In his latest article published by the Atlantic Council on 12 July, Nate Mason argues that the distribution of oil revenues could be the key to the stabilization of Libya. Drawing on the tensions that developed in the Oil Crescent over the past weeks as General Haftar decided to handover the control of two major oil infrastructures to the Eastern-based, National Oil Corporation (NOC), Mason argues that the debate in Libya mistakenly focuses on pushing forward a political solution and elections while the most urgent concern of Libyan actors is economic. According to Mason, militias are driven to seek control because of their ambition to secure revenues, hence mediation efforts should focus on developing a solution allowing for the redistribution of the oil revenues in Libya. Mason writes:
Revenue should be sent from the NOC to the CBL as it is now, but this movement of funds should be supervised by international overseers either from an international organization like the United Nations (UN) or World Bank or by a financial institution hired by the CBL. The revenue generated by the NOC and the deposits to the CBL should be published on a public website. Once at the CBL, 80 percent of the money should be distributed by this international supervisor to municipal governments on a per capita basis, with the remainder going to a national government.
Pointing out that Libyan militias have shown no ability to negotiate such an agreement, Mason encourages the international powers involved in the efforts towards the stabilization of Libya to push forward such a solution instead on focusing on the organization of elections.Click here to read more.