France’s support for Libya’s Haftar is finally coming home to roost

As foreign interference in Libya’s conflict continues to ramp up, France now finds itself in a difficult position, writes Borzou Daragahi

Fighters loyal to the Libyan internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) south of Tripoli (AFP/Getty)

France’s Libya policy is finally coming under scrutiny domestically. For years Paris has played a vital role in the rise of warlord Khalifa Haftar by providing him with a veneer of respectability as well as diplomatic cover.

But a tipping point appears to have been reached following Haftar’s disastrous defeat in western Libya. After swallowing France’s line that Paris was fighting “terrorism” by supporting strongman Haftar against the “Islamists” in Tripoli, some within the French foreign ministry and security apparatuses are reportedly beginning to push back.

One ranking official familiar with France’s Libya policy, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged “frustration” within the French establishment about the ongoing debacle.

“[French] support was given to Haftar’s people for the sake of anti-terrorism, a tactical choice to eliminate some of the [extremist] groups” including al Qaeda and Isis factions, the official told The Independent. “[France] turned this tactical choice into strategy, assuming that tough guys are the right protection against terrorism, which they never are.”

Libya has been in a state of turmoil since the Nato-backed overthrow of the 40-year dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Militias filled the security vacuum, often fighting with each other for control of turf and commerce.

Two camps now vy for power: the Government of National Accord (GNA), which is backed by Turkey and Qatar, and the Haftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), which is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Russia, as well as France.

There are no good guys in Libya’s war. Haftar is a would-be tyrant who has no democratic credentials or aspirations. The GNA is mostly a collection of armed factions whose recklessness, extremism and repeated refusal to acknowledge election results contributed to Haftar’s rise.

Turkey’s intervention is motivated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s fondness for the Islamist-leaning populist factions with sway over Tripoli and the Ankara national security establishment’s quest for hegemony over the eastern Mediterranean. The action resembles the Western imperialist wars that Turks long have criticised.

The UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are flooding Libya with weapons in support of a divisive and largely despised septuagenarian who appears to aspire to be the next Gaddafi.

Russia, the US and Italy pursue narrow national security or economic interests with little regard for the welfare of Libya’s people.

Saad Bin Sharada, member of the council overseeing the GNA, lamented the state of affairs in his country last week. “Foreign intervention no longer asks for permission and as everyone knows the Libyan sky is full of foreign aircraft and there is a big influx of weapons,” he told the Algerian paper El Khabar. “The Libyan people are hostages of armed groups from both sides, which in turn are hostages controlled by the foreigner who supports them with arms and money.”

France’s role in Libya merits special scrutiny. It offers a cautionary tale of how foreign influence and the melding of policy and commercial interests can produce unmitigated failure.

Seduced by the UAE’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, France bet big on Haftar, hoping he would bring “stability” to the country. Following Haftar’s defeat in his deadly and ultimately disastrous 14-month campaign to topple the internationally-recognised GNA in Tripoli, Paris now finds itself isolated, with little to show for its investment of political capital and diplomatic credibility.

French officials now sound comical to their colleagues in London and Berlin when they try to defend their Libya policy, blaming all of the country’s problems on Turkey. Ankara provided the GNA with anti-aircraft systems, fighters and drones that turned the tide of the battle for Tripoli this year. French president Emmanuel Macron last week denounced what he described as Turkey’s “the dangerous game” in Libya.

French officials even blame Turkey for prompting Russia to intervene in Libya, ignoring the uncomfortable fact that it was Haftar who welcomed Russian aircraft and Russian mercenaries into the country (which Turkey has accused the UAE of funding, although the Emirates deny being involved in Haftar’s military operations).

They blame Turkey for now refusing to heed ceasefire calls and the United Nations weapons embargo. But France ignored ongoing violations by Egypt and the UAE, and blocked United Nations and European Union resolutions condemning Haftar’s attacks on civilians in Tripoli when it looked like he was winning.

Even now Macron confers with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Libya even though Moscow just weeks ago deployed more than a dozen war planes to the country in violation of the embargo.

“How [can France] defend the idea of ​​a cease-fire, after having given so much political support to one of the parties to the conflict?” wondered a piece in Friday’s Le Monde.

French allies such as Italy and the United States, which once flirted with Haftar, appear to have ditched him. Italy last week dispatched its foreign minister to Tripoli to confer with the GNA, likely concerned about the gas interests of energy giant ENI. Alarmed and enraged by the growing Russian presence in Libya at Haftar’s invitation, the US military deployed a team to Tripoli to meet with top officials.

“Paris and Washington are currently 180 [degree] opposites on the Libya situation,” said Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya specialist at the Clingendael Institute in the Netherlands.

But even as French officials trash him behind his back as “a bad guy” with a terrible temperament, France appears unable to kick the Haftar habit.

“They’ve been backing Haftar for so many years they don’t know how to back out,” said one risk-management consultant specialising in Libya. “Instead of acknowledging mistakes, it’s easier to say Turkey is the country causing all these problems.”

At the root of France’s incoherent Libya policy is a 2015 scheme to sell 24 Rafale fighter jets for $6bn (£4.8bn) to Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The megadeal was brokered by then defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, with the backing of the United Arab Emirates, a patron of Sisi, who had come to power two years earlier in a coup.

France downplayed the danger of selling advanced weapons of war to a regime that has faced grave accusations over human rights violations and celebrated the deal as a win that would create jobs back home.

But the deal also cemented France’s relationship with the Middle East’s axis of authoritarians that includes Sisi, Saudi Arabia’s ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the UAE’s Mohammed bin Zayed, who all back Haftar.

Macron, a political neophyte who knew little about foreign policy when he took power in 2017, mouths talking points that appear to come directly from Abu Dhabi. It will be up to the French public, press and civil service to unravel and change the course of France’s Libya policy, which affects not only Libyans but is already spilling over into Europe.