The head of U.S. Africa Command, Gen. Stephen Townsend, recently flew to Libya, signaling America’s concern for rising tensions as Russian fighter jets fly over eastern Libya and U.S. allies line up on opposing sides of the nine-year conflict.
“The focus was on the need for a cease-fire and political negotiations,” U.S. Air Force Col. Chris Karns told the Washington Examiner after the Monday meeting between the United States and the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord.
Karns said that Townsend did not offer AFRICOM capabilities such as intelligence, surveillance, or reconnaissance to bolster the GNA’s defenses.
“Our role remains monitoring the terrorist threat and ensuring it doesn’t regenerate amidst the conflict,” Karns said.
The meeting with Townsend, U.S. Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland, and Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al Sarraj in Zuwara comes amid rising tensions and rhetoric from regional players and U.S. allies on opposing sides in the conflict, explained retired U.S. Army Col. Chris Wyatt, who spent most of his career deployed in Africa.
“We are in a difficult position geostrategically because we have friends, partners, and allies on both sides of the conflict, and that’s not a good situation for us,” he said. “It’s a morass right now. That’s really what’s taking place in Libya.”
In violation of a U.N. arms embargo on Libya, Turkey has increased its backing of the GNA. Meanwhile, U.S. allies France, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates have sided with rebel leader Gen. Khalifa Haftar, who is also backed by Russian mercenaries.
In recent days, Egypt has also threatened to send troops into Libya.
Haftar’s forces were near defeat after a failed Tripoli offensive in late 2019. In May, Russia secretly sent at least 14 MiG-29 fighters and Su-24s to Libya, first stopping in Syria to be camouflaged before being flown to an airbase under Hafta control in Jufra.
AFRICOM publicized the transfer of the jets and their recent flights, an effort Wyatt believes is to encourage Russia to de-escalate.
“The current violence fuels the potential risk of terrorism and prolongs human suffering. Foreign military interference in Libya is not welcome nor helpful,” Townsend said in a statement following the meeting.
De-escalation ‘very difficult’
Wyatt said the presence of Townsend in Libya does not portend U.S. military intervention, but it does send a sign that the U.S. is paying attention.
“It sends a message that this is not simply on the back burner. It’s not something that the U.S. is ignoring — there is no strategic gap here,” Wyatt told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. “We are interested in what’s happening there, and we are hoping to get the players to calm down and step back a bit.”
Wyatt believes it will now be up to the U.S. to negotiate behind the scenes in Paris, Cairo, and Ankara to get all sides to de-escalate.
Karns told the Washington Examiner that AFRICOM has had previous engagements with the GNA and that the U.S. position is to broker a cease-fire and peaceful negotiations.
That objective is being upset by Russia’s interference by way of its military contractor Wagner Group, he added.
“Russia strongly desires to be viewed as a great power in Africa. While this is the case, they certainly aren’t acting like one by meddling and serving as a Wagner Group puppeteer in Libya,” he said.
With Turkey’s position dug in, Wyatt does not see a de-escalation to the conflict anytime soon.
“What’s going on Libya is becoming increasingly distressing,” he said. “The messaging would be for Egypt to calm down about threatening to send forces into Libya and for Turkey to actually back off of its stance supporting the GNA in the offensive, but that’s going to be very difficult to happen.”
