UN Libya Mission to Resume Talks between Factions over Bank Governor

 Libyan Ministry of Interior personnel stand guard in front of the Central Bank of Libya in Tripoli, Libya, August 27, 2024. (Reuters)
Libyan Ministry of Interior personnel stand guard in front of the Central Bank of Libya in Tripoli, Libya, August 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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UN Libya Mission to Resume Talks between Factions over Bank Governor

 Libyan Ministry of Interior personnel stand guard in front of the Central Bank of Libya in Tripoli, Libya, August 27, 2024. (Reuters)
Libyan Ministry of Interior personnel stand guard in front of the Central Bank of Libya in Tripoli, Libya, August 27, 2024. (Reuters)

The UN mission in Libya will resume facilitating talks between factions in Tripoli on Wednesday to try to resolve the central bank crisis that has slashed oil output and threatened to end four years of relative stability.

Libya's two legislative bodies, the House of Representatives based in Benghazi in eastern Libya, and the High Council of State in Tripoli in the west, agreed this month to jointly appoint a central bank governor, potentially defusing a battle for control of the country's oil revenue.

Libya's central bank is the sole legal repository for oil revenue, and it pays state salaries across the country.

The consultations between the two bodies were supposed to have concluded on Monday over an agreement to choose a nominee for governor and a board of directions within 30 days, having already been extended last week by five days.

The UN mission, in agreeing to resume the talks with both legislative bodies and the Presidential Council, said "time is of the essence in reaching a consensual solution to the crisis and mitigating its adverse effects".

The Presidential Council, based in Tripoli, had only rarely intervened directly in Libyan politics before its head Mohammed al-Menfi moved in August to replace veteran central bank Governor Sadiq al-Kabir which led eastern factions to order a halt of oil flows across Libyan oilfields in protest.

Libya has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising and it split in 2014 between eastern and western factions. Major warfare ended with a ceasefire in 2020 and attempts to reunify, but divisions persist.

The House of Representatives parliament and the High State Council were both recognized internationally in a 2015 political agreement, although they backed different sides for much of Libya's conflict.



Israel Police Says Forces Kill Five Palestinian Fighters in West Bank

 Palestinian people inspect the car that was hit by bullets in which Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli special forces in the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)
Palestinian people inspect the car that was hit by bullets in which Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli special forces in the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)
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Israel Police Says Forces Kill Five Palestinian Fighters in West Bank

 Palestinian people inspect the car that was hit by bullets in which Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli special forces in the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)
Palestinian people inspect the car that was hit by bullets in which Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli special forces in the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)

Israeli forces killed five armed Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Israeli police said.

There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials or armed groups. The Palestinian health ministry confirmed the deaths of only four men.

The Palestinian official news agency WAFA said that Israeli special forces had opened fire on a vehicle that the men were travelling in, in the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

Violence has surged across the West Bank since the start of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians - including armed fighters, stone-throwing youths and civilian bystanders - have been killed in clashes with Israeli security forces.

Dozens of Israelis have been killed in Palestinian street attacks over the past year. At least six people were wounded, two of them seriously, in a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Hadera on Wednesday, Israeli authorities said.