According to the Financial Times on Friday, Sadiq al-Kabir, the governor of Libya’s central bank, stated that he and other senior bank employees were compelled to flee the nation to “protect our lives” from possible attacks by armed militia.
“Militias are threatening and terrifying bank staff and are sometimes abducting their children and relatives to force them to go to work,” Kabir told the newspaper via telephone.
Additionally, he argued that attempts to remove him by acting prime minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah were unlawful and went against agreements negotiated by the United Nations about central bank governance.
There is more instability in Libya due to the conflict surrounding the Central Bank of Libya. This important oil producer is divided into factions that support Russia and Turkey in the east and west, respectively.
Early this week, the U.N. Support Mission in Libya demanded an end to unilateral decisions, the removal of the oil fields’ force majeure, the cessation of force and escalation, and the security of central bank staff.
Two field engineers who talked with Reuters claim that the reason behind the near total cessation of production in the Sarir field on Wednesday was a political struggle over control of the central bank and oil revenue.
The majority of Libya’s oilfields are in the east, and on Monday, local authorities there announced they would cease all exports and production.