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Egypt asks Haftar to repudiate militia crimes

March 23, 2017 at 2:32 pm

Former Egyptian Chief of Staff Mahmoud Hegazy [US Army Photography/Facebook]

Chief of Staff Mahmoud Hijazi said on Tuesday that the Egyptian army has asked Libyan General Khalifa Haftar to repudiate and apologise for the crimes committed by his militia in Benghazi. The crimes include the exhumation of bodies in Ganfouda cemetery, and the killing and torturing of men, women and children.

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“We have told Haftar that choosing not to disown the criminals who committed those atrocities will put him in a weak position in the Libyan political dialogue and will stain his image,” Hijazi explained to Egypt’s On TV.

We told Haftar that without disavowing those acts, his forces will be likened to the terrorist organisations that he claims to be fighting.

The international community is watching the incidents with disapproval, he added, and if Haftar doesn’t apologise for those acts, he won’t have any future gains. The Egyptian official said that many Western countries, including Britain, have contacted Egypt since video images of the criminal acts were shown on social media, expressing anger that Haftar’s militia command and media outlets were bragging about their inhuman acts of digging up graves, burning dead bodies and killing women and children. “Finally, Haftar understood the gravity of the issue and the consequences.”

The Egyptian armed forces spokesman did not issue any statement regarding Egypt’s stance on the latest Libyan developments.