The head of the Libyan state oil company rejects his dismissal and charges against the unity government

Militiamen aligned with Dbeibé surround the NOC headquarters in the capital, Tripoli

July 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Mustafá Sanalá, dismissed on Thursday as president of the Libyan state oil company, has refused to leave office and has harshly charged the unity prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibé, who has put Farhat ben Gadara in charge of the company. .

Sanalá has said that the decision is part of “an agreement between Dbeibé and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to control Libyan oil” and has denounced that the “outgoing” unity government “attempts to manipulate the institution by reaching agreements with the Emirati authorities” .

Thus, he has affirmed that the unity authorities have received more than 165,000 million Libyan dinars (about 33,625 million euros) in income derived from the NOC’s oil exports and has questioned its use in the face of the deep economic crisis in the country. , according to the newspaper ‘The Libya Observer’.

“This is an institution of the Libyan people, not of the Dbeibé family, and they have no power over it. This government has expired and Parliament appointed another Executive,” he argued, referring to the decision of the House of Representatives, with headquarters in the east of the country, to appoint Fazi Bashaga as prime minister after ending Dbeibé’s mandate due to the postponement of the elections scheduled for December 2021.

Sanalá has also charged Ben Gadara and accused him of “conspiring with the UAE to control Libya’s oil resources”, before warning against any attempt to take control of the NOC headquarters by force, in the midst of a new rise in tensions in the African country.

In fact, the forces of the Misrata Joint Security Chamber militia – an ally of Dbeibé – have surrounded the company’s headquarters in the capital, Tripoli, although for the moment there have been no clashes, as reported by the newspaper ‘The Libyan Herald’.

Dbeibé was elected as prime minister by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) in February 2021, thereby replacing the then unity prime minister, Fayez Serraj, who agreed to cede his powers after the consultation process, initiated after a ceasefire agreement after the Tripoli authorities rejected the military offensive launched in April 2019 by General Khalifa Haftar, aligned with the authorities based in the east.

In this context, the US ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, has shown his “deep concern” over recent events and has said that the NOC “is vital for the stability and prosperity of Libya.”

Norland has pointed out that the company “has remained independent at a political level and competent at a technical level under the leadership of Mustafá Sanalá” and has added that his dismissal “may lead to a dispute in the courts, but it should not be a reason for armed confrontations” .

“The key public policy considerations for Libya in this regard appear to be its oil and gas production, which is being restored, to address the urgent problems facing Libyans, especially power cuts,” he said, according to messages. posted on Twitter by the US Embassy in Libya.

For this reason, he has advocated “a mechanism for the transparent management and supervision of income” and has asked that “Libyan leaders from all parties recognize that, once again, these events demonstrate the urgent need for political will to reach a compromise and move immediately to reconciliation and elections”.