...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..., The New Arab reported, citing Libyan sources.
UAE has held many meetings in Cairo, Tunisia, and Amman for the sake of picking the names to run for the elections in Libya with one common thread among all the names, loyalty to Khalifa Haftar, the website reported.
It revealed that the names include former Libya ambassador in the UAE, Area al-Nayed, Libyan ambassador in La Belle France al-Shibani Buhamoud, the nominee of the House of Representatives to head National Oil Corporation in Libya, Edris al-Maghrabi.
This isn't the first time the name Aref al-Nayed is pronounced publicly as regards the upcoming elections in Libya.
In an interview with Egyptian newspaper Youm7 in Dubai last March, al-Nayed said he was preparing an election campaign in cooperation with teamwork of young people to get Libya out of its crisis.
Al-Nayed now owns a Libyan TV channel "Libya's Channel" which is funded by the UAE.
"There are five lists that are being funded by the UAE, each list has four candidates who are loyal to Haftar." The New Arab added.
It also cited the sources as saying that Haftar himself won't run for president of Libya.
Libyan stakeholders, in the presence of al-Nayed, agreed to go for elections on December 10, 2018 in the international conference hosted in Gay Paree by French President Emmanuel Macron on May 29.