Haftar stresses need for confronting illegal migration

Khalifa Hafter has said that his Libyan National Army (LNA) can help stop the flow of illegal migrants from across the southern borders heading north to travel on to Europe, but needs military equipment from Europe to do the job.

“For the control of borders in South, I can provide manpower, but Europeans must send aid: drones, helicopters, night vision goggles, vehicles”, he said in an interview with Italian national daily Corriere della Sera while in Rome earlier this week for talks with the Italian government.

He indicated that the visit had opened a new chapter in relations with Italy. The two sides, he said, had clarified their positions to the satisfaction of the other.

“It was necessary and was very useful to smooth out many mutual misunderstandings,” he explained, noting that he had had talks with Italian defence minister Roberta Pinotti, interior minister Marco Minniti, chief of defence General Claudio Graziano and the head of intelligence. The meetings had been about more than making decision, he said; the two sides had explained their positions and their views.

He also revealed that he and the Italians had talked about what he said was a common commitment to the fight terrorism. In relation to both this and stopping the migrant flows, there had to be an end to the arms embargo, he insisted. With an apparent eye on the fact that Italy is currently a member of the UN Security Council, he explained that while he appreciated that Italy had to uphold the embargo, it had to be revoked.

“For a long time I’ve asked that this embargo should be annulled in regard to our national army.” All European countries interested in stopping migrants should support its withdrawal, he said. Hafter also noted that defence minister Pinotti had already agreed training programmes for Libyan soldiers in Italy, expecting this to be widened and extended.

As to Libya’s political crisis, he said that a political solution would be the best answer but military solutions could not be ruled out. “It’s obvious that we prefer the political routes, but when these don’t work there must be other solutions,” he said, noting that terrorists in Libya had been defeated “not through diplomatic channels but with weapons”.

In the interview he was also particularly critical of moves by Italy and others to use militias that had been involved in smuggling to now stop it.

“Tomorrow they will fight among themselves for a share of the spoils; it will be a never-ending blackmail,” he said, referring to the current fighting in Sabratha between the Anti-IS Operations Rooam and the Amu Brigade which had been involved in smuggling and many of whose members had been incorporated into the Presidency Council’s army as part of the 48th Battalion. Italy has denied reports that it paid it €5 million to act as a local anti-smuggling police force.

On the military side, Sabratha remains quiet but still tense today with just occasional shots reportedly being fired in the town. Large parts are in the hands of the Anti-IS Operations Room (AIOR), which yesterday extended its control by seizing the famous Sabratha Roman ruins, a UNESCO world heritage site. There are worrying reports of damage to the ruins.

Many fighters in the opposing 48th Battalion, which includes the Amu Brigade led by Ahmed Dabashi, are reported to have been forced to withdraw, east to Sorman and west to the Mellitah Oil and Gas complex.

Meanwhile, negotiations to secure a permanent ceasefire have continued although Sabratha Media Centre, which supports the 48th Battalion, today reported that the Operations Room had again rejected a deal. Other reports, however, say that the negotiations brokered by elders from a number of Libyan towns, are focussed simply on ensuring that the 48th stays outside Sabratha.

For its part AIOR reported today that one of its members who had been wounded and in an ambulance heading to Tripoli had been seized by a new group that has entered the fray. This is the “Security and Stability Operations Room” set up on Tuesday by Abu Obeida Al-Zawi, the militant Islamist commander from Zawia. It claims to be a neutral force to ensure a cease-fire but is widely seen as reinforcements for the Amu brigade.

AIOR said that the seizure of the man, named as Ziad Turki, was proof that the new force and Amu were partners. There continue to be numerous calls for an end to the fighting in Sabratha. The head of the town’s military council, Taher Al-Gharbali, has again demanded the Presidency Council’s government of national accord (GNA) order a ceasefire, saying that at that point his forces would take on anyone who broke it.

Prince Idris Al-Senussi has also called on the GNA as well as UN special envoy Ghassan Salamé to take action to end the conflict in Sabratha. Humanitarian aid including medicines and food, had to be provided, roads reopened and electricity and drinking water reconnected for the 100,000 people living in the town and surrounding area, he said. These were ordinary Libyans who were suffering through no fault of their own, he said, and they needed the active support of the authorities.