The Media Center of the Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives stated that the Speaker of the House, Aqila Saleh, told the American ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, that the reopening of the oil fields will be after installing the mechanism for distributing oil revenues in a fair manner to all Libyan regions, and that tribal groups have closed since last April 17 most of the fields and ports oil.
Aqila Saleh added, in his meeting yesterday with Ambassador Norland in Cairo, that he will strive to resolve the crisis of closing the oil fields and ports in the south and east of the country, and the parties behind the closure demand the National Unity Government headed by Abdel Hamid Al-Dabaiba to hand over power to the Fathi Pashaga government appointed by him. Parliament since early February.
The Prime Minister of the Unity Government, Dabaiba, said last month that “the real actor behind this (closing the oil fields and ports) is the political class that seeks to extend a new transitional authority, and rejects the elections.”
Dabaiba added, “When that political class failed in that extension, they stopped the oil in order to continue humiliating the people, and to impose a fait accompli by blackmail.”
For his part, the US ambassador to Libya said that Washington is committed to supporting a Libyan-led mechanism to manage oil revenues “in a manner that promotes maximum transparency and cooperation among all political forces in Libya, and facilitates early agreement on a path for parliamentary and presidential elections.”
Oil revenues form the backbone of the Libyan state’s treasury resources, and the country’s oil production is 1.1 million barrels per day, earmarked for export.
Constitutional talks
The account of the US embassy on Twitter stated that Saleh confirmed the parliament’s participation in the constitutional talks with the Supreme Council of State, which are scheduled to resume in Cairo on May 15, under the supervision of the United Nations Special Adviser to the Secretary-General Stephanie Williams.
The meetings of the two councils aim to agree on constitutional frameworks regulating the presidential and parliamentary elections, which have been postponed to an unspecified date until now.
On the other hand, the Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives said that the work of the government of Fathi Bashagha from the city of Sirte (central Libya) will enable it to operate in complete freedom, and it will not fall victim to extortion by militias or anyone, as he described it.
Two governments quarrel
And in early February, the House of Representatives assigned Bashagha to form a government to succeed the government of Dabaiba, who refused to surrender except to a government that would come through a new parliament elected by the people, amid fears of a crisis that would push the country into civil war.
On April 21, the Bashagha government held its first meeting in the city of Sabha (south) to discuss its program.
Aqila Saleh said that the House of Representatives, in its scheduled session today, Monday, will study the draft general budget for the current fiscal year, submitted by the Bashagha government.
It should be noted that the country is suffering from a worsening political crisis. After the impasse of the failure to hold presidential elections at the end of last year, a power struggle emerged between two governments: the first, headed by former Interior Minister Bashagha, was formed after the House of Representatives granted it confidence, and the second stemmed from a political agreement sponsored by the United Nations. More than a year ago, and headed by Dabaiba.
