A weekly report monitoring media and periodicals’ leaks on Libyan affairs, issued by the Libyan Center for Security and Military Studies

Preface

In this paper , we seek to shed light on a summary of the current political events during the previous period , and we aim to read an analytical view of some positions , and try to understand their context and present them to those interested , to contribute and raise awareness about the events and their developments.

• Parliament government and the specter of oil shutdown

The Libyan government mandated by the House of Representatives, headed by Osama Hammad, said after the arrest of “Bashagha” in recent weeks, It has completed the administrative seizure procedures in accordance with the law on oil revenues for the year 2022.

The government in charge of Hammad’s presidency said in a statement, That the seizure will affect the funds related to the development section only without prejudice to the item of salaries with the continuation of spending on the service sectors, “Hammad” stressed that the government will resort to the judiciary to appoint a judicial guard over the seized funds, and that they will raise the red flag if necessary, It blocks the flow of oil and gas and declares force majeure until the procedures are completed.

And after that, The Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in Parliament, “Issa Al-Oraibi”, supported the reservation of the Ministry of Planning and Finance in the government assigned by them on oil revenues for the year 2022 and beyond, estimated at 130 billion dinars, and a statement by Al-Araibi stated that this measure aims to prevent tampering with revenues and disbursing them in the wrong direction and the correct assets, taking into account Law No. (152) of 1970, Pursuant to the text of article VIII of the Constitutional Declaration, which establishes the principle of equitable distribution of wealth, According to the statement.

The Chairman of the Energy Committee based the terms of reference of the step on the House of Representatives Resolution No. (49) of 2023 regarding the formation of a committee headed by the Chairman of the National Oil Corporation to restructure and implement budgets. According to the statement.

The statement quoted Al-Araibi as supporting the steps of the government mandated by Parliament on the measures taken in order to reach a fair distribution of wealth among all Libyan people. And after that, The meeting of Prime Minister-designate Osama Hammad with the head of the National Oil Corporation “Farhat bin Qadara”, Which is strange on the surface, Where the NOC is affiliated with the Government of National Unity headed by “Abdul Hamid Dabaiba”, It is the same one who brought Ben Qadara over the past months.

The meeting of “Hammad” and Ben Qadara” “did not stop there, The parties declared that they had discussed the principle of “equitable distribution” of wealth, which implied it, Bin Qadara supports the procedures for withholding oil revenues announced by Hammad about two days before the meeting.

We have pointed out in previous weekly papers that “Bin Qadara” came from the womb of the leadership of the Rajma, where he is among its supporters and supporters, The French intelligence newspaper Africa Intelligence recently revealed that Ben Kaddara has appointed Haftar loyalists to head important oil institutions and companies. Note that the appointment of Bin Qadara came as a secret deal between Haftar and Dabaiba to achieve the interests of both parties, But the appearance of Bin Qadara with Hammad in the meeting we talked about may be the beginning of Bin Qadara’s departure from the cloak of Dabaiba, Hence, the rapprochement between Dabaiba and Haftar may have failed.

• Rapprochement between the Central Banks of Libya and Egypt

A report by the Central Bank of Egypt revealed that it received a Libyan deposit worth $ 700 million, and days after the release of the report, the governor of the Central Bank of Libya, “Al-Siddiq Al-Kabir”, visited his Egyptian counterpart, “Hassan Abdullah” in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
According to the official announcement, The two parties discussed the file of bank transfers for Egyptian workers in Libya, In addition to addressing the areas of training and development, exchanging experiences and global economic conditions.

The Russian agency Sputnik said, based on sources it described as “knowledgeable”, In a report she deleted four hours after it was published, This meeting comes with Turkey as part of the rapprochement that Ankara seeks to achieve with Cairo, especially since the Libyan and Turkish capitals have a border demarcation that gives Cairo a greater share of the demarcation that Athens and the Israeli occupation authority aim for. What may be a card that we do not say will bring Egypt into the arms of Turkey, but it may ease the dispute between them.

• Intensive meetings of “Norland” in Tripoli

Following the briefing of the UN envoy to Libya, Abdullah Batele, to the Security Council on 20 June, The envoy of the United States of America and its ambassador in Tripoli, Richard Norland, held a round of local and international talks, during which he met with senior officials of the capital, Where the American envoy met with members of the Presidential Council, “Musa Al-Koni” and “Abdullah Al-Lafi”, in addition to another meeting with the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, In addition to two other meetings with the head of the National Oil Corporation “Farhat bin Qadara” and the Attorney General “Siddiq Al-Sur”.

The elections came on top of Norland’s talks and his emphasis on leaders in the capital to hold them, In line with the positions of Washington and the West recently regarding the elections in Libya.

However, it is noticeable that the declaration in favor of holding and supporting elections has become routine without actual steps on the ground. With the exception of the issuance of electoral laws, which seem to be an attempt to open the door to amend them after the announcement by the head of the High National Elections Commission, “Imad Al-Sayeh”, that some of its provisions make it impossible to hold elections from a procedural and technical point of view.

• Campaign against cryptocurrency decorating facilities

The Attorney General’s Office announced that the security forces in the Western Region raided more than 6 facilities for modifying digital currencies, In addition to controlling two workers inside it, Among them are more than 50 Chinese expatriates.

While the campaign shocked the pioneers of social networking sites, Between surprised and wondering, However, the reality of the country contradicts this astonishment, These facilities are old in Libya, As well as old expose.

A digital report by Bloomberg revealed, Issued more than a year ago, Libya is the first Arab in mining digital currencies such as “Bitcoin” and “Ethereum” and others, 0.13% of global production.

This is in addition to the lack of control over electricity in Libya, Except that its cost, if any, is cheap, makes the country the focus of attention of mining workers, Especially since the country has gone through a wide political division and security fragmentation, and perhaps some security services have become eastern, western and south, A source for every transgression can be a source of money.

29 June 2023

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