A UN investigation: UAE ally Erik Prince mobilizes mercenaries in Libya
A United Nations investigation revealed that the ally of the Emirates, Eric Prince, the former head of the security contracting company Blackwater mobilizes mercenaries in Libya.
The Financial Times newspaper, citing UN investigation documents, reported that Eric Prince helped fund Emirati militias Khalifa Haftar to avoid the decision to ban arms on Libya.
The newspaper referred to the United Nations Committee of Experts report, which said that Prince supported Haftar in launching a military campaign in April 2019 against the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli.
His campaign thwarted United Nations efforts to unify the divided country and end the war that has continued since Muammar Gaddafi’s fall in 2011.
The 14-month-long campaign, supported by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and France, eventually failed and after Turkey intervened on the government’s side in Tripoli.
This week, a new national unity government was formed this week, with the mission of preparing for the elections, which raised hopes for the imminence of war.
After the start of the campaign, Prince met with Haftar in Cairo and presented a particular military intervention proposal.
The military intervention included spending worth $80 million on fighter jets, cyber capabilities and intercept Turkish ships at sea.
According to the United Nations experts’ report, the operation, dubbed Operation Opus,” included “the kidnapping and freezing of individuals considered valuable assets in Libya,” according to the United Nations experts’ report.
They said that Prince violated the Security Council resolution banning arms exports to Libya, “on the one hand, as he helped, at the very least, to evade the provisions of the arms embargo on Libya.”
The report stated that 3 Emirati companies were used to plan, manage and finance the operation, and the report named South Africa as the leader of the group on the ground.
The United Nations report indicated that the military fighters were planned to be purchased from Jordan, which cancelled the deal after doubting that it was used in illegal operations.
According to United Nations experts, six military helicopters were purchased from South Africa, and Prince provided three more.
But Operation Ops quickly encountered problems, “Khalifa Haftar was not a fan of the aircraft that were replaced and purchased for the operation and issued threats against the management of the operation.”
Days after they arrived in Libya, 20 mercenaries boarded a boat across the sea to Malta.
Prince was loved by the US government, which paid his company $2 billion for its operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
But the company became a subject of controversy after its contractors killed 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007, and after 3 years Prince sold the company, which changed its name twice.
Prince’s lawyer accused the United Nations Committee of Experts of preparing the report without providing information to his client, and “they failed even to present questions about the issues that the committee reached an error and defamation.”
The report says Prince was contacted via email, and letters sent to his residence without a response.
The report concluded that “his failure to cooperate with the expert committee means that the evidence presented for this document remained unclear and was not challenged by Eric Prince.”
And here, it was not hidden that the finger of blame was directed almost exclusively to the Emirates, given that it is the residence of three companies contracting with “Blackwater”.
The UAE funded Haftar’s political project and provided funds for weapons purchase lay on Abu Dhabi, not Cairo.
A reliable source said that the UAE feared its international issues after Eric Prince exposed the arms embargo violations in Libya.
The source informed Emirates Leaks that Abu Dhabi has established close cooperation with Prince. The exposure of his case may pave the way for a broader investigation against the UAE.
A report prepared by United Nations investigators revealed that Prince brought a force of foreign mercenaries and weapons in 2019 to support Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
This is in support of Haftar, who is backed by the UAE, in battles to topple the United Nations-backed Libyan Government of National Accord.
The operation, which cost $80 million, included plans to form a squad that would carry out assassinations to track down and kill anti-Haftar Libyan military leaders, some of whom hold European nationalities.
Prince, a former member of the elite unit of the US Navy (Navy Sales) and brother of Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education minister, was in the spotlight as the head of the private security firm Bluewater, whose contractors were accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007.
Trump pardoned four of those convicted in the case last year.
According to the New York Times, the accusation exposes Prince to possible sanctions from the United Nations, including a travel ban, according to the “New York Times”.
