Libya’s parliament approves appointment of Belqasem as new central bank governor

By The Associated Press

This is a locator map for Libya with its capital, Tripoli. (AP Photo)[ASSOCIATED PRESS]

CAIRO (AP) — Libya’s eastern parliament on Monday agreed to appoint Naji Mohamed Issa Belqasem as the new central bank governor after the former governor, Sadiq al-Kabir, was fired last month by the presidential council in the capital, Tripoli.

Parliament spokesperson Abdullah Bliheg said Monday that all 108 lawmakers voted in favor of appointing Belqasem, who previously was the central bank’s director of banking and monetary control.

The parliament also appointed Mari Muftah Rahil Barrasi as his deputy. Belqasem and Barrasi are expected to form a new board of directors for the central bank within 10 days.

The decision came as part of a U.N.-facilitated agreement between the parliament and the High Council of State to appoint new leadership for the country’s central bank.

Last month, the presidential council issued a decree to appoint Mohamed Abdul Salam al-Shukri, the former deputy governor, as a replacement for al-Kabir. The presidential council in Tripoli is allied with the government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah that controls western Libya.

However, the country’s eastern parliament and the Supreme Council of State, an advisory body based in the capital, said removing al-Kabirwas was an illegitimate move and that such a decision should have been made in coordination with both bodies. That is according to interim regulations agreed upon during U.N.-backed talks that help oversee the unity of the country’s institutions.

Al-Kabir served as the central bank’s governor since October 2011, the year when Libya plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising overthrew the country’s leader, Moammar Gadhafi, who ruled Libya for more than four decades.

During the months that led up to his removal, al-Kabir was criticized by officials from both sides of the North African nation’s political divide over the allocation of Libya’s oil money.