Yesterday, Khalifa Haftar’s Prime Minister Osama Saad Hammad released a statement declaring that the EU delegation to Libya had violated Libya’s protocol and entry requirements. This is untrue because the actual reason for sending back the EU delegation upon its arrival to Benghazi was a refusal by Khalifa Haftar to directly meet with EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner. A day prior to the delegation’s arrival, Khalifa Haftar’s Chair of the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Committee threatened Europe saying that Libya won’t serve as Europe’s coast guard.
Haftar’s Prime Minister, Osama Saad Hammad Saleh, who also serves his Minister of Finance, is a staunch opponent of the UN-recognised Government of National Unity and is challenging its authority. Prime Minister Hammad is also an opponent of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and demanded its its withdrawal from Libya last month. The premier is also a strong advocate for stronger and continued relationships with Belarus and Russia. He inaugurated a consulate in Minsk, Belarus just last week. He also says he supports elections and a unified government in Libya.
Despite supporting a unified government and elections, Premier Osama Saad Hammad is seen as Haftar’s state builder and his legitimate face, and his actions, have consistently served to strengthen Khalifa Haftar’s regime in the east rather than to build an interconnected state structure between east and west. Premier Hammad was a staunch advocate for divesting completely from Libya’s National Oil Corporation and the construction of an independent Libyan oil industry in the east.
Like his colleague Hammad, Youssef Al-Agouri is also an opponent of the UN’s presence in Libya. He is also a strong Haftar loyalist, and defends him regularly even on human rights abuses by his government which according to Al-Agouri are exaggerated. Currently, he is threatening Europe with migrant flows to Crete if Europe doesn’t conduct business deals with his government. During Libya’s maritime standoff with Greece, Al-Agouri made sure to strengthen relations with Turkey.
Both of these Haftar loyalists are building a state separate to that of Tripoli and both of them are blackmailing Europe with the “coast guard” threat. Patrolling the Libyan coast and preventing illegal migrant crossings are the responsibilities of the Libyan authorities. However, they are seeking to deflect this responsibility in order to gain leverage, not only to secure funding and aid similar to that provided to other North African countries by the EU and southern European states, but also to obtain additional trade deals and diplomatic recognition.
Newsroom
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