Libya’s central bank has suspended operations after staff were kidnapped

The central bank of Libya has announced the suspension of all its operations after the capture of a senior employee in the capital Tripoli.

The bank condemned the kidnapping of its chief technology officer Musab Msallem in a statement on Sunday.

They said Mr Msallem was taken by an “unknown party” on Sunday morning and other workers were threatened with abduction.

The central bank says that operations will not resume until Mr Msallem is released.

The central bank, which is independent but under the control of the Libyan government, is the only one with international recognition of Libya’s oil revenues – a vital economic revenue for a country divided for years between two rival governments in Tripoli and Benghazi.

It comes a week after the state bank was besieged by armed men, according to the AFP news agency.

According to local media, quoted by AFP, the armed men did this to force the resignation of the bank manager Seddik al-Kabir.

In office since 2012, Mr Kabir has faced criticism over the management of oil resources and the state budget.

Since the ouster and assassination of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country he suffered from chronic insecurity.

The country has been divided by power struggles and currently has two governments – the UN-recognized one based in Tripoli, and the other in the east of the country supported by warlord General Khalifa Haftar.