The fall of Libya’s central banker triggers a new struggle

On August 26th Libya lost that linchpin. In a power grab, Tripoli’s prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, sent his militiamen into the bank, took over Africa’s largest foreign-exchange reserves and chased Mr Kabir, an erstwhile ally, into exile in Turkey. Libya’s pliant presidential council sought to appoint a replacement and a new board. “The person filling the post has no legal basis,” says Wolfram Lacher, a Libya-watcher in Berlin.