According to British military intelligence, Moscow may have been forced to prioritize Ukraine for Wagner’s action, at the expense of the group’s operations in Africa or Syria.
The number of foreign mercenaries in Libya has fallen, partly because of the war in Ukraine, UN experts say.
Their leader, Chaloka Beyani, explained yesterday Monday that the mercenaries “found a market elsewhere” for their services.
The legal expert, who studied in Zambia and Britain, collects data on human rights violations in the ranks of the group set up by the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The number of mercenaries of the Russian Wagner group in Libya has also decreased, according to Mr. Beyani.
This mercenary company is characterized by the West as a shadowy private army acting on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite the Kremlin’s repeated denials that there is any such connection.
According to British military intelligence, Moscow may have been forced to prioritize Ukraine for Wagner’s action, at the expense of the group’s operations in Africa or Syria.
However, far from all the foreign fighters have withdrawn from Libya, it is pointed out in a report presented yesterday by Mr. Beyani and his team. According to the text, the mercenaries prolong the conflict in the country and often defy international humanitarian law, which explicitly states that civilians must be protected.
Plunged into chaos after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, undermined by east-west conflicts, Libya, the country with the largest hydrocarbon deposits in Africa, remains caught in the grip of an intractable institutional crisis.
Various armed groups continue to battle for power and influence.
Other states are involved in the conflict, notably Russia and Turkey. The UN estimated at the end of 2020 that there were approximately 20,000 foreign fighters and/or mercenaries operating in Libya.
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