Benghazi—The Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, has arrived in Minsk, Belarus on Monday in an unannounced visit. He was accompanied by a number of officials, the General Command Media Office said.
The visit to Minsk come after two weeks since Mr. Haftar held talks with senior American and British military officials in Benghazi. The media office did not specify the purpose of the visit or who was part of the official delegation.
However, according to the Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA), Mr. Haftar was welcomed at the airport by Lieutenant General Ivan Tertel, chairman of the State Security Committee, and said Haftar will focus during the visit on bilateral economic, social and humanitarian cooperation.
On 4 February, Mr. Haftar held talks with the Deputy Commander of the US Military Command in Africa “AFRICOM” Lieutenant General John Brennan, and the Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Libya Jeremy Brent, and the accompanying delegation.
Haftar underlined during the talks the US’ important and pivotal role to resolving the Libyan crisis and its contributions to that end, the media office said at the time. He also praised the bilateral relations and the continuing strengthening of cooperation, it added.
A statement issued by the US Embassy in Tripoli said that both parties discussed US-Libya security cooperation. “The US will continue to strengthen relationships in all part of Libya as we seek to support Libyan efforts to unify military institutions, promote stability and safeguard Libyan sovereignty,” it added.
On 3 February, Field Marshal Haftar met with British Deputy Chief of the Defense Staff Air Marshal Harv Smyth during which they “discussed partnerships for long-term security and stability,” said a British embassy statement in Tripoli.