Recent pleadings by the leaders of Turkey, Egypt and others for Trump to get involved in the conflict have fallen on deaf ears, several foreign and American officials told CNN. The Trump White House had taken an active interest in the conflict in 2019, reaching out to Generation Khalifa Haftar, the warrior who is leading an offensive against the United Nations-backed government. But in recent months, the president’s attitude has changed, with Trump telling these leaders he would rather not be involved in another sloppy Middle East conflict.
In particular, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt have worked to persuade Trump to engage in diplomacy and put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to return from his own goals in the country. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and United Arab Emirates’ Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed have also been waiting, officials said.
Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE ally in Libya, the insurgent commander, General Haftar, has suffered a string of defeats in recent months as his militias sought to overthrow the government in Tripoli so that he could install as the ruler of Libya.
Turkey, Italy and Qatar, meanwhile, are collectively trying to support the government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj’s national accord. The past few days have taken the chance of a full-blown conflict after the Egyptian parliament green lightened the deployment of troops to Libya in support of Haftar’s rebel forces.
Trump has told all of them that he would rather avoid being involved in the presidential election with so many other domestic issues that weigh on him and urged them to sort out the issue among themselves, these officials said.
Erdogan is constantly calling Trump
A U.S. and Turkish official said Erdogan was “constantly calling the president” to persuade him to get Russia back. The two governments do not always provide readouts for those talks, officials noted.
Trump has expanded his ties with other world leaders known for authoritarian methods, including Putin, el-Sisi and Erdogan. He has not publicly denounced any of these countries for their human rights record, nor has he opposed any of their controversial military aspirations, instead accepting the declaration that they are fighting extremists.
Even as the potential for war in Libya grows, Trump has not sought to talk to any of his allies about its proximity to a full-scale conflict.
“The president usually tells her, ‘Do what you have to do. I will not tell you what to do,'” said one U.S. official.
The support of Russia and Turkey from opposite sides in the Libyan civil war is part of a competition for future investment opportunities, including oil contracts worth billions, in the oil-rich country. France, Greece and other European countries have taken an interest in the escalating conflict on the southern edge of the Mediterranean, warning that Russia’s involvement expresses its interest in a strong presence at the southern door of Europe.
In recent weeks, fighters have been loyal to the Libyan government, backed by Turkey, closer to the oil-rich city of Sirte on the shores of the Mediterranean, ready for battle. Thousands of Russian military vehicles with armored vehicles and Syrian troops have also surrounded the city in recent days in an effort to bolster troops loyal to Haftar.
The State Department has participated in some talks regarding the future of Libya because of the conflict. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took part in a summit in Libya this year in Berlin, where countries including France, Russia and Turkey drew up a plan for cease-fire, which eventually failed, and called for an end to violence. despite their own surprising support for the warring factions.
Mixed posts
But some accuse Washington of confusing things with mixed messages. Under former National Security Adviser John Bolton, the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Egypt have successfully lobbied Trump to shift U.S. policy in Libya and reach out to Haftar, said a senior U.S. administration official and two Saudi officials. Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and el-Sisi of Egypt urged Trump to back Haftar. Trump agreed, reaching out to Haftar in April 2019 to discuss “a shared vision for Libya’s transition to a stable, democratic political system,” the White House said. Bolton also had a separate interview with Haftar during his tenure.
Those talks had marked a significant shift in Washington’s position, which until then had undoubtedly supported the UN-recognized government in Tripoli and with its work in the war against Islamic State.
Officials tell CNN that Bolton and others in his circle had convinced the White House that a bet on Haftar, which promises to oust Islamists who had taken Libya in the post-Qaddafi era, was more promising than a statement from the State Department, which one official described as “very much in Turkey’s camp, but with the view that Russia is a bad actor.”
On Tuesday, Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, said in a statement that the U.S. strongly opposes “foreign military involvement, including the use of mercenaries and private military recruits, by all sides,” while denouncing it. around Russia as any other actor by name.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control then announced on Thursday on sanctions against individuals it said had contributed to instability in Libya through smuggling. But in the end, O’Brien emphasized that the US was “an active but neutral actor” in the Libyan conflict, noting in its statement that “it is clear that there is no ‘winning’ side.”
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