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2019-01-29 Africa North
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Eastern Libya govt delegation visits key southern city of Sabha
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A high-level delegation from Libya’s parallel government in the east visited the main southern city of Sabha on Monday after its forces this month seized control of the city, an official said.
The eastern government is allied to Khalifa Haftar
 ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
, whose Libyan National Army (LNA) launched a campaign this month in southwestern Libya.
Sabha had been nominally under the control of the internationally recognized government in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
but in reality was run by local groups including tribes.
Control of Sabha is seen as vital for securing southern Libya’s oilfields, one of the stated goals of the LNA campaign.
The interior, health and junior justice ministers of the eastern government, which is based in Benghazi, were seen meeting local officials in the municipality of Sabha in pictures sent to Rooters by members of the visiting delegation.
The officials later visited the main hospital and a court, journalists said.
Tripoli officials could not be reached for comment on the visit, which further highlighted the internationally recognized government’s continued lack of authority in most of Libya.
Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj said during a visit to Vienna on Monday that "many things" were not going well in the south, but he did not allude to the visit by the eastern delegation or to the LNA advance.
"Regarding the south we need better support for our security forces. We need more cooperation between all security forces," he said.
The LNA has secured Sabha airport and other strategic sites in the area in recent days, after local groups handed them over without a fight.
The LNA says its campaign is aimed at combating bully boy groups and securing oil facilities in the south, which include El Sharara oilfield, Libya’s biggest.
On Monday LNA forces killed a suspected al-Qaeda fighter called Adel Ahmed al-Abdaly when they stormed his house in Sabha, LNA front man Ahmed Mismari said. Otherwise the city has been largely quiet since the arrival of the LNA.
Al-Qaeda and ISIS have been using southern Libya as a base for attacks in Libya and neighboring countries, exploiting a security vacuum created by the fall of dictator Muammar Qadaffy
...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later...
in a 2011 rebellion backed by NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
air strikes.
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Posted by Fred 2019-01-29 00:00||
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File under: Arab Spring
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