Libyan Fighters Found Secretly Training in South Africa Raise Fears

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The discovery of Libyan fighters training at a camp in South Africa has led to a host of questions and concerns. Analysts are asking if other training facilities exist in the country and if Libya’s Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar is preparing an attack that will reignite and internationalize his country’s conflict.

On July 26, South African authorities detained 95 Libyan nationals who, they said, had entered the country on “study visas” but were found undergoing military training in White River, about 360 kilometers east of Johannesburg. The operator of the camp, Milites Dei Security Services, has been suspended pending an investigation. Charges against the trainees were later dropped and they were deported in August, but questions remain about who sent them to the country and for what purpose.

“If we look at Libya, it is currently a country in conflict, a failed state. The Government of National Unity is in control of less than 20% of the land,” Willem Els, of the Institute for Security Studies, said in an interview televised on Newzroom Africa. “So, who sent those people here? Are they from the Government of National Unity? Or are they from some of the other militias? Because that will change the ballgame and also make it a bit more serious.”

Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Unity has denied any connection to the fighters and multiple reports have connected them to Haftar. The Libya Observer reported that the men were part of the notorious 20/20 Group of the Tariq bin Ziyad Brigade (TZB), which supports Haftar and is led by his son, Saddam.

Amnesty International said the TZB emerged in 2016 and is responsible for a “catalogue of horrors” including torture, rape, abduction and killings. Local media reported incidents of armed robbery and rape in South Africa near the training facility that may be connected to the men caught there. The men reportedly spent time in town and would drink heavily and threatened to shoot locals.

“We were confused as to what people from such a country are doing on our shores,” one resident told Sowetan Live. “Knowing that the people who frequent our village are soldiers in training made us scared and some managed to inform police.”

Julian Rademeyer of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime said it appears the group intended to train in Libya, but the trainers refused and asked the fighters to travel to South Africa.

“There are indications that various groupings are arming themselves and getting training with the view that there could be a conflict coming,” Rademeyer told news24.

Haftar and his forces, including Russian Wagner Group mercenaries, attempted to take Tripoli in 2019 but were stopped at the outskirts of the capital. They were forced to retreat after Libya’s government received support from Turkey. Some observers fear that the discovery of the training camp means Haftar is planning another assault on the capital.

“I am deeply concerned that Libya is breaking down quite quickly,” Tarek Megerisi, a Libya expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Daily Maverick. “Over the past few weeks, the political bodies have all fractured and the competition between them has gotten more fractious. Armed forces are mobilised, with Haftar’s troops moving west. Algeria is on high alert, the largest oilfield is shut and the Haftars have made no secret that they’re planning to return to Tripoli.”