Libya warns it may cut ties with Sudan and Qatar over “interference”
September 14, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni reiterated accusations made previously by Tripoli against Qatar and Sudan of backing Islamist militias by sending arms shipments into the restive north African nation.
It noted that this action by Sudan violates Libya’s sovereignty and constitutes an interference in its affairs, adding that they formally informed the Sudanese military attaché that he is persona non grata.
Sudan’s foreign ministry however asserted that the plane mentioned in the media that landed at Kufra airport carried and unloaded supplies for use by the joint Sudanese-Libyan border control forces.
This week the Sudanese ambassador in Cairo and the permanent representative to the Arab League Abdel-Haleem Abdel-Mahmood revealed that Khartoum asked Libya to correct the statement it issued and apologize for accusations it leveled against Sudan.
But Libya’s premier repeated these accusations, saying Khartoum had tried sending a military plane loaded with ammunition to Mitiga. He added that Qatar nonetheless managed to get planes through to these forces.
“Unfortunately they [the planes] reached [Tripoli] Mitiga airport,” Thinni told UAE-based Arab TV channel Sky News according to Reuters.
“We confirm that we have official reports that these war planes carried weapons and ammunition,” he said. “What does Qatar want to give to the Libyan people ?”
He went on to say that “the Sudanese brothers are trying to interfere in Libya’s affairs”.
“We will consider … breaking off relations if this interference into Libya’s internal affairs continued,” Thinni added.
Qatar has not commented on the Libyan accusations.
Colonel Mohammed Hejazi, a spokesman for the Libyan National Army that is loyal to retired Libyan general Khalifa Heftar, said last week that investigations are underway on the landing of an aircraft loaded with weapons coming from Sudan at Mitiga airbase.
He added that intelligence bodies in states that are supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood were involved with funding arms shipments which coincided with news that Khartoum received Nouri Abusahmain, president of the previous session of the Libyan General National Congress (GNC) which was dominated by Islamists and is challenging the legitimacy of the elected parliament.
The London-based Al-Arab al-Youm newspaper quoted the commander of the air force in the pro-Heftar Libyan National Army, Brigadier Saqr Jeroshi as warning against a “hellish” scheme in which Sudan provides personnel and weapons, aimed at empowering the Muslim Brotherhood and its allied the Jihadist militias to control the eastern city of Benghazi.
“This scheme approached its final stages, where the Muslim Brotherhood has stepped up its actions in support of its militias that are armed with personnel and ammunitions from Sudan,” benefiting from close ties with the Sudanese government, which he described as a Muslim Brotherhood one.
He added that the army confirmed information that a Muslim Brotherhood figure by the name Ahmed Al-Zuway, who has a tribal links in Sudan, is overseeing the process of bringing in arms and personnel from Sudan to Kufra in cars and trucks.
“The process of the transfer of arms and personnel from Sudan to Libya has taken in the last period a remarkable development, as planes were observed in the skies of the Sahara, coming from Sudan, in an effort to overthrow the city of Benghazi, to which hundreds of extremist groups from Misrata and Derna are flowing, in an effort to control it in favor of extremist groups.”
The GNC refused to stand down at the end of its term earlier this year and extended it and extended its mandate another year which prompted General Heftar to call for its dissolution and forming an interim government to oversee new elections.
Last May, pro-Heftar forces launched a major offensive against Islamist militias dubbed as ‘Operation Dignity’.
Libya’s government and elected House of Representatives last month relocated to the remote eastern city of Tobruk after an armed group from the western city of Misrata seized the capital Tripoli and most government institutions.
Those now in control of Tripoli have set up a rival parliament and government that have not been recognized by the international community.
Libya has been plagued by political infighting, with government and parliament unable to control militias that have continued to defy state authority since ousting Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
(ST)