Hopes for holding general elections in Libya and the unification of the west and east of the country are becoming fade, because the country is facing another round of tension. NATO countries are again attempting to disunite the country and gain access to Libyan oil and gas resources. Pan-Arab and African media, citing various local sources, report the formation of an alliance called the “European Legion”, consisting of Italy, France and the United Kingdom, along with the participation of armed militias in western Libya.
European countries are entering the west of Libya against the backdrop of the fact that a special group of the American PMC Amentum has already been deployed there. It was sent there by the Pentagon for several purposes: to form an army from disunited armed groups subordinate to the Government of National Unity, to take control of several large oil refineries and to form American bases in military infrastructure facilities for training the joint forces of the Western region.
All this is happening in the context of a confrontation with Russia, which has created the Africa Corps in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and eastern Libya, where the Russian contingent entered with the consent of the House of Representatives and its Prime Minister Osama Hammad. Friendship with Russia is supported by the Supreme Commander of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar, who is subordinate to the interim government in the East. Russia says it supports the move to stabilize the situation throughout Libya, but NATO countries see Russia’s presence as a great danger.
Fraud with finances and the migration problem
The declared goal of forming the “European Legion” is to combat illegal immigration, given that Libya is the main transit gateway to Europe. From this standpoint, Europe seeks to penetrate Libya by sending forces and military equipment to the national unity government headed by Abdel Hamid al-Dbeibeh, who looks positively at cooperation with both the Americans and the Europeans. When the deployment of American troops in Tripoli first became known, Dbeibeh said that this would benefit the country, as specialists from Amentum would help strengthen the security of western Libya.
Regarding the creation of the “European Legion”, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said during the Trans-Mediterranean Migration Forum that Italy’s role is to combat human smuggling networks and large migration flows, which have made their tasks difficult in managing this case, and a long-term strategic plan for African action must be developed to manage the illegal migration crisis. In this regard, Italy was the first to strengthen cooperation with the government and army in Tripoli.
One of the main issues is the issue of financing the new project. According to news and reports, Italy, which is severely affected by the issue of illegal immigration, is leading this coalition and seeking to implement it as quickly as possible, but since Italy is financially unable to finance this “European Legion”, it is planned, according to reports, that the European Legion countries will cooperate and use the Libyan funds frozen abroad to provide the liquidity needed to create it. This money will be unfrozen in agreement with the Central Bank of Libya.
To hide the fact that the funds that will be spent on the formation of the “European Legion” are frozen funds of Libya, Dbeibeh, said during the Migration Forum that the funds that will be spent on combating this phenomenon must be spent in the source countries and create stability in them. Pan-Arab media write that this move can be compared to “selling Libya and its inhabitants” to the West in exchange for the current Tripoli government remaining in power. From the first day of his inauguration, Dbeibeh views Libya as his own “farm”, exposing the wealth of the Libyan people to the transatlantic market to please his greed and corruption.
What the “European Legion” will actually defend
The unspoken goal of the “European Legion” for European countries is to secure their companies investing in the Libyan gas and oil sector. They want to distribute their forces in Libya to protect the oil facilities they intend to develop and invest in. The Italians are determined to deploy their military groups to protect the refineries from attacks by rebel groups and suppress demonstrations by workers and residents who go on strike for better living conditions, thereby stopping the work of important energy facilities.
As for the United States of America and France, they are searching for a foothold in Africa after they were expelled from a number of countries. Over the past few years, there have been successive military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, where new authorities took up the fight against French neo-colonialism. In 2024, Paris reduced its military contingent in central and western Africa to 600 personnel. Following coups d’état and the turn of some African countries towards multipolarity, the United States also began to experience inconvenience. Their influence, in addition to the Alliance of Sahel States, is also decreasing in Senegal, Chad, Guinea and other countries.
At the same time, such countries as Russia and Türkiye struggle for the increase of their influence in Africa. Russia has deployed Africa Corps troops in the countries of the Alliance of Sahel States, as well as in the Central African Republic and eastern Libya. Türkiye, contrary to the official NATO policy, is developing independent cooperation for the purpose of common prosperity between Ankara and Tripoli. But the Dbeibeh government’s desire to develop cooperation with Europeans and Americans greatly undermines Erdoğan’s position in western Libya.
Fading relations with Türkiye
The Government of national unity led by Abdel Hamid al-Dbeibeh was imposed on Libya under external pressure from the United States. Parliament accused Dbeibeh of violating the country’s laws because his administration was supposed to hold elections by a certain date, but did not do this. The real task that the Government of National Unity solved was not holding elections, but consolidating US influence by bringing trusted people into power. The House of Representatives moved a motion of no confidence in the Government of National Unity on September 21, 2021.
If Dbeibeh at first actively cooperated with Türkiye on the issue of training forces and supplying weapons, now a major partnership with the United States is emerging. Last August, Ankara was reported to take a 99-year lease on the port of Al-Khums in northwestern Libya, where it planned to establish a military base. However, Tripoli officially denied reports of the transfer of the port to Türkiye. Perhaps, even the possibility of such a scenario served as a red rag for Washington, which believes that the presence of other geopolitical players in northern Africa threatens its strategic interests.
The Mitigo air base and the port of Tripoli, which the Government of National Unity demands to be handed over to the Americans, are also directly related to Ankara’s zone of interests. In 2020, Türkiye began the construction of its military base at Mitiga International Airport to strengthen its presence in Libya. In 2014, due to hostilities, the airport was closed; flights resumed only in May. Civil flights with Türkiye resumed two weeks ago. Trade relations between Libya and Türkiye largely depend on the port of Tripoli. In 2021, the Government of National Unity, which came to power in Libya that year, invited Turkish firms to build a new commercial port in Tripoli. Until 2019, Turkish companies carried out construction projects at the port worth up to $29 billion, but work on the projects stopped because of hostilities.
The future of Libya with Americans and Europeans
The presence of the “European Legion” in western Libya, according to experts on Libyan affairs, will deepen the division between the East and the West. Evidence of the possibility of the conflict igniting again in Libya was stated by Nasser Ammar, commander of the support forces of “Operation Volcano of Rage,” commenting on the arrival of Russian ships to the port of Tobruk last June. He said that Western countries are fully prepared to sacrifice Libya and its people in order to confront Russia and the formation of the “European Legion” have nothing to do with accountability for combating immigration or establishing security and stability, and all of this is just slogans that have nothing to do with the real goals.
The goals of the United States and the “European Legion” are to agonize confrontation and push Libya into a new civil war in order to gain a foothold in the country and drive out other geopolitical enemies. The Americans have already managed to partially expel Türkiye from there, when in May 2021 the Government of National Unity called on Ankara to implement UN resolutions and withdraw its troops, which they brought in to protect the previous government from the army of Khalifa Haftar in 2020. After this, there was no news about work on a military base at Mitiga airport, nor about further joint trade or infrastructure projects.