...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, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. 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. Actually, he is, but slowly...announced his withdrawal from the Skhirat politcal agreement which is backed by Fayez al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA), Algerian political analyst Toufik Kouider Chichi argues that the withdrawal decision is justified. He said that given Haftar’s continuous efforts to call for a dialogue and discussion around finding approaches to resolve the political obstacles in the country failed to obtain any significant response from the GNA.
In a statement to Media24 on Wednesday, Kouider said that western states were unable to understand Field Marshal Haftar’s announcement and described as an individual decision, completely failing to take into consideration his popularity and the fact that the Libyan National Army controls 90% of Libyan land.
Kouider also noted that there are reasons for this logical decision, as there has been notable contradiction in Fayez al-Sarraj’s position, who calls for political resolution while ignoring calls repeatedly made by Haftar through Berlin and Russia.
Kouider pointed out that Haftar is now left in a very challenging position, after the European Commission announced its rejection of Haftar’s "individual decision", which it considers to be irresponsible, as well as Russia’s rejection of this decision. The European Commission is calling for a political dialogue and for the compliance with the Skhirat Agreement that came in perpetuation with the Berlin Conference and which the Commission considers as the only solution for the conflict.