Donald Trump indicates support for ‘Field Marshal’ Khalifa Hifter, Libyan strongman leading attack on Tripoli’s UN-backed government
- Khalifa Hifter’s forces mounted an offensive on Tripoli almost three weeks ago against Libya’s internationally recognised government
- Trump appears to contradict public position taken by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
US President Donald Trump indicated in a phone call with Libyan strongman Khalifa Hifter last week that the US supported an assault on the country’s capital to depose its United Nations-backed government, according to American officials familiar with the matter.
An earlier call from White House National Security Adviser John Bolton also left Hifter with the impression of a US green light for an offensive on Tripoli by his forces, known as the Libyan National Army, according to three diplomats.
Those accounts go beyond a White House statement issued Friday on an April 15 call between Trump and Hifter.
The revelation that the US president had tacitly recognised Hifter – addressed as “Field Marshal” in the statement – as a Libyan leader abruptly undermined the country’s internationally-recognised government led by Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj.
Trump’s conversation with Hifter took place after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met with the US president on April 9 and urged him to back Hifter, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Trump also spoke with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a Hifter supporter, the day before the White House issued the statement acknowledging the call with Hifter.
The White House statement said that Trump discussed “ongoing counterterrorism efforts” and “recognised Field Marshal Hifter’s significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya’s oil resources.”
Fighting rages in Libya: is it heading towards full-blown civil war?
On Wednesday, after publication of this story, a White House spokesman who declined to be identified said the characterisation of the phone calls between Hifter and Trump and Bolton was inaccurate. He didn’t elaborate.
The White House encouragement for Hifter represented a dramatic turn from the public position taken days earlier by Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.
Trump and Bolton also undercut the US charge d’affairs in Libya, Peter Bodde, who has repeatedly warned Hifter against advancing on Tripoli.
He told Hifter during a February meeting in Abu Dhabi that the capital was a red line, according to diplomats familiar with the matter.
While US officials initially backed a UK-led effort at the UN Security Council that would call on Hifter’s forces to halt the fighting, they abruptly switched tracks and have since stalled efforts to advance a resolution.
US Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who visited Libya’s neighbour Tunisia last week, said he wasn’t aware of details of the calls between Hifter and Trump or Bolton. But he warned against the US choosing sides or encouraging attempts to govern by military force.
“What would be a big mistake is to back one group over the other. Hifter cannot conquer and hold Tripoli,” Graham said.
“It would be Syria all over again if he tried to conquer Tripoli by military force.”
Hifter, who has enjoyed the support of Russia, France and Saudi Arabia in addition to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, controls much of Libya’s east and south.
He launched a campaign to take the capital earlier this month. Sarraj, who is backed by former colonial power Italy and other European countries, has said talks with Hifter cannot begin until his forces are withdrawn to pre-offensive lines.
Hifter has claimed his offensive is intended to combat Islamist terrorism in Libya. The EU called on Hifter to stop his advance on Tripoli in an April 11 statement that didn’t name him, after France and some other members objected.
Acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters on Friday that “the military solution is not what Libya needs.
“What we’ve said before and what I do support is Field Marshal Hifter’s support in terms of his role in counterterrorism, but where we need Field Marshal Hifter’s support is in building democratic stability there in the region,” he added.
