Libya’s central bank (CBL) has suspended operations, citing the kidnapping of one of its senior employees in the country's capital, Tripoli and threats against other officials as reasons for the decision.
The bank said in a statement on Sunday that an “unknown party” had abducted its IT director, Musab Msallem, earlier in the day in front of his home.
“The bank rejects the mob-like methods that are practiced by some parties outside of the law,” it stated.
The monetary authority declared that it would not resume operations until Msallem’s release, and until “relevant agencies” intervene against practices that “threaten the safety of its employees and the continuity of the banking sector’s work.”
Sunday’s kidnapping unfolded a week after gunmen reportedly laid siege to the central bank’s headquarters in Tripoli. The attackers demanded the resignation of the bank’s governor, Seddik al-Kabir, according to local media.
Last week, following a meeting with Kabir, US Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland denounced threats to the security of CBL staff and operations as “unacceptable.”
“Attempting to replace the leadership of the CBL by force can result in Libya losing access to international financial markets. Disputes over distribution of Libya’s wealth must be settled through transparent, inclusive negotiations toward a unified, consensus-based budget,” Norland stated.
The autonomous but state-owned CBL is the only internationally recognized depository for the North African nation’s oil revenues – a critical source of economic income for a country long divided between two competing governments in Tripoli and Benghazi.
Libya remains fractured and conflict-torn, more than a decade after the 2011 NATO-backed invasion, which saw the overthrow and execution of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Rival factions control different parts of the once-prosperous African country. The Tripoli-based interim Government of National Unity (GNU), led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, was installed as part of a UN-backed process to prepare for elections. The other administration in the country’s east is backed by the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.