Libya Gen. Haftar: “Algerians should contact us to cooperate in securing the border”

Haftar asserted in a phone interview with the Channel “Etounisia” (Tunisian) on Friday, that the Karama Operation came in order to reduce the activity of terrorist groups that threaten the entire region.

“We are combating this dangerous virus, which is called terrorist groups. We offer a great service to Libya’s neighboring countries, including Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and other countries. Libyans suffered in the recent period, and this required a pause from us, and the Karama Operation came only as a response to an appeal of the Libyan people, who is tired of the existing institutions’ weakness in the fight against these terrorists.” 

Retired General and Commander of the Libyan marines previously (71 years old), denied his intention to rule again, refusing to describe what he is doing as “a coup”, he said: “What we are doing does neither infringe the legitimacy, nor is a military coup, as there was no legitimacy at all, because the General Conference’s powers ended since the beginning of February 2013, and it is no longer valid nor recognized since that time. Karama Operation may decide on the current Libyan situation, even before the current legislative elections that are decided by the conference next month, as a kind of compromise out of the crisis”. 

Haftar, who dreams of meeting the Egyptian Gen. Essisi, considering him a “high efficiency”, also criticized the Muslim Brotherhood, the ruling party in Libya after the elections, saying: “We did not expect that some of them will come out to act violently and in the name of Islam. Such things are not accepted by the Libyans, and it was easy for us to convince the rest of the armed forces, and some of the actors in the Interior Ministry of Interior about the usefulness of the Karama Operation for the Salvation of Libya.”