The US is crafting an agreement to unify oil-rich Libya around the country’s two most powerful families, as the US-Israeli war on Iran chokes global energy flows, current and former western officials, Arab sources briefed on the matter, and analysts told Middle East Eye.
The power-sharing agreement seeks to unify Libya through the Dbeibeh family in western Libya and the Haftar family in the east, while replacing each family’s leaders with a new generation.
While the effort has been underway for some time, it has gained new focus as the war on Iran sends oil prices higher, drawing US energy companies back to the country with Africa’s largest proven oil reserves.
Libya’s ruling families are experiencing a windfall as Brent crude rises. The National Oil Corporation said its revenue hit $2.9bn in April, a threefold increase from the beginning of this year. The Libyan oil minister visited Washington last week.
“This has been in the making for several months,” Riccardo Fabiani, North Africa director at the International Crisis Group, told MEE. “The US is trying to prepare the ground for this big pact between the two families.”
