Libya; New Coup D’etat by General Khalifa Haftar!

General Haftar, who controls Libya’s east, says his Libyan National Army ‘accepted the will of the people’!!

Libya’s UN-recognised government accused rival military commander Khalifa Haftar of seeking to stage a new coup after he claimed to have a “mandate” from the people to govern the country.

“It’s a farce and the latest in a long series of coups d’etat,” the Government of National Accord (GNA), which is based in the capital, Tripoli, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“What the war criminal Haftar said was a coup on the democratic path, not new but a continuation of his failed coups and to cover up his repeated defeats,” it added.

The oil-rich North African nation has been gripped by chaos since the downfall and killing of longtime dictator Muammar Gadaffi in 2011, with rival administrations in the east and west vying for power.

Haftar, who controls swaths of eastern Libya and in April last year launched an offensive to seize Tripoli, on Monday said his army had “accepted the will of the people and its mandate”.

The leader of the Libyan National Army (LNA) did not make clear however if a parliament elected in 2014 and also based in the east of the country backed his move.

Haftar claims his legitimacy from that parliament, which was forced to move its headquarters after violence ripped apart Tripoli six years ago.

The GNA said Haftar had “turned his back on the parallel political institutions that backed him and designated him” head of the army. 

The Tripoli-based government urged Libyans to join “a comprehensive dialogue and continue in the democratic path to reach a comprehensive and permanent solution based on ballot boxes”.

Both sides are supported by a network of fractious militias and foreign powers. Turkey has sent armoured drones, air defences and more recently, Syrian fighters, to prop up the embattled Tripoli government.

Meanwhile, Russia has deployed hundreds of mercenaries to boost Haftar’s assault. The United Arab Emirates and Egypt also back Haftar.

The oil-rich North African nation has been gripped by chaos since the overthrow and killing of dictator Muammar Gadaffi in 2011 [File: Anadolu]
The oil-rich North African nation has been gripped by chaos since the overthrow and killing of dictator Muammar Gadaffi in 2011 [File: Anadolu]

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Forces loyal to Haftar attacked residential areas just outside the key stronghold of Tarhouna, south-east of the capital Tripoli, which Haftar’s forces have taken over.

Haftar has been accused by his detractors of seeking to impose a new military dictatorship in Libya.
His offensive to seize Tripoli has claimed hundreds of lives and displaced some 200,000 people.

The LNA, meanwhile, accused its GNA rivals on Tuesday of staging an attack in which a Turkish drone hit a food truck convoy in the country’s west, killing at least five civilians.

Ahmed al-Mosmari, a spokesman for Haftar’s forces, said the drone strike took place late Monday near the district Mizda, 184km (114 miles) south of Tripoli.

The militia groups loosely allied with GNA denied attacking civilians, saying instead they targeted trucks carrying equipment and ammunition for eastern forces trying to take Tripoli.

Sources: MEO, Aljazeera and News Agencies