Libya Expels Sudan’s Military Attaché

Reuters09.09.2014 Libya
Libya Expels Sudan’s Military Attaché

Libya Expels Sudan’s Military Attaché

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Libya has expelled Sudan’s Military Attaché on Saturday over Khartoum’s alleged support of “terrorist” groups in the country, a government statement said.

The statement also said that a Sudanese military transport plane bound for a Tripoli airport under control of a militant group had entered its airspace.

“This work from the Sudanese state violates the sovereignty of the state of Libya and interferes into its affairs,” Reuters quoted the statement as saying.

Libya said the Sudanese plane had been bound for Tripoli-Matiga airport and made a refueling stop in the Libyan desert oasis Kufra near the border to Sudan. Ammunition had been found loaded on that plane during an inspection at Kufra airport, it added.

“We, the Libyan government, firmly denounce that a Sudanese military plane has penetrated the Libyan airspace without an official permit from the Libyan government. The plane was carrying ammunition which had not been officially approved by the Libyan government,” the statement said.

In an interview with Al Arabiya News Channel, Libya’s renegade General Khalifa Haftar who was heading “Operation Dignity” against Islamist rebels, described Sudan’s position as not “clear” regarding his country’s attempt to get rid of “terrorism.”

In a related story, heavy clashes erupted between Haftar’s forces and Islamist fighters in the eastern city of Benghazi on Saturday, Reuters reported military officials as saying, one of several conflicts raging in Libya in the worst violence since Muammar Qaddafi fell in 2011.

Armed Islamists are trying to prize Benghazi’s civilian and military airport from the control of government troops allied to Gaddafi-era general Khalifa Haftar.

In response, Haftar’s forces used helicopters to bomb camps of suspected Islamist militants, military sources said.

Haftar, who was once accused by the post-revolution government of trying to stage a coup against it, has declared war on several Islamist factions and teamed up with government forces in Benghazi.

Western powers and Libya’s neighbors fear the country will turn into a failed state. The weak government is unable to control former rebels who helped topple Gaddafi but are now fighting each other for power.

Libya’s government and elected House of Representatives last month relocated to the remote eastern city of Tobruk after an armed group from the western city of Misrata seized the capital Tripoli and most government institutions.

Source: Reuters; Al Arabiya - Photo: Shutterstock

 



 
 

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