The US envoy to Libya said that Washington was in talks with certain actors about the withdrawal of foreign forces from the war-torn country before the planned elections in December.
Richard Norland told reporters that part of the importance of Libya’s choice was to ensure that a fully empowered, credible and legitimate government could force foreign actors to withdraw their troops.
“It will be a very important development and … very effective, but we do not suggest that we have to wait until next year to try to make any progress,” Norland said ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to the Second Berlin Conference about Libya this week.
“Negotiations are underway with some of the most important players aimed at removing some of the mercenaries, the foreign warriors,” Norland added.
While the installation of a unified administration and pressure for national elections in December is seen as the best hope in several years for a lasting political solution, the process is still full of challenges.
Most of the territory is still controlled by local armed groups, large external powers have not pulled foreign fighters from the front line and key figures do not agree on the management of Libya’s economic resources.
Foreign mercenaries and weapons flooded into the country after Haftar launched its offensive, with Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) serving as the putschist general’s best suppliers. According to the UN, there are currently 20,000 foreign forces and / or mercenaries left in Libya.
The Russian Wagner group, owned by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a person close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is known as one of the main groups that sent mercenaries to fight in Libya.
Most of the foreign forces are concentrated at Sirte al-Jufra Air Base, which is maintained by Haftar’s forces 500 kilometers south of Tripoli and further west in al-Watiya.
In June 2020, the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) revealed that 2,000 Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group had worked with Haftar forces.
A UN report on Sudan released in January 2020 also said that many Arabs from the war-weary region of Darfur were fighting as “individual mercenaries” along with warring Libyan parties.
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