Watching Libya July 16/17, 2011

United Arab Emirates foreign minister Abdallah Bin Zayid Al Nahyan speaking at the 4th meeting of the Libya Contact Group in Istanbul last Friday July 15 called for a road map for Libya providing for "a great development for its people". He also underlined his appreciation of the work of the Benghazi based Transitional National Council (TNC). Turkish foreign minister Mehmet Davutoğlu, addressing the same forum, emphasised that international efforts should be coordinated with the Benghazi based TNC. Read the original Anadolu Agency despatches. Item 1 and Item 2.

Turkey, whose business interests in Libya have traditionally been very significant, is taking an active role in the international effort to bring the conflict to a conclusion. Turkey's regulator - in line with United Nations resolutions 1970 and 1973 - the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF), on Monday July 11 confiscated the A&T Bank (Arap Türk Bankasý). A&T is a joint-venture established following a 1975 agreement between Turkey and Libya. The Libyan Arab Foreign Bank owns 62.37 percent of Arab Turkish Bank’s shares. Turkish shareholders own 36.01 percent of the bank’s shares while the Kuwait Investment Company owns 1.62 percent of its shares. The TMSF dismissed the director general of A&T Bank's and all representatives of LAFB on the BoD. Temporary managers were appointed by the TMSF. The measures will remain effective for the duration of the UN resolutions. The Turkish government assured that A&T Bank was financially stable and will continue operations as usual.

A&T Bank, better known as Arab & Turkish Bank was already targeted by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) pursuant to Executive Order (EO) 13566 of February 25 for being owned or controlled by the Government of Libya. On June 21 OFAC identified nine additional companies – including Arab Turkish Bank, North Africa International Bank and North Africa Commercial Bank – as subject to sanctions. EO 13566 blocks all property and interests in property of the Libyan government and its agencies, instrumentalities and controlled entities within US jurisdiction, whether specifically identified by OFAC or not.  U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions involving a Libyan state-owned entity or in which any Libyan state-owned entity has an interest, absent authorization from OFAC.

According to the US Treasury the following nine entities are owned or controlled by the Government of Libya: •Arab Turkish Bank •North Africa International Bank: a Tunisia-based bank that is 50 percent owned by the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank. The remainder 50 percent is owned by the Government of Tunisia and Tunisia’s Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale (Social Security Fund Agency). •North Africa Commercial Bank: a Lebanon-based bank that is 99.54 percent owned by the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank. •General Company for Chemical Industries: a Libya-based, state-owned company responsible to the Secretariat (Ministry) of Economy and Trade. •General National Maritime Transport Company: wholly-owned by the Government of Libya, responsible to the Secretariat of Communication and Maritime Transport.  •Ghana Libya Arab Holding Company: a Ghana-based entity that is 60 percent owned by the Libyan Arab African Investment Company (LAAICO), a subsidiary of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA). The remaining 40 percent of Ghana Libya Arab Holding Company’s shares are owned by the Government of Ghana. •Glahco Hotels And Tourism Development Company Limited (Golden Tulip Accra): a Ghana-based subsidiary of the Ghana Libya Arab Holding Company that is 60 percent owned by the LAAICO.•Libyan Norwegian Fertiliser Company: a Libya-based chemical company that is 25 percent owned by the National Oil Corporation of Libya (NOC), 25 percent owned by the LIA and 50 percent owned by a Norwegian chemical company. •Pak-Libya Holding Company: a Pakistan-based entity that is 50 percent owned by LAFICO. The Government of Pakistan owns the remaining 50 percent of Pak-Libya Holding Company’s shares. Read the US Treasury press release.

Last Wednesday, July 13, we emphasised the importance of the visit to Zintan on the Jabal Nafusah by high TNC representatives on the day before Tuesday, July 12. [See Watching Libya July 13, 2011 below.] We are now informed that Zintan community leaders were particularly pleased that the Benghazi delegation was led by the TNC's finance chief Dr Ali Tarhouni. Although the funds that Tarhouni brought with him to Zintan are limited, the message to the people of Zintan and other communities inhabiting the highlands overlooking Tripoli and the other coastal lowland towns of Tripolitania, is that the TNC, albeit a transitional political institution, intends to replace the regime with an effective state structure for the whole of Libya. Dr Tarhouni has an economics PhD from Michigan State University and is senior lecturer at the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, Seattle. [For background on Ali Tarhouni, see Watching Libya March 24, 2011, below.]