Dabaiba, Erdogan agrees to increase the number of Turkish forces in Libya
A source revealed, on Saturday, that the Prime Minister of Libya, Abdel Hamid Dabaiba, agreed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to send an official request to Turkey to increase the number of members of its security and advisory mission in Libya.
The source stated that “the fate of the elections took a large part in Dabaiba’s talks with Erdogan,” noting that there was “a common concern over the recent security deterioration in the western region.”
The source also said, quoting Channel 218, that Dabaiba and Erdogan, who met in Istanbul on Friday, had agreed to send a new batch of Libyan security personnel to the Military Academy in Isparta for training.
He added that there is a meeting between Libya and Turkey “expected” in the second half of November, to discuss the activation of the maritime memorandum of understanding, without mentioning the parties to this meeting or its location.
It was decided that the visit of the Libyan Military Committee to Russia and Turkey would be after the end of the Paris Conference on Libya scheduled to be held on November 12, to discuss ways and prospects for cooperation and coordination with them to remove mercenaries and all foreign forces from Libya.
This month, the Libyan Joint Military Committee 5 + 5 is scheduled to go to Russia and Turkey to discuss with officials of these two countries the file of removing foreign mercenaries from Libyan territory.
The Libyan authorities and regional and Western countries are pressing to expel all foreign mercenaries, and consider that achieving stability and lasting peace in Libya is directly related to the final exit of all foreign forces and mercenaries.
The two parties to the conflict in Libya had reached a ceasefire agreement a year ago in the Swiss city of Geneva, stipulating the withdrawal of all mercenaries and foreign forces from Libya by last January.
Libyan Military Committee 5 + 5
Despite the intensive meetings of the Joint Military Committee to resolve the issue of mercenaries, no tangible progress has been achieved in the process of withdrawing them from Libyan territory, with the exception of the understanding between the members of the committee on a plan and calendar regulating the process of their expulsion in stages, and the declaration of good intentions by some countries concerned with this file (Chad and Sudan). and Niger), in exchange for Turkish intransigence and Russian denial of its relationship with the Wagner Group fighters present in Libya.
According to United Nations estimates, about 20,000 foreign mercenaries have been stationed in Libya, since December 2020.
