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Sarraj opposes oil deal with rival Haftar
[Al Ahram] Libyan officials said Saturday that the leader of the U.N.-supported government would not support a deal with his primary rival in the country's civil war to lift a months-long blockade on its vital oil trade.They keep waving that "UN-backed" like it's a shield of authenticity. That won't help when you're in exile in Ankara According to an official at his office, Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj opposed the final deal struck with Libyan National Army commander 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, 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... , whose east-based forces led a failed year-long siege to take the capital, 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... , from the U.N.-backed government. "The prime minister did not give his approval to the final version of the deal,'' the official told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... Haftar said in a televised address Friday that his forces would allow the Libyan oil facilities to start operating again for the first time since January ``with conditions that ensure a fair distribution of revenue.'' The deal to start pumping Libyan oil again appeared to have been spearheaded by the deputy prime minister, Ahmed Matiq, and emerged days after Sarraj said he planned to hand over power by the end of October to a new administration in Tripoli. Matiq struck an agreement to distribute the country's petrodollars more equitably between its warring sides, according to Ahmed al-Mosmari, the front man of Haftar's self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces. The deal between Matiq and Haftar's representatives did not address the scores of Russian mercenaries from Wagner, a Kremlin-linked private security company, stationed across oil fields that the National Oil Corporation says remain a barrier to the resumption of exports. "Matiq surrendered very loose, very generous concessions to the LAAF, especially in the realm of banking and finance,'' said Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya expert at The Netherlands Institute of International Relations. Harchaoui said the oil deal was already helping to "revitalize" Haftar after months of military setbacks that followed  ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...'s military intervention supporting forces loyal to the Tripoli government. Posted by: Fred 2020-09-20 |
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