CAIRO (AP) – One of Libya’s two rival administrations has accused the country’s security agency of abducting a former finance minister, and a tribal leader said that the abduction prompted the shutdown of four southern oilfields.
In a series of statements issued on Thursday, Libya’s House of Representatives said the country’s Internal Security Agency had kidnapped the former finance minister, Faraj Bumatari, at an airport on the outskirts of the capital, Tripoli.
It said Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah – an ally of the security agency’s chief – is now responsible for Bumatari’s safety.
The alleged abduction took place on Tuesday, according to Libyan media, and the minister’s whereabouts remain unknown. Dbeibah’s office has not responded to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Torn apart by civil conflict since 2011, Libya is divided between two rival governments, each backed by international patrons and numerous armed militias on the ground. The House of Representatives is seated in the eastern city of Tobruk, while its rival chamber and Dbeibah are based in Tripoli.
In response to the abduction, Libya’s southern al-Zawi tribe – from which Bumatari hails – led the shutdown of four inland oil fields on Thursday, one of the group’s leaders, al-Senussi al-Zawi, told the AP.
Among the four sites to have purportedly stopped production is the southwestern Sharara field, one of the country’s largest, which produces hundreds of thousands of barrels a day, he said.
“Our main demand is the release of the minister,” the tribal leader said, who spoke on the phone from the eastern city of Benghazi on Friday.
The three other sites purported to have stopped production are the El-Feel field, the Ibn Tufal field, and the 108 field, he said.
