The member of the “5 + 5” Joint Military Commission, Major General Al-Fituri Greibel, said the reason for not implementing their plan to expel foreign forces and mercenaries is tied to the current political division between the bodies, and the crisis between the unity government and the new government.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Greibel said that it is not known how long the delay will take for the plans to be implemented, at a time when the commission has technically completed all the work entrusted to it in coordination with the United Nations and regional actors, as well as neighboring countries, and the countries that have forces and mercenaries in Libya.
Greibel explained that the commission previously formed subcommittees to communicate in the Cairo and Tunis meetings last November 2021, to visit the countries involved in the conflict and inform them of the results.
He indicated that the postponement of the elections “and their obstruction by the current divided political bodies, as well as the fact that these bodies remain in this state of division will keep the commission’s plans lacking implementation.
Greibel pointed out that the world’s preoccupation with the Russian war in Ukraine, which indicates that there is no chance for the continuation of talks between the Joint Military Commission and the Russian side in particular, will not have a significant impact if the internal Libyan conflict ends and a parliament, a president and a unified government are elected. Mercenaries, even by force, as well as the possibility of benefiting from the Russian preoccupation with the conflict in Ukraine, especially if the Wagner forces were withdrawn to the battlefield there,” according to his opinion.
It should be noted that last December 2021, the members of the Joint Military Commission visited Moscow and Ankara to hold talks with Russian and Turkish officials about the the plan to remove mercenaries and foreign forces from Libya, simultaneously.
