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Euronews
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Is Libya's General Khalifa Haftar really that powerful?
When a senior EU delegation travelled to the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi last Tuesday, they were hoping to discuss ways to limit the increasing numbers of migrants leaving Libya heading north to Europe. However, shortly after their jet touched down at Benghazi Airport, the cluster of EU foreign ministers – as well as European Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner – were sent packing. There was no agreement, not even a meeting. They were unceremoniously kicked out and declared "personae non gratae," a source on the European side told Euronews at the time, adding that the delegation was caught in a diplomatic 'trap' in which Haftar tried to force them to take a photo with, and tacitly legitimise, his Benghazi-based government. While the EU itself has been remiss to publicly comment on what one senior Libyan analyst said was outright 'humiliation,' it is understood that the man they were hoping to strike a deal with was General Khalifa Haftar. As the head of the powerful Libyan National Army, despite not leading the internationally recognised government, Haftar has become the de facto ruler of vast swathes of the North African country, which has lacked a unified state since the fall and assassination of notorious dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Although Haftar is arguably the most powerful person in Libya today, he was once persona non grata himself, living quietly in exile right up to Gaddafi's demise. Keep your friends close… Born to an Arab Benuin family in northeastern Libya at the start of Britain's eight-year occupation of the country, Khalifa Belqasim Omar Haftar was, even according to his allies, 'a very quiet young lad who did not do much work.' However, he managed to gain admission to the Benghazi Military University Academy, where friends from his time there reportedly also refer to him as 'a very stern boy.' 'He would not ask for a fight, but if it came to him, he knows how to handle it,' Haftar's friends described him. It was at the academy where Haftar got to know a student in the year above — one Muammar Gaddafi. They became fast friends, with Haftar even labelling Gaddafi an 'angel'. The two united over their revolutionary spirit, fomented by a recent political coup that toppled the monarchy and political class in Libya's neighbour, Egypt. 'We were massively affected by Jamal Abdel Nasser's era and what was going on in Egypt,' Haftar later explained. Haftar was also said to be a massive admirer of the Iraqi vice president at the time — soon to become another household name. 'Khalifa's most important son is named Saddam, who by the way is named after Saddam Hussein. He's the most like his father, I think that tells you all you need to know,' Tim Eaton from the Chatham House Institute said during an interview with Euronews from London. It is also likely that he chose his title, field marshal, as a nod to Yugoslav socialist leader Josip Broz Tito, experts believe. Just three years after his graduation, Haftar was instrumental in the 1969 coup, which toppled King Idris and replaced him with Gaddafi, who had expansionist ambitions of spreading his Islamic socialist ideology — also known as Jamahiriya — beyond Libya's borders. In subsequent years, Haftar trained in the Soviet Union and rose through the ranks of Gaddafi's military, commanding the Libyan troops supporting Egyptian troops entering Israeli-occupied Sinai during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. This cemented what was to become an enduring relationship between the Libyan military commander and leaders in Cairo. But keep your enemies closer In 1986, Haftar was made a colonel before becoming the military chief of staff. As the Gaddafi regime became increasingly authoritarian and rogue, his rise seemed inexorable. However, his luck suddenly turned: Gaddafi's favourite commander led a disastrous mission in the late 1980s into neighbouring Chad, which led to the capture of almost 700 Libyan soldiers, including Haftar himself. He was jailed, along with his men. Then it was the US, not Libya, that secured his release, which Libyan analyst Anas El Gomati contends was a turning point in the Haftar-Gaddafi relationship. 'Haftar was like Gaddafi's chosen sword until he became his sharpest blade turned inward,' the founder of Libya's self-described first think tank told Euronews. As El Gomati explained, Haftar 'was abandoned as a scapegoat, then spent two decades in Virginia plotting revenge." "He didn't just oppose Gaddafi, he became his dark mirror, learning every lesson about authoritarian control," El Gomati pointed out. In fact, Haftar spent the next 24 years in exile and working with Libyan opposition movements, living just kilometres away from Washington, in Langley, the home of the CIA. In 2019, a former advisor to Haftar in the mid-2010s, Mohamed Bouzier, concurred with El Gomati in an interview with the BBC. 'He was inhabited by Gaddafi. He was inhabited by envy of Gaddafi. How Gaddafi ruled this country," Bouzier said. However, some Libya insiders privately told Euronews of rumours that Gaddafi had actually gifted his former military chief an opulent mansion in Cairo during this time — the same house in which Haftar's most powerful son, Saddam, grew up. Back in the fold When protests erupted across the Arab world in 2011, Libyans took to the streets in cities across the country. After decades of discussing plots to overthrow Gaddafi with willing Western ears and, as Libya expert Claudia Gazzini describes it, 'sort of defecting to the Americans', Haftar finally saw cracks emerging and soon went to the Libyan capital Tripoli. However, the International Crisis Group's senior analyst pushed back on the idea of Haftar becoming a key US puppet in the Libyan revolution. 'I haven't heard anybody make it so explicit. It would make sense, but nobody has said the Americans told him to go back there.' Even if they did, it wouldn't have been a short-term success, she continued. 'In 2012-2013, he based himself in Tripoli, but he wasn't a big name at the time, because there were just so many different armed groups in Tripoli an the power was balanced out between all these people.' El Gomati was less diplomatic: 'Haftar was a footnote, a Cold War fossil.' It was not until 2014 that Haftar's head really appeared above the parapet, when he announced an operation which he said was to root out extremists in Benghazi. Even then, Gazzini contends that he was not taken seriously. 'He came on TV. It was very pathetic. He actually came on TV with a big map behind him saying: 'Hey, you know, we need to rebel against these bad Islamists.'' A claim that both Gazzini and Eaton doubt, with the latter telling Euronews that 'for Haftar, there's always been good islamists and bad Islamists.' 'There's actually a lot of Salafists (Islamist extremists) in his ranks, just ones who can take orders," Eaton explained. However, Operation Dignity, as it was known, helped consolidate Haftar's power over Libya's second biggest city and much of the country's east. Over the following years, he built up his power and became the supreme commander of the Libyan National Army in 2015. None of this happened in a vacuum. Family at home, friends abroad Over the decades, Haftar had built up close relationships in Cairo, but when he returned to Libya, Egypt was also in the midst of revolutionary fervour, tending towards the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group. As Gazzini explained, 'There was a jihadist threat in Libya and then we have Egypt, which was very weak." "If you go back to before 2013 before (Abdel Fattah) El-Sisi, there was this fear that Egypt could implode ... And the Europeans also didn't want Egypt to collapse," she explained. Faced with difficult choices and fearing the likes of the self-proclaimed IS group spreading their influence in North Africa, some analysts believe that European leaders gave Haftar — whose power and army grew in strength — the silent nod of approval to do what he thinks is right. "They needed a new Gaddafi, someone who could stop democracy from becoming contagious. Haftar fit the mould: ruthless, ambitious, and willing to trade sovereignty for support," El Gomati believes. Egypt also backed him as a known known, someone in the immediate neighbourhood who understood the context, but also the perils the region was facing. The list of backers, silent or otherwise, only continued to grow from there on out. In addition to Cairo, Haftar gained the support of governments ranging from Moscow to Washington, even though the UN did not recognise his wider authority as a legitimate head of state. However, according to Gazzini, it was Abu Dhabi and Paris who ended up as his most unquestioning supporters. While the Emirates saw the allure of Libya's oil reserves — the largest in Africa — France and Europe more widely were dealing with an influx of refugees through the Mediterranean, hundreds of thousands of whom were hoping to reach the continent via Libya. In all that, Haftar saw his chance to utilise the international support and finally become the ruler of Libya — and who knows, maybe even bigger than Gaddafi himself. When Haftar announced his intention to overthrow the Tripoli-based, internationally recognised Government of National Accord on the day UN Secretary General António Guterres arrived in the capital in 2019, even Egypt warned him against it. 'But he was full of hubris from the Emiratis who wanted to do it. They were giving him aerial cover. The French also wanted to do it,' Gazzini told Euronews from the IRG offices in Rome. It is a hubris that some have compared to his ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Similarly, Haftar's attempts also failed. Tripoli refused to fall into Haftar's troops' hands, and Libya fell back into a form of stalemate. Divided we stand Throughout this time, Haftar was accumulating extraordinary wealth for his family, whom he had installed in various positions, experts say. As Eaton told Euronews, 'There was a debate on whether when Khalifa (Haftar) died, could his sons come in and take over. It seems that they have come in and started creating their own portfolios even before.' And it is all in the family and the hands of his children, as El Gomati succinctly outlined. 'Saddam runs the ground forces. Khaled commands the personal guard. Belkacem controls the billions in Libya's reconstruction fund. Sedig runs the reconciliation file,' he explained. The family has amassed a portfolio estimated to be worth billions. Despite his failure to seize the wider country, Haftar and his sons continue to run much of the country. 'He controls everything that matters in eastern Libya,' El Gomati said. 'Oil fields, ports, airports, military bases, and the central bank's printing press. He has his own air force, controls cross-border smuggling routes… It operates like a state within a state.' Euronews has reached out to Khalifa and Saddam Haftar for comment. As shown by the EU's lack of retribution over the past week, the self-proclaimed field marshal also maintains significant international backing. He was recently in Russia for talks with Putin – a trip he was rumoured to have died on, but once again, he miraculously recovered. The 'humiliation' of the EU delegation also isn't the first time Haftar has managed to push around supposed allies in Europe. The analysts Euronews spoke to put this down to Europe's domestic wranglings over 'irregular migrations,' and the simple fact that 'there's no way migrant boats would be leaving the east without Haftar knowing.' Gazzini gave the example of her native Italy: 'At some point, a lot of migrants were going to the coast of Italy about a year and a half ago, he let it be known that he wanted an official visit and an official invitation to Rome. And he got that.' At the end of his interview, El Gomati did not mince words about the European approach to the Libyan commander. 'Europeans keep volunteering as victims. Haftar treats EU diplomats like desperate suitors because that's exactly what they are.' It is a point that Eaton also touches upon, albeit somewhat more diplomatically. 'There's a real imbalance,' he concluded. However, Europe is not acting in a vacuum either. It is often trying to play by international rules and conventions in an arena where shady actions speak much louder than words and agreements on paper. Sometimes, it is better to have a strongman on your side — or at least his ear. 'We have very little leverage compared to other states. Compare it with the Russians, who have MiGs and have fighter jets that are at Haftar's disposal," Gazzini admitted. 'Compare us to the Emiratis who bring in reinforcements and ammunition in violation of the embargo.'
Straits Times
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Greece passes North Africa asylum ban amid rights groups' opposition
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: Newly-arrived migrants are sheltered in a municipal hall, in the town of Agyia, on the island of Crete, Greece, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nicolas Economou/File Photo ATHENS - Greek lawmakers voted on Friday to temporarily stop processing asylum requests from migrants arriving from North Africa by sea in a bid to reduce arrivals into Europe's southernmost tip, a move rights groups and opposition parties have called illegal. The ban comes amid a surge in migrants reaching the island of Crete and after talks with Libya's Benghazi-based government to stem the flow were cancelled acrimoniously this week. It marks a further hardening of Greece's stance towards migrants under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right government, which has built a fence at its northern land borders and boosted sea patrols since it came to power in 2019. Human rights groups accuse Greece of forcefully turning back asylum-seekers on its sea and land borders. This year, the European Union border agency said it was reviewing 12 cases of potential human rights violations by Greece. The government denies wrongdoing. The law, which received 177 votes in favour and 74 against, halts asylum processing for at least three months and allows authorities to quickly repatriate migrants without any prior identification process. "Faced with the sharp increase in irregular arrivals by sea from North Africa, particularly from Libya to Crete, we have taken the difficult but absolutely necessary decision to temporarily suspend the examination of asylum applications," Mitsotakis was quoted by his office as telling the German newspaper Bild on Friday. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore ST will have Govt's 'full confidence and support' in its mission to stay relevant: PM Wong Singapore ST will aim to become an indispensable partner to S'pore's communities: Editor Jaime Ho Singapore Heartbeats & Headlines: ST's 180-year legacy comes to life in immersive exhibition Singapore Trusted news, smarter experience with new Straits Times website and app Singapore Man who killed 5-year-old daughter gets life sentence after he appeals against 35-year jail term Singapore Judge declines to void alleged sham marriage in S'pore, says it is for Parliament to decide Business OCBC CEO Helen Wong to retire on Dec 31; Tan Teck Long named successor Singapore More than 14,300 people checked during 7-week-long anti-crime ops "Greece is not a gateway to Europe open to everyone." Greece was on the front line of a migration crisis in 2015-16 when hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa passed through its islands and mainland. Since then, flows have dropped off dramatically. While there has been a rise in arrivals to the outlying islands of Crete and Gavdos - those numbers have quadrupled to over 7,000 so far this year - sea arrivals to Greece as a whole dropped by 5.5% to 17,000 in the first half of this year, U.N. data show. Rights groups and opposition parties said the ban approved by parliament violates human rights. "Seeking refuge is a human right; preventing people from doing so is both illegal and inhumane," said Martha Roussou, a senior advocacy adviser for aid group IRC. Thousands of irregular migrants have been rescued by the Greek coastguard off Crete in recent days, the Athens government said. Hundreds of them, including children, were temporarily housed at an exhibition centre in Agyia, near the city of Chania in western Crete, amid sweltering summer temperatures. Reuters footage on Friday showed a migrant who had fainted being taken out of the shelter on a stretcher. Crete lacks an organised reception facility. The government said it would build a migrant camp there but the local tourist industry is worried the plan could harm the island's image. 'The weight is too great, the load is too big, and solutions now have to be found ... at a central level,' said George Tsapakos, a deputy governor for Crete. REUTERS
The Star
11-07-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Greece passes North Africa asylum ban amid rights groups' opposition
ATHENS (Reuters) -Greek lawmakers voted on Friday to temporarily stop processing asylum requests frommigrants arriving from North Africa by sea in a bid to reduce arrivals into Europe's southernmost tip, a move rights groups and opposition parties have called illegal. The ban comes amid a surge in migrants reaching the island of Crete and after talks with Libya's Benghazi-based government to stem the flow were cancelled acrimoniously this week. It marks a further hardening of Greece's stance towards migrants under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right government, which has built a fence at its northern land borders and boosted sea patrols since it came to power in 2019. Human rights groups accuse Greece of forcefully turning back asylum-seekers on its sea and land borders. This year, the European Union border agency said it was reviewing 12 cases of potential human rights violations by Greece. The government denies wrongdoing. The law, which received 177 votes in favour and 74 against, halts asylum processing for at least three months and allows authorities to quickly repatriate migrants without any prior identification process. "Faced with the sharp increase in irregular arrivals by sea from North Africa, particularly from Libya to Crete, we have taken the difficult but absolutely necessary decision to temporarily suspend the examination of asylum applications," Mitsotakis was quoted by his office as telling the German newspaper Bild on Friday. "Greece is not a gateway to Europe open to everyone." Greece was on the front line of a migration crisis in 2015-16 when hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa passed through its islands and mainland. Since then, flows have dropped off dramatically. While there has been a rise in arrivals to the outlying islands of Crete and Gavdos - those numbers have quadrupled to over 7,000 so far this year - sea arrivals to Greece as a whole dropped by 5.5% to 17,000 in the first half of this year, U.N. data show. Rights groups and opposition parties said the ban approved by parliament violates human rights. "Seeking refuge is a human right; preventing people from doing so is both illegal and inhumane," said Martha Roussou, a senior advocacy adviser for aid group IRC. Thousands of irregular migrants have been rescued by the Greek coastguard off Crete in recent days, the Athens government said. Hundreds of them, including children, were temporarily housed at an exhibition centre in Agyia, near the city of Chania in western Crete, amid sweltering summer temperatures. Reuters footage on Fridayshoweda migrant who had fainted being taken out of the shelter on a stretcher. Crete lacks an organised reception facility. The government said it would build a migrant camp there but the local tourist industry is worried the plan could harm the island's image. 'The weight is too great, the load is too big, and solutions now have to be found ... at a central level,' said George Tsapakos, a deputy governor for Crete. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Angeliki Koutantou; editing by Edward McAllister and Mark Heinrich)
TimesLIVE
10-07-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Greece suspends asylum applications for North African migrants
Greece will stop processing asylum applications of people coming from North Africa, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday, amid a surge in migrant arrivals. The announcement came a day after EU's migration commissioner and ministers from Italy, Malta and Greece were denied entry to the eastern part of divided Libya and declared persona non grata by the Benghazi-based government ahead of a scheduled meeting on migration. "With legislation that will be submitted to the parliament tomorrow, Greece will suspend the examination of asylum applications, initially for three months, for those arriving in Greece from North Africa by sea," Mitsotakis told parliament. He added that he intended to return to Libya all migrants who entered Greece "illegally". Sea arrivals of migrants travelling from northeastern Libya to Greece's southern islands of Crete and Gavdos have surged to more than 7,300 this year, according to estimates by the Greek government and aid agencies. That compares with around 5,000 in the whole of 2024.
Straits Times
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Greek lawmakers to vote on North Africa asylum ban as rights groups cry foul
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Newly-arrived migrants are sheltered in a municipal hall, in the town of Agyia, on the island of Crete, Greece, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nicolas Economou AGYIA, Crete - Greek lawmakers were set to vote on legislation on Thursday that would temporarily halt the processing of asylum applications of people coming from North Africa, a move rights groups have called illegal. The vote comes amid a surge in migrant arrivals to the island of Crete and as talks with divided Libya's Benghazi-based eastern government to help stem the flow were cancelled acrimoniously this week. Greece, one of the main gateways into the European Union for refugees and migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa, has taken an increasingly tough stance on migration since Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right party came to power in 2019, building a fence at its northern land borders and boosting sea patrols in the east. Sea arrivals of migrants travelling from northeastern Libya to its southern islands of Crete and Gavdos, the closest European territory to North Africa, have surged this year. Dozens of migrants, including children, sat on mattresses in a temporary reception centre in Agyia, near the city of Chania, on Thursday. There were among hundreds rescued by the Greek coastguard in the Libyan Sea off Crete in recent days. "We are experiencing what I would call the worst crisis of the past two years, with hundreds of migrants disembarking on the southern coast of the island," said Vasilis Katsikandarakis, head of the coastguard staff in western Crete. "All the burden has fallen onto the coastguard, who don't have the necessary equipment and personnel to deal with such flows." In response to the spike, Mitsotakis' government proposed legislation on Wednesday stipulating that migrants crossing illegally to Greece from North Africa by sea would not be able to file for an asylum for three months. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business S'pore to launch new grant for companies, expand support for workers amid US tariff uncertainties Singapore Spike in piracy, armed robbery cases in straits of Malacca and Singapore in first half of 2025 Singapore Singaporean fugitive charged over alleged drug trafficking, faces death penalty if convicted Singapore KTPH trials 'smart diapers' for adult patients to prevent skin conditions, relieve burden on nurses Singapore PSP's CEC renewal shows its commitment to being a reasonable alternative choice, says Stephanie Tan World 'Do some homework': 6 key exchanges between US Senator Duckworth and S'pore envoy nominee Sinha Singapore Singapore launches centre to drive sustainable aviation in Asia-Pacific Multimedia 60 objects to mark SG60: Which is your favourite? A vote on the law, which would also allow authorities to quickly deport those migrants without any prior identification process, was expected later on Thursday or early on Friday. Human rights groups said the asylum ban would violate international and European law, and called on the Greek government to recall it. "Seeking refuge is a human right; preventing people from doing so is both illegal and inhumane," the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a statement. The government who controls 155 lawmakers in the 300-seated parliament said on Wednesday the ban was "an emergency response to an emergency situation". Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said on Thursday the move was a fair one, aimed to make Greece less attractive to illegal migrants. "No-one is less humanitarian than anyone else in this country and in Europe," he said. Greece has long been accused by aid groups of forcibly ejecting migrants at its sea and land borders, also known as "pushbacks," an illegal practice. A Greek naval court has charged 17 coastguard officers over one of the Mediterranean's worst shipwrecks two years ago, in which hundreds of people are believed to have drowned. REUTERS
