ANSD : Fears of showdown as Haftar tells forces to march on Tripoli

SUN 5 - 5 - 2024

Date: Apr 5, 2019
Source: The Daily Star

Fears of showdown as Haftar tells forces to march on Tripoli

BENGHAZI, Libya: Libyan army commander Khalifa Haftar Thursday ordered his forces to march on Tripoli, the capital of the U.N.-backed government, sparking fears of a major showdown with rivals. The order to his Libya National Army posted in an audio recording online came as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the North African country and expressed fears of new confrontations. It put at risk coming peace talks brokered by the U.N. aiming to draw a road map for a new vote.

Libya is split between rival governments in the east and west after descending into chaos following the 2011 NATO-supported uprising that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Haftar is allied with the east-based administration at odds with the U.N.-backed government based in Tripoli. Alongside the two rival administrations, mostly Islamist militias wield considerable influence and control large swaths of territory in the vast North African nation.

Haftar described his forces’ move as a “victorious march” to “shake the lands under the feet of the unjust bunch.”

“We are coming Tripoli, we are coming,” he said.

Haftar urged his forces to enter the city peacefully and only raise their weapons “in the face of those who seek injustice and prefer confrontation and fighting.”

He also urged his forces not to open fire on any civilians or those who are unarmed. “Those who lay down their weapons are safe, and those who raise the white banner are safe,” he said.

Haftar’s message, which was posted on the Facebook page of the army’s media office, came a day after his forces edged closer to Tripoli and took over the town of Gharyan, 50 kilometers from Tripoli, without much fighting.

Armed groups from the western Libyan city of Misrata started moving toward Tripoli to defend the capital against any possible advance by Eastern forces, residents said late Thursday.

Guterres urged Libya’s warring factions to de-escalate during a news conference in Tripoli shortly after Haftar made his declaration on the Tripoli offensive.

He said there was no military solution to Libya’s war and that for the sake of the upcoming peace conference this month among Libyan factions, de-escalation was needed. In a joint statement, the governments of France, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, the U.K. and the U.S. said they were “deeply concerned” by fighting near Gharyan.

The countries “urge all parties to immediately de-escalate tensions, which are hindering prospects for U.N. political mediation,” the statement said.

Gharyan is the closest Haftar’s forces have made it to Tripoli.

“I am sipping coffee now in Gharyan,” Haftar’s top aide Abdel-Salam al-Hassi told the Associated Press over the phone. “God willing, we will enter the rest of the cities without clashes.”

Skirmishes were reported overnight in the mountain district of Al-Assabaah, near Gharyan, in which two people - a resident and a militiaman - were killed, according to the media office of Haftar’s forces.

Haftar’s spokesman, Ahmad al-Mesmari, said LNA forces would give the militiamen in control of the capital the option of surrendering, staying home or raising the white banner.

He said there would be no dialogue with the militias, whom he described as “terrorists,” adding that the “game is over” and the “rifle, the artillery and the jet are the ones speaking now.”

He also vowed to protect the upcoming peace conference, saying the military movement was a separate track from politics.

“The army has nothing to do with politics or with political movement by the United Nations,” he said.

The European Union’s mission to Libya Thursday also expressed concern over “the military buildup underway in Libya and the escalatory rhetoric which seriously risks leading to an uncontrollable confrontation.”

Haftar’s army has spread its footprint from eastern Libya, where it first battled mostly Islamist militias and Islamist groups, starting in 2014.

The campaign then extended southward as Haftar’s forces took control of key towns and border crossings earlier this year and now is pushing west, toward Tripoli.

Haftar, who is backed by Egypt and Gulf Arab nations such as the United Arab Emirates, has labeled his rivals as “terrorists” and said in more than one occasion that “liberating” Tripoli is his ultimate goal.

Since Gadhafi’s ouster and killing, Libya has descended into chaos, with two rival administrations and an array of militias fighting over power and oil fields.

Pro-Haftar forces pushed back near Libya capital: security source

_{Agence France Presse}
TRIPOLI: Forces loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar were pushed back Friday from a key checkpoint less than 30 kilometers from Tripoli, checking their lightning advance on the capital, a security source said.

Militiamen from the coastal town of Zawiya, west of Tripoli, retook the base after a "short exchange of fire," the source said on condition of anonymity.

The militia is one of dozens that have proliferated since the overthrow of veteran dictator Moammar Gadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 and are variously aligned with the U.N.-backed unity government in the capital and a rival administration in the east backed by Haftar's forces.

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