Libya and its National Army

A visit to Benghazi offers the opportunity to see how Libyans are working hard to rebuild everything that has been destroyed and to lay the political foundations with the Parliament as the reference point for national sovereignty after the elections and the National Army as the guarantor of stability.

The Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdul Hadi Al-Hawaij, assures that the National Army is key against terrorism and organised crime, that it guarantees stability in Libya, which allows it to offer collaboration in all sectors to the countries of the Mediterranean basin.

In a large part of the 1,800 kilometres of Libyan coastline controlled by the National Army, the actions of the mafias that for too many years turned that part of the Mediterranean into a graveyard for thousands of emigrants have come to an end. International experts, including Spaniards, are collaborating with the training of Libyan National Army units in immigration control, drone management and special operations.

The Libyan authorities are totally convinced of the need to dedicate all possible resources to eradicating terrorism, organised crime and the mafias. The United Nations has just lifted the sanctions it maintained on Libya to prevent it from receiving material considered to be dual use: civil and military. For example, night vision goggles that you can buy on Amazon or high-performance boats and other products that until now limited the training received by Libyan specialised units for the control of their coasts and for the assistance to migrants deceived by the mafias, every day much less in the area controlled by Benghazi.

The same is not true in the 20% of Libyan territory controlled by the Tripoli Government where terrorist attacks and the departure of small boats to the Mediterranean continue to occur. Total political unity is the great ambition of the Libyans who are working for the recognition by the United Nations of the legitimacy of their Parliament born of the holding of elections against the Tripoli Government which is reluctant to leave power as agreed.

Another demonstration of the will for Libyan unity is the inauguration of the new football stadium in Benghazi, with the attendance of several international stars. An event, like the reconstruction of the university to house more than 60,000 students, which aims to unite the will of the Libyans to walk together and leave behind the worst period of their recent history.