Tripoli, Sept 22 (AFP\/APP):Khalifa Haftar, who Wednesday cleared the way to a presidential run, has spent much of the last decade leading military campaigns in Libya but today seeks power through the ballot box after a humiliating rout last year at the gates of Tripoli.<\/p>\n
With white hair contrasting with his dark moustache and eyebrows, the 77-year-old field marshal has been a controversial but key player in Libya since it spiralled into chaos following the ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.<\/p>\n
Haftar, whose forces control the east and part of southern Libya, in 2019 sent his forces to seize Tripoli from the then internationally-recognised Government of National Accord and the armed groups backing it.<\/p>\n
After months of bloody stalemate on the southern outskirts of the capital, pro-GNA forces backed by Turkey forced him into a bruising retreat in June 2020.<\/p>\n
Yet Haftar has always presented himself as the man to save Libya from “terrorists and mercenaries”.<\/p>\n
His rivals accuse him of plotting coups aimed at installing himself as a new North African dictator.<\/p>\n
Afer his failed bid to take the capital, Haftar’s camp and the GNA signed a formal United Nations-backed ceasefire deal in October 2020.<\/p>\n
That paved the way for a UN-led political process, with a transitional government taking office in March with a mandate to prepare the country for legislative and presidential elections in December.<\/p>\n
Parliamentary speaker Aguila Saleh earlier this month ratified legislation governing the presidential ballot, although critics say he bypassed due process to favour Haftar.<\/p>\n
They cite a clause stipulating that military officials may stand in presidential polls, on condition they withdraw from their roles three months beforehand.<\/p>\n
That would allow for a presidential run by Haftar.
\nDefeated on the battlefield, Haftar has turned to politics to achieve his goals — with backing from allies in the eastern-based parliament elected in 2014.<\/p>\n
– Key player –<\/p>\n
Despite being a man of few words, Haftar has a history of making dramatic announcements.
\nIn 2014, in a televised speech, he announced he was dissolving the existing institutions of state and taking power — before disappearing from public view for several weeks.<\/p>\n
But his self-proclaimed Libyan National Army, later renamed the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, established him as a key player.
\nHis first military campaign was aimed at clearing the east of jihadist groups, seizing Libya’s second city, Benghazi, in 2017 after three long years of fighting.<\/p>\n
The next year he ousted hardline groups from Derna, the only town in the Cyrenaica region still holding out against his forces.<\/p>\n
In January 2019, he ordered his fighters to advance into the vast, oil-rich desert of southern Libya, taking the main city Sebha without a fight.
\nFour months later, he announced the start of his operation to seize Tripoli from “terrorists”.<\/p>\n
– Exile in the US –<\/p>\n
Haftar, once a military chief under Kadhafi before going into exile in the United States, had returned to Libya in 2011 to join the revolt against his former boss.<\/p>\n
Four decades earlier, the Soviet-trained soldier had taken part in a 1969 coup that toppled Libya’s monarchy and brought Kadhafi to power.<\/p>\n
Haftar fought in Libya’s 1978-1987 war with Chad.<\/p>\n
He was taken prisoner in the border area of Ouadi Doum. But Kadhafi disowned him, saying the general was not part of his army.<\/p>\n
Washington managed to orchestrate his release, granting him asylum in the United States where he joined the Libyan opposition.<\/p>\n
His foes mockingly gave their counter-offensive against Haftar’s assault on Tripoli the title of “Ouadi Doum 2”.<\/p>\n
After 20 years in exile, Haftar returned to Benghazi in March 2011. That October, Kadhafi was tortured and killed by rebels.<\/p>\n
Shortly afterwards, some 150 army officers proclaimed Haftar their chief of staff — a title never officially recognised.<\/p>\n
His detractors say Haftar owes his status solely to the backing of foreign countries — from the UAE and Egypt to Russia and France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tripoli, Sept 22 (AFP\/APP):Khalifa Haftar, who Wednesday cleared the way to a presidential run, has spent much of the last decade leading military campaigns in Libya but today seeks power through the ballot box after a humiliating rout last year at the gates of Tripoli. […]<\/p>\n
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