Libyan Fighters Seize Benghazi Branch of Central Bank

[Suzanimal]

BAYDA, Libya — Fighters for one of the factions battling for control of Libya seized the Benghazi branch of the country’s central bank on Thursday, threatening to set off an armed scramble for the bank’s vast stores of money and gold, and cripple one of the last functioning institutions in the country.

The central bank is the repository for Libya’s oil revenue and holds nearly $100 billion in foreign currency reserves. It is the great prize at the center of the armed struggles that have raged here since the overthrow of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011. Western leaders had hoped that it might play a crucial role in helping to bring the rest of the country back together.

Since Libyan rebels toppled Colonel Qaddafi with the help of Western airstrikes, the country has slipped into chaos, as militias grounded in particular locations or ideologies have battled for turf, money and influence. Rival coalitions of these armed groups have divided the country into hostile camps, shutting down the two largest airports, crippling the ports, bombing and shelling civilian neighborhoods, and burning refineries and oil depots.

Though the country has vast energy resources, people living in its cities now face daily electricity blackouts, long lines to obtain scarce fuel, and shortages of staple products like cooking oil.

The central bank has been the main force sustaining a semblance of order and holding off dire deprivation and utter collapse in Libya. Its leaders have managed so far to stay above the factional fray, continuing to pay public employees’ salaries and consumer subsidies all across the country. But in the process, the bank has also financed the budgets of the Interior and Defense Ministries, including salaries and supplies for thousands of fighters on all sides of the struggle.

The bank’s neutrality has come under increasing strain as the warring factions established rival national governments, one based in Tripoli in the west and the other in the eastern cities of Tobruk and Bayda. The central bank has two facilities, one in each side’s home region.

The Tobruk-Bayda government is under the de facto control of Gen. Khalifa Hifter, and includes a recently elected parliament. It has sought since October to replace the central bank’s chairman, Sadik el-Kaber, and take control of the bank’s assets. But Mr. Kaber has refused to resign, and has kept the bank’s headquarters in Tripoli, the nominal capital, which is controlled by a rival coalition of moderate Islamists, extremists and regional militias.

The taking of the Benghazi branch by forces loyal to General Hifter raised fears that the rival militias in Tripoli might seek to seize the bank’s assets there.

Mr. Kaber has pleaded with both sides to respect the bank’s neutrality and keep it above politics, in order to safeguard Libya’s wealth. Those arguments appear to have won important support among Western nations, which have a critical voice in the bank’s future because much of the bank’s assets are held in Western financial centers.


Mr. Kaber flew to Washington last month for two days of meetings with American and British diplomats, as well as with officials from the White House and the State and Treasury Departments, signaling that the West continues to regard him as the person in charge despite the Tobruk-Bayda’s efforts to replace him.

The seizure began late Wednesday night, when some of General Hifter’s fighters invaded the bank’s building in Benghazi, near the front lines of a continuing fight with local Islamist militias.

The attackers beat back the bank guards and the Islamists and took control of the bank premises. But they posted video images online that appeared intended to show that they had not broken into the vaults, at least not yet.

“We are the youth of the naval base, and we are here to guard the bank,” a fighter in a camouflage uniform is heard to say in a video, as he leads the camera on a tour of the bank’s interior and its flooded basement. Gunfire is audible in the background, apparently coming from the streets outside.

Pointing proudly to a parked white Toyota Camry and a closed safe numbered 835, the fighter in the video says, “There is more inside, but we don’t want to enter, so they don’t call us thieves.”

Officials in Washington have said in recent days that they met with Mr. Kaber because they were focusing on protecting the bank.

“We want very much to bring the conflict to a close, and to do everything we can to help the Libyans preserve the patrimony of the Libyan bank and the Libyan people,” said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. “We want their money to be intact after the conflict, so that they can rebuild their country.” The official said the United States and its allies are exploring economic sanctions as a way to press both sides to form a unity government.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/w...ize-benghazi-branch-of-central-bank.html?_r=0

 

[TomKat]

The real question is "are they going to be running this central bank and try to take over the world the way real terrorists do??"



J/K. The real terrorists would never let that happen. USA USA USA

 

[thoughtomator]

Pretty amazing how this reads once you understand what central banks actually do.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

Pretty amazing how this reads once you understand what central banks actually do.

The central bank has been the main force sustaining a semblance of order and holding off dire deprivation and utter collapse in Libya. Its leaders have managed so far to stay above the factional fray, continuing to pay public employees’ salaries and consumer subsidies all across the country. But in the process, the bank has also financed the budgets of the Interior and Defense Ministries, including salaries and supplies for thousands of fighters on all sides of the struggle.

....

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

Please post the juicy stuff online
Please post the juicy stuff online
Please post the juicy stuff online

-t

whatta ya mean they had to nuke the bank in order to save it?

 

[Acala]

When central banks start falling, you will know you are seeing a REAL revolution. Conflicts that spare the central bank are just power struggles amongst the minions of the status quo.

 

[HOLLYWOOD]

Below are just a few of the forum threads since 2011 to reflect on the motives/operations...

PS: You really have to go to independent foreign news to get the truth now. Many Google Search/et al terms/hits have been deleted.

Libya - A war for a Central Bank + UN submission

Saudi Wahhabism Expands into Libya


Zbigniew Brzezinski On CNN About Libya

Ex-Ambassador John Bolton on Libya:

U.S. Launches attack against Libya

Libya in Chaos

Libya: All About Oil, or All About Banking?

Libya's Rebels Given Full UN Membership

Quick Action: UN Gives Libya’s Rebels a Seat

General Assembly Votes 114-17 in Favor of NTC Seat

Obama: Oh, by the way, we’re going to war in Libya

Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya deal

Libya rebels will receive $25M from U.S.

Ron Paul on Libya: “This is a Mess”

Civilian Deaths in Libya

Libya “Very Important” to the US – Senator McCain

Neocons Want War with Libya not just a no fly zone.

Why does NATO want Libya's gold?

Take a look at what your tax dollars are buying in Libya.

I'd FORGOTTEN this about Newt and Romney Flip-Floppers on Libya....

The Hypocrisy is Killing Me in Libya.

Libya to Ban interest on loans.. Now we're really going to have to invade them..

Ron Paul/Denise Kucinich suing Obama over Libya

Is US Behind ‘Rogue’ General’s Libya Coup?

Release: Why Did the Fed Bail Out the Bank of Libya?

Libya: No Foreign Intervention!

Why was Gaddafi of Libya Killed?

Hillary Clinton Reiterates, Obama Doesn't Need Congress For Libya War Actions


Hillary Clinton: Obama Will Ignore Congress on Libya War

US to impose sanctions on Libya

Clinton & Obama said they'll IGNORE CONGRESS regarding Libya

U.S., UK, France: Libya War Will End When Gadhafi Goes

Obama attacks Libya and starts a new war
UN Report: NATO's Libya War Armed Al-Qaeda

Bill Kristol wants Obama to invade Libya

Pentagon confirms U.S. troops on the ground in Libya

CIA Sends Teams Of Libya; US Considers Rebel Aid

Sen. McCain in Libya, calls Rebels His Heroes

Lindsey Graham: U.S. Should Bomb Libya into Submission

The Scramble for Access to Libya’s Oil Wealth Begins

RAF to get 'bunker busters' for Libya mission

Israel Hires African Mercenies to hit Libya


Graphic: Which country is contributing the most to the Libya mission?

Libya: Rebels say they are Being Armed by 'Friendly Countries'

US Rejects Libya Truce, Vows War Will Continue

Italy Suspends Friendship Treaty With Libya

 

[HOLLYWOOD]

2015: Questions arise over Libya's finances

Recent rumors, articles and analyses by some experts — including those not involved in economics and finance — have confirmed that Libya is on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of the ongoing wars between various groups, and the existence of two governments: one legitimate and recognized internationally, headquartered in Tobruk and led by Abdallah al-Thani; the other under the leadership of Omar al-Hasi, located in Tripoli.
Summary⎙ Print While some experts have warned that Libya is fast approaching bankruptcy, reserves may help the North African state stay afloat.

People stand in line to get bread in Benghazi, where living conditions have been difficult due to clashes, Jan. 3, 2015

Questions arise over Libya's finances - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
Author Samir Sobh Posted January 18, 2015
Original Article
One issue worsened this pessimistic outlook and led to talk of the bankruptcy of the state: the Dec. 10 Central Bank of Libya statement, which is considered by the West and some Libyan political and economic circles to represent the administration and those working in it. The report suggested that this oil-producing country — with many great but unexploited natural resources and a territory larger than that of Egypt — is nearing bankruptcy. This notion was dismissed out of hand by Western economists and major petroleum companies, which still have important interests in Libya and work discreetly there, though the most important oil fields have halted production and export ports have been closed by armed groups with various allegiances and dubious loyalties.

In any event, the Libyan central bank’s statement, which aims primarily to absolve the administration, has not provided proven and trustworthy information with figures, details or even the names of those responsible for bringing Libya’s finances to their current state.
Those who produced and published this report argue that the current “catastrophe” is due to the corruption and malpractice of the public treasury and long-term, continual waste in line with the decreased production of oil and decline of world oil prices. This occurred alongside delays in the dialogue designed to manage disputes between the conflicting parties in Libya.

The central bank’s statement discussed the waste of funds, estimated at $300 billion, which were in the state’s foreign currency reserve before the fall Col. Moammar Gadhafi's regime in 2011, without mentioning who was holding or investing it. This means that those who gained power in Libya in the early days of the revolution — specifically, the previous president of the National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abd al-Jalil, his allies in the Muslim Brotherhood, and some Arab and Western states — are responsible for the miserable security and governance situation. This crisis could only be improved if the country became aware of the errors and preserved the public treasury and the reserves still present in the central bank.
From this perspective, the question arises: What was the bank’s goal in declaring bankruptcy and blaming those who led the country after the revolution for wasting the money and reserves? Or in dismissing the idea that Gadhafi, his sons and his cronies stole all of the public’s money? At the end of the current year, the state’s revenues were $22 billion and its expenses were $38.5 billion, meaning there was a deficit of $16 billion. When the regime was overthrown, revenue equaled around $69 billion and the reserves equaled $170 billion, gold excluded. Today, it was announced that this reserve had fallen to $119 billion as of last April.

But the last statement did not provide any figures on the size of this reserve at the beginning of last December, raising questions at a time when the financial institution has avoided discussing the country’s holdings abroad. But Ali al-Hibri, the governor of Libya’s central bank, noted in a broadcast interview conducted in Paris that the country’s reserves are held in 38 countries, though he did not specify the amount.
In light of these facts, figures and questions, it is possible to deduce that Libya, whose oil production normally amounts to 1.6 million barrels per day according to the Libyan National Institute for Oil, produced over 650,000 barrels of oil last month. The earnings were placed in accounts abroad so that the armed groups, major smugglers and some members of the battling rival governments could not get their hands on it. Moreover, the central bank governor noted that Libya’s current oil reserves amount to 34 billion barrels.

Given the above, the discussion of Libya’s bankruptcy is irrational and subjective, especially if we take into account the fact that the population of the country does not exceed 6.5 million, including those working abroad. It is also important to consider that its natural gas resources have yet to be exploited, including the natural resources of its 2,000-kilometer [1,242-mile] coast running from Salloum in Egypt to Ras Ajdir in Tunisia, the mineral resources in the desert, the agricultural lands in al-Jabal al-Akhdar and more.

اقرا المقال الأصلي باللغة العربية

2014: Libya on the Verge of Bankruptcy

Government revenue affected by oil production, export stoppages as five ministers withdraw from government

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan shakes hands with U.S. Sec. of State for "Mission Accomplished"
Chemical Weapons destroyed as Libya descends into Chaos

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Libyan interim government could face bankruptcy as public revenues continue to shrink as the suspension of oil production and exports continues, according to a source in the Ministry of Finance.
The Ministry of Finance official, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said General National Congress (GNC) President Nouri Abusahmain had met with the governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) and the finance and planning ministers to discuss the shortage in revenues caused by the sharp fall of the country’s oil production.

2012: Central Bank of Libya in Bankruptcy

I have said many times that the Libyan public wealth is being plundered by NATO and its mercenaries, now the truth is slowly coming out, even by lying tongues NATO regime in Libya. THE Central Bank of Libya is close to bankruptcy according to Mohammed NATO Spokesman al-Harizi regime, said that billions are being scammed by dedólares mercenaries from NATO, but refused to speak of states criminals who also looted billions of dollars of foreign exchange reserves of Libya.
The truth can no longer hide, once a free nation, without debt, poverty, free education, free housing, free water, free medical care, perfect stability … delivered to a state broken, damaged and without law, all thanks to NATO and its mercenaries ..
Only God knows the future of Libya under NATO, but the moment it looks very bleak.

2015: U.N. condemns attack on Libyan central bank, demands inquiry

(Reuters) - The United Nations on Thursday condemned a reported attack on an office of Libya's central bank in the eastern city of Benghazi, calling for an inquiry into the incident that has complicated talks between the country's warring parties.

The U.N. last week brought together in Geneva some of Libya's rival factions in an attempt to negotiate an end to their fight for control of the country four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.
On Wednesday, a rival parliament based in Tripoli said it would suspend its participation in the talks, accusing troops loyal to the recognized government of attacking the bank.
The official government, which has been forced to work out of the east since an armed faction called Libya Dawn seized Tripoli, denied this, saying its forces were securing the central bank in Benghazi.

Jordanian hotels threaten to stop serving Libyans in payments row Tripoli, 19 April: Owners of Jordanian hotels and apartments’ leased by the Libyan […]

Libyans Completing Medical Treatment Asked to Leave Jordan by Tuesday By Abdul-Jalil Mustafa. Amman, 11 May: Jordanian Health Minister Abdullateef […]

Jordanian private hospitals will be paid By Hadi Fornaji. Tripoli, 24 July: Libya will pay all that is owed to Jordanian […]

Jordan wants paying for Libyan patients Tripoli: April 9 Jordan is becoming increasingly unhappy over unpaid bills totalling […]

http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/06/...uptcy-over-unpaid-libyan-bills/#ixzz3PfnMaXPz
​