The Tripoli-based National Accord Government (NAG) will not support the agreement with its main rival in the civil war

Fayez Sarraj rejects Haftar's agreement to lift the blockade on the Libyan oil industry

photo_camera PHOTO/AP - Fayez Sarraj, President of the National Accord Government of Libya

Fayez Sarraj, president of the Tripoli-based National Accord Government, on Saturday rejected an agreement offered by Marshal Jalifa Haftar, leader of the Libyan National Army and a strongman in the east of the country, to lift the blockade on the oil industry, which is vital to the North African nation's revenues, according to the Associated Press (AP).  "The prime minister has not given the go-ahead to the final version of the agreement," said an NAG official, who requested anonymity, in statements to the AP. Haftar announced in a televised speech on Friday that his forces would allow Libya's oil facilities to return to operation for the first time since January under "conditions that ensure a fair distribution of income. 

The agreement to start pumping Libyan oil again was led by the deputy prime minister of the ANG, Ahmed Matiq, after Sarraj said he planned to hand over power at the end of October to a new administration in Tripoli. Matiq managed to reach an agreement to distribute the country's petrodollars more equitably among the parties to the conflict, according to Ahmed al-Mosmari, the spokesman for Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA).

Mosmari said in televised comments on Saturday that Haftar's army "opened up channels of communication" with the LNA Tripoli, accusing Sarraj and the militias that support him of opposing the resumption of oil production. The agreement between Matiq and Haftar's representatives did not address the twenty or so Russian mercenaries of Wagner, a private security company linked to the Kremlin, stationed in the oil fields which, according to the National Oil Corporation of Libya (NOC), continue to be an obstacle to the resumption of exports.

Matiq has largely negotiated the agreement behind closed doors with Haftar's son, Khalid, and its final form took many Libyan leaders by surprise. Matiq and Haftar's son met earlier this month in Russia, a key supporter of Haftar. Osama al-Juwaili, a military leader of the ANG forces in Tripoli, has called the agreement a "farce" in televised comments. He urged Sarraj to announce his full position on the agreement. Gomaa al-Gamaty, Sarraj's envoy to the Maghreb countries, has pointed out that the agreement is likely to fail as the prime minister, the national oil company and the Tripoli Central Bank were not part of the pact. Mustafa Sanallah, the president of the NOC, on Friday rejected what he called "secret" and "disorganised" negotiations aimed at undermining an internationally negotiated political process to reopen the oil fields.

Oil crucial in Libyan conflict negotiations

Libya's precious light crude oil has long been a central factor in the civil war, as rival militias and foreign powers vie for control of Africa's largest oil reserves. Haftar's troops took control of the oil fields for the first time in January, reducing Libya's 1.2 million barrels per day to a trickle and depriving the country of much-needed cash, to highlight the unequal distribution of oil revenues between the different parties to the conflict. 

The blockade has deprived the Tripoli-based NOC of nearly $10 billion in revenue and caused a fuel shortage throughout the country. Libya is fragmented into several political legitimacies after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country is divided between two rival administrations, the East and the West, which are backed by various foreign governments, leading to an internationalisation of the conflict in recent years.

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