Joe McConnell
Libya’s central bank has announced the suspension of all its operations after the kidnapping of a senior employee in the capital Tripoli.
The bank denounced in a statement on Sunday the kidnapping of its IT director Musab Msallem.
They said Mr Msallem was taken from his home by an “unidentified person” on Sunday morning and that other employees had been threatened with kidnapping.
The central bank said it would not resume operations until Mr Msallem was released.
Libya’s independent but state-owned central bank is the only internationally recognized custodian of Libya’s oil revenues, a vital source of income for a country that has been divided for years between two rival governments, Tripoli and Benghazi.
According to the AFP news agency, the news came a week after the central bank was besieged by gunmen.
According to local media, quoted by AFP, the gunmen acted to force the resignation of the bank’s governor, Seddik al-Kabir.
In office since 2012, Mr Kabir has been criticised for his management of oil resources and the state budget.
Following the ouster and killing of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has suffered from chronic insecurity.
The country is divided by power struggles and currently has two governments: a UN-recognized one based in Tripoli, and another in the eastern part of the country, supported by warlord General Khalifa Haftar.
