The head of the Presidential Council, Fayez Sarraj, arrived in the Turkish city of Istanbul to attend the emergency meeting of the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Tuesday. The meeting, which was called for by the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was set to discuss the US recognition of Jerusalem as “the capital of Israel.” Sarraj had completed his visit to Egypt, during which he met the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah Sisi and a number of Egyptian officials, including a meeting with the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb.
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The African Union (AU) Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ismael Chergui, stressed that all efforts are being focused on deporting Africans who are concentrated in Libyan shelters as soon as possible. Speaking at a conference on combating terrorism in Africa, Chergui pointed out that countries concerned with the issue of Africans being concentrated in Libyan shelters should be requested to produce temporary travel documents to facilitate their citizens’ deportation. He was quoted as saying "We have asked the concerned countries to have consular attaches to provide the necessary papers for these citizens so that they can return home, with no problems with transport and aviation."
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The Chairman of the Presidential Council, Fayez Sarraj, said that banning the Libyan Investment Authority to properly manage Libya’s assets is causing annual losses estimated at one billion dollars, describing these losses as unfair and a waste of the resources of the Libyan people. Sarraj said that his talks in Washington recently touched on Libya's right to manage its frozen assets, adding that he had found a great deal of understanding from US officials who promised to communicate with their counterparts in the Security Council to discuss lifting the freezing on the country’s assets.
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The House of Representatives (HOR), decided on Tuesday to elect a new governor for the Central Bank of Libya next week. At their meeting headed by Aqila Saleh in Tobruk, at least fifty members of the HOR discussed the amendment of the constitutional declaration and the adoption of practical measures to implement Ghassan Salame's action plan. The Spokesperson for the HOR, Abdullah Bliheeq, stressed that the HOR decided to suspend the meeting until next week to discuss other matters, the most important being the amendment of the constitutional declaration to include the action plan of the UN envoy.
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The US Embassy in Libya stated that the decision to ban the entry of Libyan citizens to the United States excludes student visas and exchange visas between the two countries. The embassy said in a statement on Monday that lifting the ban on the entry to America will remain conditional on the cooperation of the concerned countries with the US government to ensure the safety of Americans. It added that the Libyan government faces significant challenges in sharing information on public safety and terrorism.
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The National Oil Corporation of Libya (NOC) said in a statement published on Tuesday that the Nafusa Oil Operations Company hopes to produce ten thousand barrels per day of oil next year of a new project in the basin of Ghadames in the west of the country. The NOC said that Nafusa plans to split the project in concession area 47 into two stages; the first is at the beginning of 2018, which should produce 10 thousand barrels per day by the second quarter of this year if the project budget is approved. Nafusa Oil Operations Company is a joint venture established in 2013 in partnership between the National Oil Corporation and Indonesia’s PT Medco Energi Internasional.
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The Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) has called for the need to hold a referendum on the draft constitution before the start of the first stages of elections by the legislative and executive authorities. The CDA said in a press conference on Tuesday in Tunis that the referendum on the constitution is the founding stage of the democratic process in the country. It confirmed that there is no one who can claim to express the will of Libyans, adding that the arrival of Libyans to their rights can only be through the referendum, pointing out that the constitutional path of the country began when the people elected members of the body.
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The head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Ghassan Salame, met on Tuesday with a number of Libyan poets, novelists and writers in Tripoli. The UN mission in Libya stated that Salame discussed the political situation with the writers in the house of the poet Abdulmola Baghdadi, noting that the discussion continued by candlelight as a result of power cuts, which is one of the difficulties faced by Libyans.
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