Trump envoy Massad Boulos to visit Libya amid rising tensions sources say
US envoy Massad Boulos is set to make his first official visit to Libya next week amid rising tensions in the capital city of Tripoli and neighbouring Sudan, a US official and an Arab source told Middle East Eye.
Boulos, who is Trump’s senior advisor to Africa, was supposed to travel to Libya earlier this year, the sources said, but Egyptian officials complained, saying they wanted him to visit Cairo first.
Boulos met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, Hassan Rashad, in May. Egypt is one of the main external powers in Libya.
Ties between Egypt and the US have become strained over Washington’s reassessment of military aid to Cairo and Trump’s call earlier this year for a forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, MEE previously reported.
In Libya, Boulos is expected to visit Tripoli first, home to the United Nations-recognised government, and then travel to Benghazi in eastern Libya, which is controlled by a parallel government backed by General Khalifa Haftar and his sons.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
Boulos’s office did not respond to MEE’s request for comment.
The envoy's visit comes as Libya’s powerful militias and politicians jostle for power.
In May, Tripoli was convulsed by fighting between rival militias that killed at least eight people. The clashes started after the 444 Brigade loyal to Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah killed the leader of a rival group. The 444 Brigade then launched attacks on a Salafist militia called the Rada Deterrence Force, which controls Tripoli’s main airport.
Dbeibah was appointed president in 2021 as a consensus candidate with a mandate to usher Libya into elections. The vote never took place. There have been regular protests against Dbeibah.
Boulos has been in discussions with Dbeibah’s top advisor about unlocking billions of dollars in sanctioned frozen wealth funds, MEE was the first to reveal. The two sides discussed putting some funds into investments with US companies in Libya.
NBC later reported that in exchange for releasing the funds, the Trump administration pressed the government to accept up to 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli assault since 7 October 2023, after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.
Saddam Haftar comes to the fore
The instability in Tripoli has allowed Khalifa Haftar’s family to lobby for support.
Khalifa Haftar is 81 years old. His son Saddam is being cultivated as a likely successor, US and Arab officials tell MEE.
Saddam’s stock is rising with the new Trump administration, especially in national security circles, the US official and Arab source told MEE.
Saddam made a high-profile visit to Washington in April, where he met Boulos at the State Department. More importantly, he held a meeting with several senior US intelligence officials in Washington, the sources told MEE. That meeting has not been previously reported.
Saddam has also been making overtures to countries traditionally closer to the government in Tripoli. He has visited Qatar and Turkey for support. This week, he visited Italy.
Libya has been divided since the Nato-led removal of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The civil war became a proxy conflict with Russia, the UAE, Egypt, and France backing Haftar and Turkey supporting the government in Tripoli.
In 2019, Trump gave his tacit approval for the elder Haftar’s bid to take over Tripoli. The attack failed when Turkey intervened.
The battle lines in Libya have become more convoluted in recent years.
Sudan spillover
A case in point is the competing interests among external powers in Sudan.
Although Egypt and the UAE both support Haftar’s government, they are backing opposing sides in the Sudanese civil war. Egypt has thrown its support behind Sudan’s army along with Iran and Turkey, while the UAE is backing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Haftar has facilitated the shipment of arms to the RSF.
Boulos has been trying to mediate a ceasefire between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Egyptian officials want Boulos to make progress on preventing a spillover of the Libyan and Sudanese conflicts, an Egyptian official told MEE.
However, following their May meeting, the Egyptians assessed that his influence would be limited, the source said. Politico reported in May that Trump has curbed Boulos's influence. The US and Arab sources told MEE that expectations for Boulos's trip were low on all sides.
The RSF said on Wednesday it seized a strategic zone on the border with Egypt and Libya.
The announcements came a day after forces loyal to Haftar launched a cross-border attack alongside the RSF, the first allegation of direct Libyan involvement in the Sudanese war. The attack is likely to strain ties between Haftar and Egypt.
middleeasteye.net