Libya’s south falls prey to foreign armed groups

In August, his group launched an offensive in Chad’s far north, before retreating to shelter in southern Libya.

Another Chadian group present in Libya, the Union of Resistance Forces, also denied involvement and accused Libyan commanders of being behind the kidnappings.

“There are Chadians… who work for the Libyans, for the tribes,” said spokesman Youssouf Hamid. He said any Chadians involved would not have acted on their own initiative.

The UN Mission in Libya has condemned rights violations by foreign armed groups and has urged “the Libyan authorities to take swift and effective measures to fight anarchy in the region”.

– ‘Very dangerous’ –

On Wednesday the UN-backed government in Tripoli held a cabinet meeting focused on the country’s south.

“What is happening in the south is very dangerous,” said the GNA’s deputy prime minister Abdessalam Kajman.

He urged “firmness” in tackling Chadian and Sudanese opposition “bandits”.

Meanwhile, the LNA has ordered a military operation to fight “criminal gangs and the Chadian opposition who engage in kidnapping and extortion, deriving significant revenues that could finance terrorist activities”, LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mesmari told AFP.

A recent meeting in Chad’s capital N’Djamena between Haftar and President Idriss Deby Itno falls within this military remit, he said.

But in reality Libya’s vast south escapes the control of both the GNA and its rivals in the east, even if Haftar’s self-styled LNA says that it has an on-the-ground presence.

“The southern territory is vast, difficult and… does not necessarily promise a very substantial political dividend,” said Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya specialist at the University of Paris 8.

This discourages the main Libyan forces from intervening, he added.

But Harchaoui said Chad’s government and former coloniser France are also worried that a jihadist presence could further unravel the Sahel region, which leaves them dependent on Haftar.

“Haftar is supposed to re-establish order in this vast territory,” he said.

But while the strongman has “made many reassuring declarations, the reality (on the ground) remains worrying”.