Libya’s Parliament Approves Appointment of Belqasem as New Central 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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Libya’s Parliament Approves Appointment of Belqasem as New Central 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)

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 UN-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 Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU).

However, the country’s eastern parliament and the Supreme Council of State, an advisory body based in the capital, said removing al-Kabir was 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 UN-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 longtime leader, Moammar al-Gadhafi.

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.



US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel must take urgent steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza to avoid legal action involving US military aid, according to news reports on Tuesday.

"We are writing now to underscore the US government's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory," they wrote in an Oct. 13 letter to their Israeli counterparts, posted by an Axios reporter on X, according to Reuters.

The State Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Israel's government also could not be immediately reached for comment.

The report comes as Israeli forces expand operations into northern Gaza amid ongoing concerns about access to humanitarian aid throughout the enclave and civilians' access to food, water and medicine.

US officials earlier this year said Israel may have violated international humanitarian law using US-supplied weapons during its military operation in Gaza.

This week's letter cited Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act, which restricts (prohibits) military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.

It also cited a National Security Memorandum that US President Joe Biden issued in February that requires the State Department to report to Congress on whether it finds credible Israel's assurances that its use of US weapons does not violate US or international law.