International pressure on the UAE to withdraw its mercenaries in Libya
Emirates Leaks learned that the United States’s and the United Nations escalated pressure on the UAE to withdraw its mercenaries from Libya.
Reliable sources said that US President Joe Biden’s administration had issued several warnings to the UAE to stop its aggressive interference in Libya.
The sources added that the United Nations sent several letters to Abu Dhabi regarding the withdrawal of its mercenaries from Libya and stopping their funding.
The sources pointed out that the United Nations indicated that measures would be taken against the UAE, including imposing international sanctions on it, against the backdrop of the UAE’s role in obstructing Libya’s political process by funding armed militias to spread chaos and sabotage in the country.
This comes in light of the new US administration’s directions to put an end to the interference of some regional powers in the Libyan affair.
The file of foreign forces and mercenaries participating in the war is witnessing new developments in ending it, and at the forefront of that is the limitation of the UAE’s role.
Emirati negotiations with Hafar
The London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper recently reported that two sons of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar, commander of eastern Libyan militias, recently participated in negotiations in the UAE.
The newspaper pointed out that the negotiations discussed ways to reduce the financial support provided by Abu Dhabi for Haftar’s forces due to the tremendous international pressure on the Emirates and the change of the political map for the region.
The sources added that the UAE’s consultations with Haftar and his two sons resulted in the UAE being forced to significantly reduce the number of mercenaries fighting alongside the retired Major General.
They indicated that about 5,000 mercenaries from Sudan and Chad are preparing to leave the areas in which they are located in southern and eastern Libya.
Other numbers will gradually leave while maintaining the presence of Emirati experts in eastern Libya.
The sources explained a big dilemma raised by Najla Haftar, who recently participated in the Emirates meetings.
It insists the African fighters leave their positions accompanied by the vehicles and weapons they had acquired during the military operations against the Government of National Accord’s forces.
The sources revealed a surprise about the Russian “Wagner” groups present at Al-Jufra base in central Libya and some contact points with the eastern regions.
They added that Abu Dhabi stopped funding these forces’ presence, estimated at 2,500 fighters, two months ago and that they became utterly subordinate to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
This was after these groups rebelled against Emirati decisions and plans favouring the Russian government and altogether received their field instructions from Moscow.
It is noteworthy that Abu Dhabi previously contracted with Wagner to fight alongside Haftar and supported him in storming Tripoli’s capital during the military operation that he began in April 2019, before it failed in the same month of 2020.
