According to one of Reuters’ sources, the gunmen are close to the government of Prime Minister Dhabaiba.
A group of armed men was deployed late Wednesday outside the offices of the National Oil Company (EEP), eyewitnesses told the Reuters news agency, hours after an angry speech by President Mustafa Sanala, who rejected the decision of the government of national unity (GNU). of Abdulhamid Dbayba to dismiss him.
According to one of Reuters’ sources, the gunmen are close to the government of Prime Minister Dhabaiba.
Mr. Sanala stressed in his speech, which was broadcast live on television, that Prime Minister Dbayba’s term has expired and he has no authority to remove him from running Libya’s state-owned energy company.
Earlier yesterday, the Tripoli-based government released an executive order dated July 7 naming Farhat Bengdara, the former governor of Libya’s central bank (2006-2011) who joined the ranks of the opposition when the uprising broke out, as head of the EEP. in the north African country in 2011. He also appointed four other members of the EEP’s “board of directors”. Mr Benddara has already theoretically succeeded Mr Sanala, in the position since 2014.
But it is not certain that the decision will be implemented in the country, where chaos prevails and where government decisions, laws and decrees are too often left blank. The ad hoc committee that was supposed to handle the administrative changes postponed its work yesterday due to the reservations of the workers at the National Oil Company.
In his speech last night, Mr Sanala said he had no intention of leaving the EEP directorate. “This institution belongs to all Libyans, not to you,” he said, apparently addressing Prime Minister Dbayba. “The term of your government has expired,” he continued, insisting on the apolitical nature of the company.
Plunged into chaos after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, undermined by east-west conflicts, Libya, the country with the largest hydrocarbon deposits in Africa, remains caught in the grip of an intractable institutional crisis.
Since March, two governments have again been vying for power, one in Tripoli under Abdelhamid Dbayba, who took over in 2021, the other in eastern Libya, under Fathi Batsaga, who is supported by Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
Six oil wells and terminals have been forced to shut down since mid-April due to occupations and blockades by groups close to the government in eastern Libya, who are demanding power be transferred to Mr Batsaga and a “fairer distribution” of hydrocarbon revenues.
Mr. Sanala has also repeatedly clashed with the Dubai government’s oil minister, Mohammad Aoun.
After taking office, Mr. Sanala established himself as the main interlocutor of the EEP’s foreign partners, including large enterprises in the energy sector.
Mr Bengdara is said to be close to the United Arab Emirates, which supports the government in eastern Libya. His appointment may be the fruit of a deal between the Tripoli government and Marshal Haftar, according to observers.
Mr Sanala accused the UAE of being involved in the decision to replace him.
The continued chaotic political situation is removing 850,000 barrels per day from the global oil market due to facility shutdowns.
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