عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Bashagha Urges Britain's Help to Remove Russia's Wagner Mercenaries from Libya

Libya's parliament-appointed prime minister, Fathi Bashagha. (Reuters file photo)
Libya's parliament-appointed prime minister, Fathi Bashagha. (Reuters file photo)
TT
20
TT

Bashagha Urges Britain's Help to Remove Russia's Wagner Mercenaries from Libya

Libya's parliament-appointed prime minister, Fathi Bashagha. (Reuters file photo)
Libya's parliament-appointed prime minister, Fathi Bashagha. (Reuters file photo)

Libya's east-based parliament appointed Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha called on Tuesday British leaders to help remove the mercenaries of Russia's Wagner Group from his country.

In an article published by The Times newspaper, Bashagha declared his desire for a strategic partnership with Britain at the business, security and intelligence levels.

“Today my country is facing one of its toughest battles yet; as Ukrainian troops battle Russia with British missiles, we in Libya are fighting the same fight,” the PM-designate wrote.

“As a Libyan, I know what it is like to see foreign forces enter your country illegally,” he stressed.

Bashagha explained that since 2014, thousands of mercenaries from Wagner, a private military group, have been in Libya, leaving a trail of destruction behind.

Addressing his “British friends” at the government of Boris Johnson, the Libyan official said his government is ready to work with Britain if the latter needs a partner in Africa to resist Russia.

He said his country needs the assistance of British businessmen in rebuilding Libya and providing services to the people, stressing that the Libyans do not want to see another decade of civil war, nor do they want to see the Wagner mercenaries looting their cities and villages.

Moreover, Bashagha expressed Libya’s willingness to take part in efforts to help the world wean itself off Russian oil.

He said that Libyan oil and gas can help make up for the global oil shortage, and help bring down fuel prices in Britain.

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
TT
20
TT

Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

Seated on the pavement outside a bank in central Damascus, Abu Fares's face is worn with exhaustion as he waits to collect a small portion of his pension.
"I've been here for four hours and I haven't so much as touched my pension," said the 77-year-old, who did not wish to give his full name.

"The cash dispensers are under-stocked and the queues are long," he continued.

Since the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad last December, Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception.

Decades of punishing sanctions imposed on the Assad dynasty -- which the new authorities are seeking to have lifted -- have left about 90 percent of Syrians under the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

The liquidity crisis has forced authorities to drastically limit cash withdrawals, leaving much of the population struggling to make ends meet.

Prior to his ousting, Assad's key ally Russia held a monopoly on printing banknotes. The new authorities have only announced once that they have received a shipment of banknotes from Moscow since Assad's overthrow.
In a country with about 1.25 million public sector employees, civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs to make withdrawals, capped at about 200,000 Syrian pounds, the equivalent on the black market of $20 per day.

In some cases, they have to take a day off just to wait for the cash.

"There are sick people, elderly... we can't continue like this," said Abu Fares.

'Meagre sums'
"There is a clear lack of cash, and for that reason we deactivate the ATMs at the end of the workday," an employee at a private bank told AFP, preferring not to give her name.

A haphazard queue of about 300 people stretches outside the Commercial Bank of Syria. Some are sitting on the ground.

Afraa Jumaa, a civil servant, said she spends most of the money she withdraws on the travel fare to get to and from the bank.

"The conditions are difficult and we need to withdraw our salaries as quickly as possible," said the 43-year-old.
"It's not acceptable that we have to spend days to withdraw meagre sums."

The local currency has plunged in value since the civil war erupted in 2011, prior to which the dollar was valued at 50 pounds.

Economist Georges Khouzam explained that foreign exchange vendors -- whose work was outlawed under Assad -- "deliberately reduced cash flows in Syrian pounds to provoke rapid fluctuations in the market and turn a profit".

Muntaha Abbas, a 37-year-old civil servant, had to return three times to withdraw her entire salary of 500,000 pounds.

"There are a lot of ATMs in Damascus, but very few of them work," she said.

After a five-hour wait, she was finally able to withdraw 200,000 pounds.

"Queues and more queues... our lives have become a series of queues," she lamented.