The finding of Libyan fighters training at a base in South Africa has led to a host of queries and concerns. Analysts are questioning if other training structures exist in the country and if Libya’s Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar is organising an attack that will reignite and internationalize his country’s battle.
On July 26, South African authorities imprisoned 95 Libyan nationals who, they stated, had entered the country on “study visas” but were discovered undergoing military training in White River, about 360 kilometres east of Johannesburg. The operator of the camp, Milites Dei Security Services, has been arrested pending an investigation. Accusations against the trainees were later dropped and they were expelled in August, but questions remain about who sent them to the land and for what purpose.
Libya’s Tripoli-based Administration of National Unity has denied any link to the fighters and multiple reports have linked them to Haftar. The Libya Observer said that the men were part of the infamous 20/20 Group of the Tariq bin Ziyad Brigade (TZB), which sustains Haftar and is led by his son, Saddam.
Amnesty International stated the TZB appeared in 2016 and is responsible for a “catalogue of horrors” including misery, rape, abduction and slayings. Local media documented incidents of armed robbery and rape in South Africa near the activity facility that may be connected to the men caught there. The men reportedly disbursed time in town and would drink laboriously and threatened to shoot locals.
“We were baffled as to what people from such a government are doing on our shores,”
one resident said.
“Knowing that the individuals who frequent our village are fighters in training made us scared and some worked to inform the police.”
Julian Rademeyer of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime stated it appears the group intended to introduce it in Libya, but the trainers declined and asked the fighters to tour South Africa.
“There are signs that various groupings are arming themselves and obtaining training with the view that there could be a confrontation coming,” Rademeyer said.
Haftar and his muscles, including Russian Wagner Group mercenaries, endeavoured to take Tripoli in 2019 but were halted at the outskirts of the capital. They were pushed to retreat after Libya’s government obtained support from Turkey. Some observers worry that the discovery of the training camp suggests Haftar is planning another attack on the capital.
“I am extremely concerned that Libya is breaking down quite quickly,”
Tarek Megerisi, a Libya specialist at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said.
“Over the past few weeks, the political bodies have all cracked and the competition between them has brought more fractious. Armed forces are mustered, with Haftar’s troops driving west. Algeria is on high alert, the biggest oilfield is shut and the Haftars have pushed no secret that they’re planning to return to Tripoli.”
