In a yet-another typical Libyan Shakespearean tragedy, that has littered Libyan political affairs since the 2011 revolution, that ended the 42-year Qaddafi regime, a bloodless coup d’état took place today when seemingly the incumbent Governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), Naji Issa was ousted.
Video footage, reports and leaked statements and letters began to emerge at lunchtime of the forceful entry by security forces into the CBL and the installation of a new CBL Governor.
Soon news, photos and video clips began to emerge of the name and face of the newly enthroned CBL Governor. He is to be Mr Fawzi Abu Khazam.
Dr Abu Khazam is a member of the CBL Board of Directors. He hails from Al-Shati area near Sebha - which makes him a neutral choice for the polarised east-west politics of Libya.
He arrived at the Tripoli CBL accompanied by a ‘‘committee’’ from the House of Representatives (HoR) and the High State Council (HSC), to be forcibly installed in his new Governor’s office.
Naji Issa’s August 2026 resignation request
Abu Khazam’s forcible enthronement today was subsequently accompanied by the HoR’s fig leaf announcement that it had, belatedly, accepted former Governor Issa’s August resignation. This was a reference to Governor Issa tendering his resignation back in August this year.
However, both the HoR and the HSC had, at the time, rejected his resignation request and ostensibly agreed to his demands that both the Tripoli and Benghazi regimes respect the US-brokered Unified Spending Agreement.
Issa’s attempt to control spending led to his downfall?
Issa had complained that both regimes were overspending, causing the economy to overheat and weakening the Libyan dinar and depleting Libya’s foreign currency reserves. Issa’s attempt to supress the political spending (rentier-state subsidised election campaigns by the Aldabaiba and Hafter regimes) seems to have led to his downfall. Today, he told local media that he had come ‘‘under pressure’’ over his attempt to control spending.
Issa failed to defend the dinar
It must also be said that Issa failed miserably in defending the Libyan dinar on the parallel foreign exchange market. Many of his opponents are using this as a justification for his removal.
It is true that he had vowed initially to bring the dinar to below LD 7 per dollar and recently to below LD 9 per dollar. Most of this week the dollar had been trading over the LD 10 to the dollar mark.
However, economists and his defenders would say it is the governments in the west and east that are over-spending – not Governor Issa.
The HoR is under new leadership
However, it must be recalled and taken into consideration that Governor Issa’s August resignation rejection by the HoR had come under the then Speakership of Ageela Saleh. Today, the HoR is under the leadership of Al-Salheen Abdel Nabi.
There has been a change in policy and there are several new dynamics in play – domestically and internationally – that may have inputted into Governor Issa’s removal.
It seems that both the HoR and HSC, as required by the Libyan Political Agreement (brokered by the UN on 17 December 2015, in Skhirat, Morocco), agree that Issa must go and Abu Khazam must take over.
The only thing is that ‘‘de facto’’ has come before the legal nicety of ‘‘de jure’’ – or they have put the cart before the horse – by taking advantage of the absence of Issa by quickly installing Abu Khazam.
The two legislative bodies have agreed that Abu Khazam will now act as an interim CBL Governor, pending confirmation of the issuance of the official decision and the completion of the necessary legal procedures to assume the position.
Naji Issa: I did not resign
Meanwhile, Governor – or former Governor - of the Central Bank of Libya, Naji Issa has been quoted by several Libyan media sources as saying that he had not resigned and that he had retracted his previous resignation, and it was not accepted by the House of Representatives.
First HSC Deputy Chairman rejects unilateral action
It also be noted that, in typical Libyan tragedy style, the First Deputy Chairman of the HSC, Naji Mukhtar, rejected the ‘‘unilateral action’’ taken by the Presidency of the House of Representatives, calling on Naji Issa to refrain from allowing any administrative or legal consequences to arise from the decision to accept his resignation or the interim appointment of Abu Khazam.
The problem is that it is unlikely that Mukhtar has the coercive power in Tripoli to remove Abu Khazam or re-instal Naji Issa.
No comment by Aldabaiba nor Trabelsi
This is because, it is to be noted that, at the time of publication, there has been no comment about the CBL manoeuvre by the Tripoli based Libyan government or its Prime Minister, Abdel Hamid Aldabaiba, who is the Minister of Defence. Nor has there been any comment by the Tripoli based Minister of Interior, Emad Trabelsi.
Both are ostensibly in charge of security in Tripoli. It is very unlikely that such a manoeuvre could take place in Tripoli without their acquiescence. Their lack of comment or security intervention or resistance, in favour of Issa, tells us a lot.
International intervention could not save Issa – this time
Issa had lost the support of both the west and east and his international backers, who may have lent on both regimes in August to reject his resignation, were blindsided by the lightening and coordinated manoeuvre today. It looks very likely that it’s a ‘‘fait accompli’’.
The fluid concept of legality and constitutionality in Libya
The concept of legality and constitutionality in Libya is very fluid. Often, ‘‘de facto’’ has replaced ‘‘de jure’’ and has been accepted by all as a ‘‘fait accompli’’.
On the one hand and level, legality and constitutionality in Libya do not exist. While on the other, legality and constitutionality has been contested over, literally to the death, ever since the 2011 Transitional Constitutional Declaration announced by the National Transitional Council (NTC).
To name but a few, there is the premature ending of the General National Congress (GNC) before it had achieved its constitutional goals, clearly set out in the Transitional Constitutional Declaration: drafting a permanent constitution, approving it through a referendum, and holding elections for a fully mandated government.
This was then followed the contested holding (not results) of elections that gave birth to the House of Representative. Then the vote-of-no-confidence in the Aldabaiba government by the HoR and the myriad sessions held and votes taken by the HoR since its inception and since its boycott by western members – where the HoR’s quorum was contested.
Meanwhile over the years there have been several court rulings pronouncing this or that move as constitutional or unconstitutional.
The forceful removal of the CBL Governor Issa is just another contested move to be added to the long list since 2011.
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