Bloomberg said the Head of the Presidential Council Fayez Al-Sarraj didn’t accept the deal reached between the member of Presidential Council Ahmed Mitig and Khalifa Haftar to lift the 8-month long oil blockade, according to a top aide of Al-Sarraj, casting further doubt on an imminent resumption of production.
Mitig said in an interview with Bloomberg that he thought Al-Sarraj would embrace the deal, but the senior aide, who can’t be named because of internal policy, denied that in a response to Bloomberg questions.
According to Bloomberg, Al-Sarraj wanted the mercenaries out of the country, but the issue didn’t come up in the talks with rival Libyans to restart production.
Mitig said in a phone interview with Bloomberg that he was confident Al-Sarraj will back the new accord, but he also acknowledged that the NOC wasn’t part of the discussions that led to the deal. The senior Al-Sarraj aide said the Head of Presidential Council was firmly against the deal.
Mitig, Bloomberg said, had made the agreement last week at a meeting in Sochi, Russia, with Haftar’s son and representatives from eastern Libya. He was meant to visit Sirte, a city by held by Haftar, to sign the agreement on Friday but was blocked by other members of his government.
Libya’s National Oil Corporation and its Chairman Mustafa Sanallah had denounced what they called parallel talks in a statement late Thursday and said NOC wouldn’t lift force majeure until Russian mercenaries who support Haftar withdraw from oil installations.