil windfall and the state budget distributed between the different regions, their rivals in the East stopped production and export oil companies.
Resolving the BCL crisis “is an urgent necessity”, underlined Manul, warning of a risk of “financial and economic collapse of the country”.
She described as “unilateral decisions” both that of the Presidential Council, in agreement with Prime Minister Dbeibah, to replace the governor of the BCL Seddik Al Kebir, and the closure until further notice of oil fields and terminals by the camp Haftar, mainly based in the East and South which he controls.
On Monday, a new management team entered the BCL premises, but analysts have expressed doubts about its ability to operate this institution, which stopped all its operations with the departure of Governor Al Kebir.
Recently, this governor, in office since 2012, was criticized by A. Dbeibah’s entourage for his management of the oil windfall and the budget, considered too favorable to the Haftar clan. On August 11, several dozen people, some of them armed, tried to expel him from the building before they dispersed.
A week later, the BCL’s IT director was briefly removed. In addition to talks, the UN asked the parties to suspend “unilateral” decisions concerning the BCL, guarantee the safety of its employees, and lift the oil blockade.
Legitimacy
The American embassy deplored “worrying reports (…) of arbitrary arrests and intimidation against BCL employees”. In the grip of chaos since the fall and death of dictator Muammar El Gueddafi in 2011, Libya is governed by two rival executives: that of Abdelhamid Dbeibah installed in Tripoli (west) and recognized by the UN, and another in the East, supported by Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
Between April 2019 and June 2020, the Haftar camp attempted to seize Tripoli but failed at the last minute after a bloody battle. After a ceasefire, an agreement was signed in 2021 in Geneva under the aegis of the UN, establishing provisional institutions, pending general elections scheduled for the end of 2021. Polls are postponed indefinitely due to divergences on their legal basis.
Recently, the Parliament which sits in the East once again challenged the legitimacy of the GNU, affirming, with the support of the Haftar camp, only recognizing Osama Hammad as head of a “legitimate government”. Parliament also stripped the Presidential Council, another body resulting from the 2021 agreement, representing the three regions of the country, of its role as “supreme commander of the armies”.
In reaction, the Dbeibah government estimated that “the decisions of Parliament do not change the Libyan reality in any way”, because they come from a political actor who “fights to stay in power as long as possible”, stressing that he “ derives its legitimacy from the political agreement” in Geneva.
