23.05 2014
Borzou Daragahi
The hard-headed Gaddafi-era general is taking up arms against former Islamist allies
When a trusted officer was captured during one of Colonel Muammer Gaddafi’s misadventures in neighbouring Chad, the Libyan dictator left him to rot in jail. It was the opposition National Salvation Front that came to Khalifa Haftar’s aid, cutting a deal with Chad: General Haftar – the man who is now leading an effort to unite Libya’s fragmented armed forces against its powerful Islamist militias – would be set free. In exchange, he promised to train rebel Libyan fighters in Chad to overthrow Gaddafi.
But in 1993, when the NSF’s attempt on the Libyan dictator’s life failed, Gen Haftar abandoned the people who had rescued him and “tried to make peace with Gaddafi”, says Mohammed Saad Ezayeb, an MP for the NSF, who says his family helped secure Gen Haftar’s freedom and a comfortable exile in the suburbs of Washington.
“He hasn’t changed at all since Chad,” says Mr Ezayeb, who has frequently encountered the retired general in the halls of power since Gaddafi’s overthrow. “He is the same person. He is condescending, always single-minded and sees himself as number one. He does not tolerate anyone else participating in his projects or sharing their opinions.”
Mr Haftar and his allies last week launched what the interim government calls a coup attempt. He has attacked government-allied Islamist militias, who have dominated the country since Gaddafi’s downfall, and demanded the suspension of parliament. His drive has ignited deadly clashes in the country’s two main cities that have subsided but threaten further destabilisation of Libya, which has been in chaos since the Nato-backed uprising. This, in turn, could provide a haven for al-Qaeda militants already active elsewhere in Africa and embolden traffickers shipping migrants to Europe’s shores.
Some describe him as a Libyan Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former field marshal and leader of Egypt’s 2013 coup against the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood government, who is now running for president. If they are right, Libya’s fate is not all that lies in his hands. Western diplomats fear for the future of an oil-rich country close to Europe, with a jihadi problem and awash with weapons – both of which could spread chaos across its borders.
“I do not seek power,” Mr Haftar said in an interview published on Tuesday by Asharq al-Awsat, the London-based pan-Arab newspaper. “However . . . if the people want this through the ballot boxes, if the masses ask for me, I will not hesitate in responding to their request.”
Even critics say the sombre, unsmiling Mr Haftar, a 71-year-old member of the respected eastern Libyan Farjani clan (useful at a time when tribal politics are coming to the fore), is considered a hard- headed, skilful commander. He studied war in Russia and Egypt, and took part in Gaddafi’s 1969 coup against the monarchy. Four years later, he was one of the first to enter Israeli-occupied Sinai with Egyptian troops.
Supporters believe this descendant of warriors – his father fought bravely against Italian occupiers in the early 1920s – may have what it takes to stamp out the militias wreaking havoc. “He’s probably the most qualified general to lead and unite the armed forces,” says one who interviewed Mr Haftar during his failed bid to become defence minister in 2012. “He has experience in the Libyan military. He knows it inside and out,” continues the Libyan, who does not wish to be named.
Mohamed Hegazy, Mr Haftar’s spokesman, denies Mr Ezayeb’s allegation that he betrayed the NSF, though he acknowledges there was a falling out. “These people know that Khalifa Haftar is an honourable man who is aware of their agendas to destroy the country,” he says.
Even supporters acknowledge his political ambitions, suspecting he plans to anoint himself leader of the country’s liberals. The armed forces he now purports to lead are successors to the Gaddafi-era military he repeatedly turned against; the Islamist militias he is fighting are the ones with which he fought in the 2011 uprising. Many wonder whether he is a committed democrat, as he claims, or just another Arab military officer with dictatorial ambitions, in the mould of Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Syria’s Hafez Assad and Gaddafi.
“You need someone tough like Haftar to step up to the outlaws,” says the commentator Abdel Hamid el-Jadi. “He has experience in the Libyan military and he knows the tribes. If he has political ambitions we’ll deal with that in the second stage.”
But others worry about what they describe as a brittle personality and myopic worldview. Of nearly two- dozen people who have had dealings with him and spoke to the Financial Times, none could identify any of his interests outside war. In meetings with exiled opposition groups in the US and Africa, before he returned to serve as the rebel army’s chief of staff in the 2011 uprising, he spoke only of his military expertise. “He wasn’t well informed in politics, relationships between countries or cultures,” said one Gaddafi-era opposition activist.
Many Libyans and international experts fear the offensive that Mr Haftar is co-ordinating could further destabilise the country. In televised appearances, he has a habit of conflating the Islamist militias with members of parliament and the government who belong to the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood, and with al-Qaeda.
“Libya has become, according to the reports of international organisations, a state sponsoring terrorism, and a den for the terrorists who controlled the joints of the state and dominated its revenues and fortunes and decision-making powers,” Mr Haftar said in an appearance on Wednesday.
To some Libyans, he risks inflicting mortal wounds on a fragile country, turning a dire security situation into all-out war.
“A leader should be ready to negotiate with his opposition even if they don’t share the same view,” says Mr Ezayeb. “This is something he is not capable of.”
The writer is the FT’s Middle East and north Africa correspondent
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