Haftar's $2 B Arms Deal With Russia Is Dangerous On North Africa Security

Russian move confused Algeria’s efforts to search for a political solution to the crisis in Libya, after the leaked information about the activation of an estimated $ 2 billion deal for the supply of arms, between Khalifa Haftar and Russia.

Since the last visit that led the Marshal Hafter, commander of the Libyan army to Algeria, events accelerated remarkably on the Libyan soil, including the visit of the aircraft carrier “Admiral Kuznetsov”, which docked off the coast of Tobruk in the far east, followed by the visit of the Russian Defense Minister to the city of Benghazi, which is Hafter’s leadership base.

Al Arab daily newspaper quoted sources that are linked to the file, as saying that the “Russian military move toward Libya comes in the wake of an agreement between the Libyan national army that is led by the Marshal Khalifa Haftar and Russia, on activating the implementation of the Convention on the contracts that included the arms deal that was signed by the late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi with Russia in 2009 “.

This agreement was signed 2009, and was scheduled to be implemented in 2010, as it is valued at $ 1.8 billion and includes the purchase of about 20 fighter jets and systems of missile-type “S 300”, and tank-style “T-90”, in addition to the modernization and development of 140 tanks of the type “T-72”.

It is known that Hafter’s visit to Algeria came in the context of the efforts to revive a political solution among the opponents of the crisis, as Algeria also received the head of the Presidential Council, Fayez Al-Sarraj, and the wife of Saleh, Head of the Libyan Parliament, and several other Libyan actors in the same period, aiming to prepare for the organization of a meeting between the Libyan parties for dialogue in Algeria.

But Hafter and immediately after his return from Algeria, he found a Russian aircraft carrier waiting for him on the east coast of Libya, before the visit of Sergei Shoygu, who is the Russian Minister of Defense, then Hafter confirmed after that to the Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera”, that he refuses to dialogue before eliminating what he called “terrorists”,and this was seen as a stab to the Algerian initiative which rejects any orientation that tends toward a military solution to the Libyan crisis.

Moscow’s activation of Gaddafi deal with Khalifa Haftar is considered an intervention in Libyan affairs and a bias to one party of the crisis, and a violation of the UN decision, and a trend like this would make the situation even more complicated, and threatens North Africa, the Sahel and the Sahara regions, because of dumping more weapons, and the obstruction of the search for a peaceful solution to the crisis.