A Libyan Court, on Monday, suspended an energy exploration deal that the Tripoli government signed last year with Turkiye, a judiciary source said, thus pausing an agreement that angered other Mediterranean powers and inflamed Libya's own internal crisis, Reuters reports. The deal had spurred rivalry in the eastern Mediterranean and played into a political standoff in Libya between the Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli, in western Libya, and an eastern-based Parliament which rejects its legitimacy. READ: Turkiye, Libya sign agreements on hydrocarbon, gasLater that year, Ankara and Tripoli struck a deal to establish a maritime boundary in eastern Mediterranean waters, also disputed by Egypt and Turkey's historic rival Greece, prompting both those countries to reject the agreement. It has maintained close ties with Turkiye and, in October, struck the preliminary deal on energy exploration that the court suspended on Monday. Libya, the third largest oil producer in North Africa, has been in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising ousted autocrat, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011.

Source: Libya Today January 10, 2023 16:25 UTC