Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj didn’t accept a deal reached between his deputy prime minister and rival military commander Khalifa Haftar to lift an oil blockade, a top aide said, casting further doubt on an imminent resumption of production, according to Bloomberg.
Haftar had earlier announced he would lift the blockade that his eastern forces imposed on fields and ports in January. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq, who is often at odds with Sarraj, had made the agreement last week at a meeting in Sochi, Russia, with Haftar’s son and representatives from eastern Libya. He was meant to visit Sirte, a city by held by Haftar, to sign the agreement on Friday but was blocked by other members of his government.
Maiteeq said in an interview that he thought Sarraj would embrace the deal, but the senior aide, who can’t be named because of internal policy, denied that in a response to questions.
Bloomberg added that Libya’s National Oil Corporation had denounced what it called parallel talks in a statement late Thursday and said it wouldn’t lift force majeure until Russian mercenaries who support Haftar withdraw from oil installations.
Maiteeq said he wanted the mercenaries out of the country, but the issue didn’t come up in the talks with rival Libyans to restart production. The agreement is meant to set up a commission to distribute oil revenues more fairly, a key demand by Haftar that had led him to shut down the fields as his campaign to capture Tripoli — the western coast capital where Al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord is based — flagged in January.
Sarraj announced earlier this week that he will step down by the end of October to make way for a new government, raising the stakes for rivals within his camp who want to replace him.