New weapons from UAE to Haftar militia

The internationally recognized Libyan government of reconciliation forces announced the monitoring of the arrival of two military cargo planes, which departed from the UAE to a military base affiliated with the Khalifa Haftar militia.

The forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA) said in a statement published by the media center for the “Borkan Al-Fathi” operation, that two military cargo planes departed from the Sweihan Air Force Base in the Emirates to a military base south of Al-Marj city in eastern Libya.

The statement included flight registration information for the two planes, and the statement also indicated that one of them was a Russian-made “Ilyushin” model.

The GNA forces have previously announced the monitoring of several foreign military cargo flights, which entered Libyan airspace and landed in military bases under Haftar’s control.

The statement did not clarify the nature of the cargo capacity of the two planes, but Abu Dhabi is a major supporter of the forces of the retired major general, who is fighting the internationally recognized government of reconciliation.

This is not the first time that a foreign military cargo flight has been detected inside Libyan airspace, and landing in military bases under the control of “Haftar” militias.

Although the UAE agreed to the decisions of the Berlin Conference, which were approved by the UN Security Council, with the approval of 14 countries and Russia’s reservation, it continues to arm “Haftar”, in a manner that would encourage the latter to continue violating the ceasefire and bringing it into violence.

According to observers, the ceasefire agreement in Libya was only an opportunity for the UAE to double the volume of weapons supplied to Haftar in an unprecedented manner as if it was preparing for a regional war, bigger, more violent and comprehensive than before.

Abu Dhabi has also been involved in recruiting African mercenaries, whether from the Sudanese “Janjaweed” or from armed opposition groups in Chad and Sudan’s Darfur.

The UAE does not stop extending Haftar various kinds of support to extend his military influence in Libya, without looking at the remnants of this policy that has exhausted the Libyans, while continuing its quest to control one of the most important oil sites in the world.

This endeavor led to huge losses suffered by the Libyan economy, which depends on the export of oil. The latest announcement in this regard came in a statement by the National Oil Corporation of the GNA, on Thursday (February 20, 2020), revealed the decline in oil production to 123,537 A daily barrel since the retired Major General of Petroleum Ports was closed on January 18th.

The Foundation clarified that the losses exceeded the one-billion-dollar barrier, renewing its call to end irresponsible and illegal closings and to allow the resumption of production operations immediately for Libya and its people.

The closure of oil installations not only affected its economic damage, but also extended to the Libyan citizen, as several regions in the country suffer from a shortage of fuel and fuel supplies due to the closure on the one hand, and the deteriorating security conditions on the other hand.

Libyan observers describe the closure of the oil fields as a “major crime”, stressing that the direct responsibility for it is Khalifa Haftar, and believes that the latter “did not do this voluntarily, but rather with the assistance of France in the first place, then the UAE for several goals.”

And the closure comes to cut off any resources that feed the budget of the internationally recognized national reconciliation government, as oil feeds about 80% of the state’s budget, and closing this resource means having Haftar a leverage to achieve political gains and forcing the reconciliation government to sit with him at the negotiating table in Cairo, especially as It has no economic resource in Libya.

The UAE is also benefiting from this crisis by covering the deficit in the international market by increasing its production and securing oil through its ports. Therefore, it is a contrived crisis that has two dimensions, political and economic.

And stability in Libya means pulling the rug from under a number of countries that benefit from crises and contrived wars, foremost of which is the Emirates, as Libya occupies a distinguished geographical location because it is the link between Africa and Europe, in addition to its richness in natural resources, which prompted Abu Dhabi to seek a foothold in the country.

The second dimension of the matter is that Libya is a fertile land for international investments and can attract many projects in infrastructure, and stability means starting these projects and transferring foreign capital from Abu Dhabi to Tripoli, which causes severe damage to the UAE economy.

As the UAE economy is based on speculation and betting that causes stifling economic crises in the long run, and the state falling under the shadow of the GNA means the actual start of infrastructure projects, which loses its advantage in the region by exploiting crises.

Abu Dhabi has paid the war bill for Haftar over the capital, Tripoli, and has lost tens of billions so far to destabilize the Libyan economy, but this may avoid – according to “Fadil” – hundreds and billions of losses in the medium and long term if stability occurs in Libya.