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Khalifa Haftar reaches out to Sudan’s Minni Minawi rebel group to hire more mercenaries
[Libya Observer] The Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) revealed Saturday that the commander of Libya’s Dignity Operation forces, 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..., had sent a committee of his military aides to meet with the leaders of Sudan Liberation Army-Minni Minawi in order to resolve the recent disputes between the two sides and to discuss increasing the number of fighters of the rebel group in Libya. The Sudanese news website confirmed that it was able to obtain official letters that were sent between the military aides of Haftar and the leaders of the rebel movement, stating that the two sides have met to resolve the differences related to increasing support to the movement. The source added that the two sides reached an agreement on a number of proposals; the most important one was increasing the number of Minawi rebels in Libya to more than 1000 fighters. According to the SMC, Minni Minawi rebels are now present in Libya. In Zalla there are 450 rebels and 88 military vehicles, in Jufra there are 28 rebels and 37 military vehicles, and in Rebiana there are 90 rebels and 26 military vehicles. Posted by: Fred 2018-05-29 |
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