| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa North |
| Libya Lawmakers 'Create Army Chief Post for Haftar' |
| 2015-02-25 |
| [AnNahar] Libya's internationally recognized parliament created a new army chief post on Tuesday, with a politician and state media saying the job will go to a once retired general fighting to eradicate Islamist forces. "The chamber (of deputies) adopted today a law regarding the general leadership of the Libyan army," calling on parliament speaker Aguila Salah Issa to name a chief, MP Issa al-Aribi told Agence La Belle France-Presse. Another MP said the law was adopted to "legitimize" General Khalifa Haftar ... 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... , who calls himself chief of the Libyan National Army, and that he would be formally named in the "coming hours." That was echoed by the Libya news agency LANA. Last May, Haftar launched an offensive against Islamists in the country's east, earning himself the sobriquet of "rogue general" and being accused by the then government of trying to stage a coup. But after Islamists seized the capital following elections in June and the new parliament fled to the country's far east, the internationally recognized authorities have gradually allied themselves with him. Last month, they formally requested that he and 129 other retired officers return to active service. On Monday, the parliament suspended its participation in U.N.-brokered talks on the future of the war-wracked North African state, and a formalization of Haftar's status could further complicate those efforts. Fajr Libya, the coalition of militias that seized 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... and backs a rival government there against the one in the east, has rejected any political settlement that includes him. The international community faces a daunting task to find a political solution to the lawless nation's political and military crisis. Since the 2011 overthrow of strongman Muammar Qadaffy ...a reminder that a single man with an idea can change an entire nation, usually for the worse... in a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... -backed uprising, Libya has been awash with weapons and opposing militias are battling for control of its cities and oil wealth. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |