Libya’s House of Representatives, based in Benghazi in the east of the country, and the High Council of State in Tripoli in the west, signed a joint statement after two days of talks hosted by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya.
The two sides agreed to appoint a central bank governor and board of directors within 30 days. The Central Bank of Libya is the sole legal entity responsible for Libya’s oil revenues and pays salaries to state employees across the country.
The two legislative bodies also agreed to extend the consultation period for an additional five days, ending on September 9.
Libya has not enjoyed stability since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, and the country split into two factions, one in the east and the other in the west, in 2014. A long war ended with a ceasefire in 2020, and while there have been attempts to restore unity, divisions remain.
The House of Representatives and the High Council of State were internationally recognized in a 2015 political agreement, despite supporting different sides in most of the Libyan conflict.
The confrontation began when the head of the Presidential Council in Tripoli moved last month to oust the veteran central bank governor, Siddiq al-Kabir, and replace him with a rival board.
This prompted factions in eastern Libya to declare a complete halt to oil production, threatening to end four years of relative stability.
Some oil production has since resumed, and oil prices fell about 5 percent on Tuesday to their lowest in about nine months, in a sign that traders expect the latest deal to lead to increased oil flows.
The Libyan Central Bank’s operations have been halted due to the conflict over control of the bank, leaving it unable to conduct transactions for more than a week. Behind the issue lies the country’s divided political landscape between competing ruling institutions with weak claims to legitimacy.
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