From supply of the UAE Mi-24 helicopters in Libya to armed drones, jet fuel and other weaponry, MbZ’s support for Khalifa Haftar has led to an unnecessary escalation of the years-long conflict. The Emirates expanded arms transfer to LNA in a crucial breach of the UN arms embargo, in 2020.
Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ), the strategic Supreme Commander of United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces, has been one of the most prominent global traders of weaponry. Some of the significant suppliers of arms, facilitating Emirates’ mission of scaling up its military power in Middle East, include the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom (UK), France and others.
Although MbZ has maintained that the armaments purchased are used locally, their presence has been traced in war zones like Libya and Yemen. The aggressive Emirati approach has cooled down in Yemen, but it still remains ardent in the North African nation. In recent years, the UAE sent Mi-24 helicopters to Libya, breaching the 2011 UN arms embargo.
The United Nations panel inspecting the Libyan arms embargo highlighted that the Russia-made helicopters, purchased in multiple numbers, were often acquired from third-party nations in Europe like Belarus. These helicopters were later supplied to General Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) in Libya.
Officials have suggested that the UAE relies on private firms and allied states for transferring arms to Tripoli, in order to avert UN investigations and deceive suppliers regarding the ultimate destination of the weapons. In 2015, a Dubai-based company AAL Group aided the mission of sending UAE’s Mi-24 to Libya. The firm ordered seven Russian-made helicopters from Czech Republic, which in addition to four other Mi-24 helicopters were approved for purchase by Haftar next year.
A confidential UN report recently revealed that the military equipment transfers from the UAE to Libyan militia leader Khalifa Haftar intensified this year. MbZ, who was a part of Libyan peace Berlin summit in January, has since been breaching the UN arms embargo in an attempt to restore Haftar’s military campaign.
Another report obtained by the UN Security Council in early September confirmed that where Crown Prince Mohammed was signing the agreement to uphold the arms embargo on January 19, four weapon-filled cargo planes bound to Libya were sent from the UAE, along with one more from Russia. UN experts believe that the Emirates’ air force dispatched nearly 150 flights in Libya from January till April, which possibly carried ammunition and defense systems.
In recent months, the supplied UAE’s Mi-24 in Libya were identified to have been used by Haftar’s forces, even in the Tripoli assault. Besides, the pilots of LNA were trained on these helicopters in Egypt. It was confirmed by the Czech Foreign Ministry that the helicopters had reached Egypt, and that they had no information they would be transferred to Libya.
UN officials have raised concerns, in the past, regarding the intentions of transferring one group of UAE’s Mi-24 to Libya, in 2017. Despite the growing objections of the UN, Emirati Prince Mohammed has continued to support Haftar’s mission and to violate the arms embargo.
On September 10, the European Union (EU) maritime force, which launched naval patrols to strengthen the embargo, seized a vessel in the Mediterranean for the first time, which was likely to carry jet fuel from the UAE to eastern Libya for military purposes. In the same month, the EU also sanctioned a Kazakhstan-based Sigma Airlines, which was found to have been working for the UAE, where it transferred hard cash and weapons to Haftar’s forces, on behalf of the Emirates.
From UAE’s Mi-24 in Libya to other types of arms, MbZ has been following the tactics where the UN arms embargo has been continuously breached and third countries have been exploited. Moreover, in 2020, the Emirates has crucially increased its support for Haftar, who faced failure in June, when the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) recaptured Tripoli.
