A source told 218News that the visit of the commander of the US military command in Africa “Africom”, General Stephen Townsend to Libya, came for two reasons.
The first reason is a military one related to the US fear of another war, and Townsend indicated that it would be a “regional war”, at which time Libyans will not be able to return to negotiations, and the second is political to urge the conflicting parties in Libya to return to the 5+5 negotiating table.
Disbanding Armed Brigades
The source revealed that “AFRICOM” is the one that chose to have the meeting in the city of Zuwara, as it is far from Tripoli, and because its security situation is appropriate while the situation in Tripoli is still not safe, where “AFRICOM” fears that the armed brigades in Tripoli will attack them if the meeting takes place there.
Meanwhile, one of the topics of the discussion was leaked, which is the disbanding of the “Ghenwa Al-Kukli and Al-Nawasi Brigade” as well as the Bab Tajura Brigade.
According to the source, the beginning will be the disbanding of the Abdel-Ghani Al-Kakli battalion (Al-Ignawat), which confirms an old piece of information obtained by 218News that Abdul-Ghani Al-Kakli will leave Libya and go to Morocco to stay there, a thing he himself personally mentioned in one of the private meetings with his battalion members after the war ended In Tripoli.
Sources within the meeting confirmed that US AFRICOM appreciates the work done by the Ministry of Interior in the Government of National Accord and its endeavor to impose security, and praised it during the meeting and asked it explicitly to disband the armed brigades mentioned above, in addition to reorganizing the work of the Special Deterrent Force so it doesn’t become a force that works on its own, but under the command of the Ministry of the Interior. The meeting also discussed the disbanding of the General Security Force headed by Emad Trabelsi.
The sources pointed out that AFRICOM asked the Head of the Presidential Council, Fayez al-Sarraj, and his accompanying delegation to return to the negotiations because of what AFRICOM leaders consider that the war, if it were to take place, would be a regional war and difficult for countries to stop and Libyans would not be able to return to the negotiating table.
Return to Negotiations
The sources pointed out that AFRICOM asked the Head of the Presidential Council, Fayez al-Sarraj, and his accompanying delegation to return to negotiations because AFRICOM leaders believed that if the war were to take place, it would be regional and difficult for countries to stop, and the Libyans would not be able to return to the negotiating table.
Bashagha Rejects Haftar
The sources stated that, although the Presidential Council and the security leaders agreed with AFRICOM leaders to think about the return to negotiations, the Minister of Interior Fathi Bashagha totally rejected Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s return to negotiations, which led to AFRICOM’s request to study the nomination of the Speaker of Parliament Aqila Saleh to lead the negotiations as a representative of the eastern region, and pushed AFRICOM leaders to go to the eastern region to present the proposal.
