Algeria’s return to this scene does not seem to please certain parties, internal and external, to Libya. The movement of Haftar’s troops in the southwest border with Algeria is more part of the attempt to put itself back in perspective of the interlibyan dialogue that Algeria could host.
Forces loyal to Marshal Khalifa Haftar, self-proclaimed leader of the Libyan Arab National Army (LAAF), closed the border with Algeria by declaring the region a “military zone” and took control of the border post at Issin, which faces the Algerian post of Tin ElKoum, in the wilaya of Djanet, Libyan media reported yesterday.
Images of a pick-up column of the 128th Brigade which took up position in front of the Ghat border post (named Essin) were also relayed by TV channels. “The armed forces have closed the border between Libya and Algeria and declared it a military zone in which operations are prohibited,” said the Department of Moral Guidance, a media unit of the Libyan National Army. (ANL), Reuters reported.
Haftar’s LNA sent troops last week to the southern town of Sebha, already allied with eastern forces, and at the southern border crossing point with Algeria on Saturday, said the same source.
“This sending of troops to the border with Algeria is an act heavy with symbol and could be perceived as a provocation”, say observers, who nevertheless recall the reaction of the command of the Libyan army based in Tripoli, by announcing ” the freezing of any movement of military convoys in the South and any unauthorized military activity ”. Algeria and Libya share a border of nearly 1,000 km, which has been closed since 2013, even if the movements of local populations, especially in the south, are authorized, it is recalled.
Raouf Farrah, a specialist in the region, who puts forward the context of the discussions advanced with the Government of national unity of Abdelhamid Debeïbah for the reopening of the Debdeb-Ghadamès post for more than a month, believes that Haftar’s decision to consider this region as a military zone has a triple aim: “First, it is a question of breaking any attempt to control the border with Algeria by the Government of national unity, by weakening the anti-Haftar forces which are trying to secure this border. The objective being to paralyze any politico-security advance which would strengthen the legitimacy of the GNU and would contribute to the political marginalization of the Marshal. ” Also, by declaring the region a military zone,
And to recall that “since the defeat of Haftar during the Battle of Tripoli (April 2019 – June 2020), the South-West (Fezzan) has become a strategic issue”. Also, the region near Ghat is strategic for securing the Sharara and El-Fil oil fields (from which a third of Libyan oil production is derived) and the control of the informal and illicit economies of the sub-region. . However, the control of the Essin post by pro-Haftar forces is not an existential danger for Algeria, according to Raouf Farrah. “The Algerian-Libyan border is certainly the most secure in the region (…) since the attack on Tiguentourine, although the marginalization of border communities who pay a high price is problematic,” he recalls.
By his act, Haftar wants to “target” Algeria after the triumphant reaffirmation of Tebboune on Al-Jazeera that “Tripoli was a red line”, estimates the specialist, according to which “this declaration could have been extremely dangerous against Algeria. The pro-Haftar Libyan media, mostly from Cyrenaica, have returned to this statement at length ”.
The movements of the pro-Haftar forces are also intervening a few days before the “Berlin 2” conference on Libya, scheduled for June 23, which will discuss the next political and security steps for the stabilization of Libya, he adds.
