Senior Libyan oil official freed after kidnapping

A kidnapped senior Libyan oil official has been released after more than two weeks of captivity, the oil minister in the Tripoli-based government has said.

Mashal Zwai told the Reuters news agency on Sunday that Samir Kamal, head of the planning department at the oil ministry, was free, but did not give more details.

The circumstances of his kidnapping were not immediately clear, but abductions have become frequent in the country.

Libya's oil ministry and energy sector are caught up in a power struggle between the two rival governments that now control different parts of the country almost four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.

The internationally recognised government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni has operated out of the east since an armed faction known as Libya Dawn took over the capital Tripoli in the west and set up a self-declared government.

Both have appointed rival oil officials.

Kamal was also Libya's representative to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), according to the body's website.

Tripoli's government also said he held the position.

However, the internationally recognised government did not nominate him for the last OPEC meeting in Vienna in November.

 

[Aljazeera]