The U.N. mission in Libya will resume facilitating talks between factions in Tripoli on Wednesday to try to resolve the central bank crisis that has slashed oil output and threatened to end four years of relative stability.
Libya’s two legislative bodies, the House of Representatives based in Benghazi in eastern Libya, and the High Council of State in Tripoli in the west, agreed this month to jointly appoint a central bank governor, potentially defusing a battle for control of the country’s oil revenue.
Libya’s central bank is the sole legal repository for oil revenue, and it pays state salaries across the country.
The consultations between the two bodies were supposed to have concluded on Monday over an agreement to choose a nominee for governor and a board of directions within 30 days, having already been extended last week by five days.
The U.N. mission, in agreeing to resume the talks with both legislative bodies and the Presidential Council, said “time is of the essence in reaching a consensual solution to the crisis and mitigating its adverse effects”.
The Presidential Council, based in Tripoli, had only rarely intervened directly in Libyan politics before its head Mohammed al-Menfi moved in August to replace veteran central bank Governor Sadiq al-Kabir which led eastern factions to order a halt of oil flows across Libyan oilfields in protest.
Libya has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising and it split in 2014 between eastern and western factions. Major warfare ended with a ceasefire in 2020 and attempts to reunify, but divisions persist.
The House of Representatives parliament and the High State Council were both recognised internationally in a 2015 political agreement, although they backed different sides for much of Libya’s conflict.