Libyan rivals sign agreement to end central bank crisis

Representatives of Libya’s rival administrations signed an agreement Thursday to appoint a new central bank governor, with the objective of restoring the country’s oil production, the UN said according to AFP. The agreement comes after weeks of tension and violence around the central bank, which prompted the current governor, Seddik al-Kabir, to flee the country.

Libya remains divided between the UN-recognized government in the west and a competing administration in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, following the 2011 overthrow of the dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), said that under the deal signed in Tripoli, the western and eastern groups will jointly select a new governor within a week and establish a board of directors in two weeks. 

The dispute over the central bank has resulted in a halving of country's oil output, which UNSMIL hopes will now be restored.