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Libya's Haftar closes border with Algeria
[AlAhram] LNA last week sent troops into the southern city of Sebha and then on Saturday to a southern border crossing with AlgeriaLibyan National Army (LNA) led by 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...have closed the border with Algeria, they said on Sunday, after major deployments of his forces to the south underscored his continued role despite efforts to unify the country. "The armed forces has closed the Libyan-Algerian border and declared it a military zone in which movement is prohibited", said the Moral Guidance Department, an LNA media unit. The nearly 1,000-kilometre (620 miles) border between Algeria and Libya cuts through mostly uninhabited desert and has few crossings. Despite progress towards a political solution for Libya after a decade of violence and chaos, most of the country is still controlled by gangs, corruption is rampant and the outside powers involved in the conflict have not withdrawn. Progress is expected on Sunday in implementing the terms of a military ceasefire in place since September, with the planned reopening of the main coast road across front lines, and foreign powers will convene in Berlin this week for Libya talks. Posted by: trailing wife 2021-06-21 |
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