"Le Monde" Admits The Failure of the French Bet on Haftar in Libya

The French newspaper "Le Monde" said that the crisis in Chad "shows the hidden support that Paris provided to strongman Khalifa Haftar’s offensive in Libya." 

It asked : "Will Chadian disappointment change Paris' view of the Libyan situation ? Does that disappointment, in particular, contribute to a reassessment of  Haftar’s attributes, which was supposed to protect Libya's southern border from where started  the rebel offensive against The murdered Chadian president, Idriss Deby? 

"Everyone knows  that France has invested a lot in the self-proclaimed Haftar (head of the Libyan National Army), through loyalty, perseverance, and sometimes through ideological complicity, which left a lot of suspicion," Le Monde explained.

In the same context, it considered that "Haftar was a strategic bet for France, but its history has not been written yet."

Ultimate Arrogance

The newspaper said, "The security  and the political diplomatic assistance in the beginning - provided since 2016 to the former regime in Cyrenaica (East), has never stopped provoking European partners in Paris, and this was its goal , creating tensions within the French system itself."

It pointed out that "the goal was to allow this alleged (strongman), engaged in fighting terrorism, to establish stability in Libya in the midst of the chaos of the post-Arab Spring, in the far south of Libya, in order to protect Barkhane’s operation in the coast." 

France launched the military operation "Barkhane" in Mali in 2014, to eliminate armed groups in the African Coast and limit their influence. The United Nations sent 15,000 soldiers to stabilize Mali, but the security threat remained.

The head of the United Nations mission in Libya, Ghassan Salame, told "Le Monde" in April 2019 that: "The French dream is to adopt  Africa not only Libya ."

Le Monde wondered about "to what extent did the recent Chadian turmoil reflect the expectations of Paris", and answered that "this turmoil revealed the interests of the Libyan marshal were absolute arrogance in this case."

The Border Guards could not stop the irregular migration from Libya . Actually, the rebel group that killed Deby (the Accord Front for Change in Chad (FACT), was formed by a diverse military alliance with Haftar in eastern and southern Libya. 

Haftar has always been "the generous" in recruiting Chadian and Sudanese "mercenaries" (from the Darfur region), in addition to the Russian "Wagner" fighters who were put at his service by Moscow, says the French newspaper. 

It stated also that "when the Accord Front for Change in Chad is no longer in the coalition, this does not mean that Haftar accepts the attack on Deby. It showed a fake friendship with Haftar in the name of the joint war on terrorism, a strategic complicity encouraged by France, which is very serious to strengthen the operation of Burkhane".

A Strategic Bet

Haftar had no objective reason to attack Deby through "mercenaries' '. But it proved that it was unable to prevent his Chadian followers from attacking his "friend" Deby, who was often talking about the fact that Haftar had taken control of southern Libya.  A former UN official said: "Haftar is not totally  present in Fezzan, it is only at specific points." 

But France has continued in recent years to classify Haftar's position in the political equation as "inevitable", arguing that it controls "80 percent of Libyan territory." 

Le Monde asked: "Did not Paris overestimate Haftar's ability to retain the occupied areas and its allies? And what about France's strategic bet on Haftar ?" 

It continued: "If we take the terrorist threat as a criterion, the truth is that Haftar was effective – according to a former French security official - against ISIS in the city of Benghazi in 2016-2017, at the expense of indiscriminate bombing of entire residential neighborhoods."

Le Monde noted that "France provided it, at that time, with invaluable technical expertise - in intelligence matters - which it used to fulfil his ambitions for a complete invasion of Libya." 

She stated that "the offensive launched by Haftar in the spring of 2019 against the Tripoli government (at the time led by the head of the Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj), officially supported by the United Nations, was the only  result - besides a humanitarian catastrophe - which is the presence of foreigners and the disruption of the situation.’’ 

It considered that "the arrival of Russian fighters affiliated with Wagner (along with Haftar) and Turkish soldiers supported by the supporting Syrian forces (along with the Tripoli government) to Libya, is a direct result of Haftar's attempt to invade the capital - which was ultimately impossible-. However, France did not accept that and it considered it as a disturbing indulgence."

While an official in N'Djamena said that "communication between Wagner and the Accord Front for Change in Chad is possible."