Libya leaders hold second meeting to discuss military unification

The Chief of General Staff of the Libyan Army, Lieutenant-General Mohamed Al-Haddad speaks as 400 people who will tasked as the Oil Facilities Guard, to protect oil fields and ports in Libya, graduated after 4 months of training in Tripoli, Libya on March 21, 2021. [Hazem Turkia – Anadolu Agency]

Libya’s Chief of General Staff Muhammad Al-Haddad met on Saturday with acting general commander of the eastern-based Libyan National Army, Abdel Razek Al-Nadori, in the northern coastal city of Sirte and discussed efforts to unify the country’s military.

A member of the 5+5 Libyan Joint Military Commission, Major General Khairy Al-Tamimi, said the issue of unifying the military institution “is going in the right direction”.

Military figures from both sides attended the meeting.

Director of the Libyan National Army Department of Moral Guidance, Khaled Al-Mahjoub, said in a statement on Saturday that while “Syrian mercenaries operating in the capital, Tripoli, within the pro-government forces, received their salaries in US dollars, half a million Libyans are waiting for their salaries to buy medicine for their sick and school supplies for their children.”

Al-Mahjoub had previously accused interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh of blocking the payment of salaries due to Haftar’s forces for the fourth month in a row.

The 5+5 Libyan Joint Military Commission had approved a plan to gradually remove mercenaries and foreign fighters from the country.

This is the second meeting of its kind between Libyan officials to discuss unifying the country’s military establishment.

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