Libya

Salame: Libya isn’t a hub for extremists in Africa

The former UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, said, in an interview with the New Africa magazine, that the Libyan crisis did not cause the militants to spread towards neighboring countries, especially the Sahel region, stressing that Libya’s problem is that it is a country that “lives on oil profits, and therefore it can finance its war.

“If there was no Libyan problem, peace would be everywhere,” Salame added, saying that he does not mean that there are no weapons coming out of Libya to neighboring countries, but he contradicts the opinion that Libya is the hub of extremism in Africa, noting that despite the state of general instability, Libya was able to completely eliminate the ISIS project in Sirte.

The 29th report of the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team had previously estimated the presence of 50 Libyan fighters from ISIS in Fezzan, especially between Sebha, Murzuq and Umm al-Aranib in southern Libya, in addition to foreign fighters affiliated with the organization from Eritrea, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal and Sudan.

According to United Nations experts, ISIS retains some operational capabilities, giving priority to its continued presence in southern Libya, as it seeks to reorganize its leaders despite the setbacks it has suffered, the latest of which is the killing of Adnan Abu Al-Walid Al-Sahrawi, the leader of ISIS in the Greater Sahara, in the clashes that erupted last August near the Triple Border, the area that cuts across the borders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

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