At least 14 people were killed when fighting erupted between armed youths and Islamist militias in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi yesterday, medics said.
Seven people were wounded on a third day of heavy clashes in the port city where pro-government forces supported by youths are battling the Islamists.
Meanwhile the country’s two rival governments are both claiming to control Libya’s oil policy.
A self-styled government controlling Libya’s capital announced its own oil policies this week, drawing a rebuttal from Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni who said oil revenues continued to go to the elected government.
Libya is in turmoil, with two competing administrations vying for control after Operation Dawn, an umbrella of armed groups from the western city of Misurata, seized Tripoli in August, forcing Thinni’s government to withdraw to the east.
The Misurata-led forces have since formed their own rival parliament and government, which has taken over some ministries and effectively controls parts of western and central Libya.
Oil traders are concerned about the uncertainty over who is in charge of Libya’s vast oil reserves after the Misurata group appointed its own oil minister and took over the official website of state firm National Oil Corp.
In an interview with local news agency Press Solidarity, the newly appointed oil minister, Mashallah al-Zawi, said the ministry was working to resolve oilfield protests and discussing early retirement schemes to make room for new recruits.
“The ministry is working to resolve the issue of sit-ins by youth through dialogue and by meeting some demands,” he said.
Thinni, whose government is recognised by the international community, responded from Bayda, a town east of Benghazi almost 1,000km from Tripoli, where his government has relocated.
He said that oil revenues for the Opec member State continued to enter a Libyan bank, which then transferred them to the central bank.
“They are under the control of the state of Libya and the government approved by the Libyan parliament,” the Prime Minister said, referring to the elected House of Representatives, which has moved to Tobruk, east of Bayda and close to the Egyptian border.
Libya’s de facto oil minister is National Oil Corp chairman Mustafa Sanallah, who has given no statement since the Thinni government appointed him last month.
Thinni spoke to a channel his government set up on Thursday in Bayda, after the previous state TV channel was taken over by the new rulers in Tripoli.
Thinni and Zawi both cited the same figure of 800,000 barrels per day for Libya’s oil production.