The former CIA-asset staged a failed coup attempt against the state in 2014

 

Khaifa Haftar has told the French Ambassador in Libya Brigitte Curmi that he intends to take power in Libya and that he is not ready to engage in a dialogue with his rivals, London-based Alhayat newspaper reported on Friday.

The newspaper said that Ambassador Curmi advised Haftar to sit with his rivals and not use weapons to claim power, but he refused.

"If you use weapons, you will differ with France and the EU and you will fail," Ambassador Curmi told Haftar, according to the newspaper.

It quoted French sources saying if Haftar uses force to take power, he would fuel conflict and ignite a civil war in Libya.

Khaifa Haftar has already rejected Libya's political agreement signed in Skhirat, Morocco in 2015 because it strips him of power as self-declared commander of the Libyan National Army.

The French sources also indicated that Egypt wants a solution in favor of Khalifa Haftar and it's exerting efforts to reach a compromise with the head of Presidency Council Fayaz Sirraj.

Renegade General Khalifa Haftar, who runs a self-styled army, is regarded by many politicians and observers as one of the key reasons of Libya's dilemma.

Last October, Libyan Army personnel in western Libya declared Khalifa Haftar a war criminal for the atrocities he is committing in Benghazi.

In February 2014 and before the elections of House of Representatives, he appeared on TV and announced a coup against the then-elected Parliament - GNC- and government, but he failed.

Two months later, he moved to Benghazi where he declared his Dignity Operation on the pretext of fighting terrorism to win the hearts of local people who were complaining about lack of security and assassinations.

Now, it has been over two years since his declaration but fighting is still raging while the city's downtown is still out of his control.

Khalifa Haftar's Dignity Operation is receiving unlimited support from the UAE and Egypt, and now he has reached out to Russia to repeat the scenario of Syria's Aleppo in the areas which are not in his hands.