Libyan rivals have agreed on a budget of 190 billion dinars
In April, Libya’s rival legislative bodies agreed for the first time in more than a decade on a budget totaling 190 billion Libyan dinars—nearly 30 billion dollars. The funds are to be distributed between the country’s two competing factions, according to Al Jazeera English.
The agreement was reached 15 years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Tripoli. Following the 2011 uprising, parallel institutions emerged in the country, armed conflicts persisted, and elections were repeatedly postponed. The only elections followed by a peaceful transfer of power took place in July 2012, when approximately 1.76 million people voted.
In 2014, General Khalifa Haftar launched a campaign against armed groups in Benghazi, and forces affiliated with him attacked the parliament in Tripoli. The newly elected members of parliament subsequently moved to the east of the country, where Haftar’s forces supported the parliament based in Tobruk. A 2015 UN peace agreement preserved both parliaments, and a Government of National Accord was formed in Tripoli.
Following an offensive by forces aligned with Haftar on Tripoli in 2019, a ceasefire took effect in the country in 2020. In 2021, as part of a UN-led process, Abdel Hamid Dbeibah became prime minister of the interim Government of National Unity. The elections, for which nearly 3 million Libyans had registered, were canceled two days before the vote. Since 2022, the parliament in the east of the country has supported an alternative administration, and the parties have yet to agree on election rules, the pool of eligible candidates, and the powers of the future government.
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In April, military personnel affiliated with the eastern and western authorities trained together for the first time in over a decade during U.S.-led exercises in Sirte, near the ceasefire line. In the west, the exercises were presided over by Khalifa Haftar’s son, Saddam, while the deputy defense minister in Tripoli, Abdel Salam Zubi, approved the exercises.
Amid political negotiations in the country, internal violence continues. Last year, Abdel Ghani al-Kikli, known as “Gneva,” was killed in Tripoli, and last week in Benghazi, Fawzi al-Mansouri, head of military intelligence for Haftar’s forces, was killed in a car bomb explosion. No one has claimed responsibility for these killings.
Economic cooperation between the factions is primarily tied to oil. Since 2011, various forces have repeatedly blocked ports and oil fields. In 2017, the Central Bank of Libya estimated the direct and indirect losses from three years of disruptions to the oil infrastructure at more than $160 billion. The blockade of oil fields and terminals carried out by Haftar in 2020 added nearly $10 billion in losses.
