The strongman of eastern Libya, Khalifa Haftar, recently promoted his younger brother to the head of his land forces, the latest in a series of promotions of his sons strengthening the clan’s hold on Cyrenaica, in risks perpetuating the division of the country. General Saddam Haftar, 33, took office at the beginning of June as chief of staff of the army within the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) commanded by his father.
This appointment, after those of two of his brothers to key positions, reflects, according to experts, a desire by Marshal Haftar, 81, to consolidate the power of his clan in the East and prepare for the next generation. Undermined by divisions since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, Libya, which has abundant oil reserves, is governed by two rival executives, one in Tripoli (west) recognized by the UN, and the other in the East around the Haftar camp.
Elections supposed to unify the country were scheduled for December 2021 before being postponed indefinitely. The organization of the presidential election has since come up against the refusal of the Western camp to authorize a soldier and a dual national to run, in this case Marshal Haftar, a Libyan and American citizen. Before Saddam Haftar, his brother Khaled was appointed in July 2023 chief of staff of the “security units” within the LAAF and promoted to the rank of major general.
And in February 2024, another of Haftar’s six sons, Belgacem, took the reins of the “Libya Development and Reconstruction Fund” newly created, with significant resources at its disposal.
“Private army”
The rise of Marshal Haftar’s sons “is part of the continuity of what has, from the beginning, been a private (…) and family army as Haftar consolidated his power”deciphers for AFP Wolfram Lacher, researcher at the German SWP institute. “The inner circle (…) which controls the key units and resources of this private empire are his sons but also his cousins, his nephews, his sons-in-law”, he adds. From April 2019 to the summer of 2020, Marshal Haftar attempted to conquer the capital with the support of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia, but his forces were routed.
According to him, Saddam Haftar, the most prominent son of the marshal, holds “military power” but also control “repression, management of trafficking, embezzlement of public funds and negotiation of shady transactions with political rivals in Tripoli”. For Khaled al-Montasser, professor of international relations at the University of Tripoli, Haftar, victim of a stroke in 2018, “accelerate the pace” to prepare for the next generation. According to him, his foreign allies judge him “unfit to lead Libya” hence the need to inject “new blood”agrees Libyan political analyst Imad Jalloul.
It is “clearly a sign of preparation for the day when Haftar disappears, and when his entire power structure could therefore be in danger”, opines Wolfram Lacher. While locking in power, the Haftar clan strives to rule out, at the cost of brutal repression, any opposition in the East and South where political, tribal and civil society figures are arrested, disappear or are killed, explains Imad Jalloul.
(With AFP)
