Questions Rise over Sarraj’s Visit to Turkey Days after Retracting Resignation

GNA head Fayez al-Sarraj. (AP file photo)
GNA head Fayez al-Sarraj. (AP file photo)
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Questions Rise over Sarraj’s Visit to Turkey Days after Retracting Resignation

GNA head Fayez al-Sarraj. (AP file photo)
GNA head Fayez al-Sarraj. (AP file photo)

Head of Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj has kept mum over a recent surprise visit he made to Turkey, raising questions as to whether it was linked to his decision last week to retract his resignation.

Sarraj, who is still in Turkey, has not commented on reports that have linked the two developments together. The reports highlighted his secret meeting with Turkish head of intelligence Hakan Fidan.

Local Libyan media have criticized Sarraj for running the GNA from Turkey’s Istanbul, noting how he has avoided mentioning his whereabouts and official duties in all statements he has issued in the past two days.

Meanwhile, Speaker of the east-based Libyan parliament Aguila Saleh accused Turkey and other countries, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood, of seeking to diminish Egypt’s role in resolving the Libyan crisis.

Sources close to Saleh said he had met in Cairo on Sunday with senior Egyptian officials as part of the ongoing consultations between them to end the crisis.

He reiterated his support for the Cairo Declaration, describing it as a main basis for any possible future Libyan agreement.

Separately, acting head of the United Nations mission to Libya, Stephanie Williams, met in Istanbul on Saturday with Sarraj’s deputy, Ahmed Maiteeq. Talks focused on the upcoming Libyan Dialogue Forum that will be held in Tunisia on November 9.

Elsewhere, head of the pro-GNA High Council of State Khalid al-Mishri made a surprise visit to Qatar on Saturday where he met with its Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Mishri paid the visit at the invitation of head of the Qatari Shura Council.

Talks focused on coordinating position on issues of common interest, said an official statement. They also tackled bilateral relations and the latest developments in Libya.



Sudan Army Says Khartoum State ‘Completely Free’ of RSF

Sudanese women sell vegetables at an open market in the East Nile district of Khartoum on May 19, 2025. (AFP)
Sudanese women sell vegetables at an open market in the East Nile district of Khartoum on May 19, 2025. (AFP)
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Sudan Army Says Khartoum State ‘Completely Free’ of RSF

Sudanese women sell vegetables at an open market in the East Nile district of Khartoum on May 19, 2025. (AFP)
Sudanese women sell vegetables at an open market in the East Nile district of Khartoum on May 19, 2025. (AFP)

Sudan’s military on Tuesday said it took full control of the Greater Khartoum region after a long-running battle against remnants of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the region’s west and south. 

The development was the latest victory for the military in its more than two years of fighting against the RSF, a civil war that has pushed parts of the country into famine. 

Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdullah, a spokesman for the Sudanese military, said forces retook the Greater Khartoum region, which include the capital city of Khartoum and its sister cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North, or Bahri. 

“Khartoum state is completely free of rebels,” he declared in a video statement, referring to the RSF. 

Earlier, Abdullah said troops battled RSF fighters in the western and southern areas of Omdurman as part of a large-scale operation to kick the paramilitaries out of their pockets there. 

There was no immediate comment from the RSF. 

Sudan plunged into civil war on April 15, 2023, when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare in Khartoum and other parts of the country. The war has killed at least 24,000 people, though the number is likely far higher. 

The war has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including 4 million who crossed into neighboring countries. Parts of Sudan have been pushed into famine. 

The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the UN and international rights groups.