Head of the interim government in Eastern Libya Abdullah al- Thani has applied to the chairman of the country's parliament for Cabinet resignation. According to sources close to Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the decision was formally caused by people's mass discontent over the drop in living standards, increased corruption in power structures and breakdown of the housing and communal sector. The Libyans are particularly irritated by power outages and the subsequent failure of drinking water supplies.

In the major cities of the East, there were rallies accompanied by unrest and riots of young people who demanded an immediate resignation of the interim government and the supply of fuel to power stations. The Libyan police were forced to terminate the riots, in some cases using force to detain the most violent demonstrators.

Parliament speaker Aguila Saleh accepted the resignation of the interim government on September 13, but instructed Abdullah al-Thani and the ministers to get on with their duties until the parliament examines the application and appoints a new cabinet.

Earlier, similar unrest demanding the Government of National Accord to resign took place in Tripoli and other cities and towns of western Libya. The protesters begrudged at similar lags in the executive branch's performance. On September 15, officials close to Fayez al-Sarraj reported from Tripoli that he was going to send in his resignation in the next few days. The reasons were not reported.

The Americans are likely involved in what's happening in western and eastern Libya, as they have recently boosted mediatory efforts in order to avert conflict escalation and a direct engagement of their allies – Turkey and Egypt. According to the influential Arab news outlet Asharq al-Awsat, the US Embassy in Tripoli, in concert with Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya Stephanie Williams (American), has been for a month preparing the parties to the conflict to sign an agreement on further compliance with the ceasefire and initiating the political settlement process. At the same time, the Americans held aggressive negotiations with Ankara and Cairo.

In this regard, September 13 saw Marshal Khalifa Haftar have talks in Benghazi with the Egyptian delegation led by Chairman of the National Council of Egypt for Libya General Ayman Badia. The meeting discussed a range of issues of mutual interest, as well as the state and prospects for the development of the military-political situation in and around Libya.

It should be noted that this has become the second meeting with representatives of Egypt in a month. The previous one took place on August 17 with a military delegation led by Gen. Haled Mugawar, who passed a personal message from President al-Sisi along to Haftar.

It became known from those close to Marshal Haftar that he received guarantees from the United States for the withdrawal of Turkish troops and foreign mercenaries from Libya in exchange for the resumed production and sale of natural energy resources. There is also information about further "secret negotiations" with the United States.

The US Embassy in Tripoli allegedly signed some agreements with him on oil and gas, but Haftar made no final decision, insisting on American guarantee confirmation. He put forth a special condition to establish international control over the Central Bank of Libya so that funds from oil and gas sales are not lashed out on the maintenance of Libyan militants and foreign mercenaries, or used to repay the war debts of Fayez al-Sarraj's government.

The mutual resignation of the warring parties' governments apparently represents the implementation of agreements on ceasefire continuance: after all, the decision to resume the war is up to the government; and being currently retired, the latter is not authorized to issue instructions to this effect.

There is another peculiarity of the government crisis. If Fayez al-Sarraj leaves office, the Turkish leadership will lose the one to negotiate the further military presence in Libya with, and Ankara's position on prospects for strengthening its influence in the country will be "up in the air".

At the same time, it is apparent that the parties' maneuvering becomes more active and is primarily caused by the lack of desire to come over to the violent phase of the conflict, which will inevitably entail disastrous consequences for the country's economy. Another reason is related to the involvement in the crisis settlement of a growing number of countries interested in preserving peace in Libya and launching a political process to resume the purchase of Libyan hydrocarbons.