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Greece wants to be included in UN-sponsored talks in January on the Libya conflict, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Sunday, as tensions escalate with neighbours Turkey over the issue.

Libya has become another diplomatic front for Greece and Turkey as the traditional rivals jostle over Mediterranean maritime rights and the competing camps in the North African country's conflict.

"We do not want a source of instability in our neighbourhood. Therefore we want a say in developments in Libya," Mitsotakis told To Vima weekly in an interview.

"We want to be part of the solution in Libya, as it concerns us too," he said.

The UN has said an international conference will be held next month in Berlin to pave the way for a political solution to Libya's ongoing conflict.

Libya has been beset by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations in the east and the west vying for power.

"I have requested, and will do so again with greater insistence, that we participate in the Berlin process," Mitsotakis said.

In November, Ankara signed a contentious maritime and military deal with the embattled UN-recognised government in Tripoli.

Greece immediately rejected it as baseless, arguing that Turkey and Libya share no maritime border.

"[Libya] is our natural maritime neighbour, not Turkey's," Mitsotakis said on Sunday.

The Turkish deal lays claim to much of the Mediterranean for energy exploration, conflicting with rival claims by Greece and Cyprus.

At the same time, Turkey is stepping up military aid to Tripoli, which is battling the forces of military strongman Khalifa Haftar for control of the capital.

Mitsotakis on Sunday also addressed recent statements by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that called into question sovereignty treaties with Greece.

READ MORE: Turkish parliament to vote on sending troops to Libya

Italy's prime minister Giuseppe Conte has warned that Russia and Turkey, and not Europe, are setting the agenda in their involvement in Libya's conflict.

In his end of year news conference Conte said Russia and Turkey were only pursuing a military and not a political solution in the North African state.

"We must be united, we cannot allow actors even much more distant from Libya, to position themselves, settle their role in the Libyan scenario and claim the primacy for any solutions," he said. "Solutions which, moreover, are only military," he added.

READ MORE: Italy PM Giuseppe Conte warns of Russian and Turkish involvement in Libya

Turkey maintains that several islands and islets near its coasts that are claimed by Greece under longstanding postwar treaties are actually 'grey zones'.

No one should try to blockade us, to trap us in our own coasts or trample on our economic rights, Erdogan said last week.

Mitsotakis on Sunday said: "If we cannot work things out, then we should agree to settle the one case that is acknowledged by Greece at an international judicial body, such as the International Court (of Justice) at the Hague."

"I am referring to the continental shelf and maritime zones in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean," he added.

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Greece wants to be part of a solution in Libya - Euronews

A motion authorizing the deployment of Turkish troops to Libya will be submitted to parliament on Monday, according to Turkeys foreign minister.

Mevlut Cavusoglu made the statement after meeting opposition party leaders to argue in favor of the motion.

Cavusoglu said he had spoken about why we need this motion, what our national interests and threats are in Libya and the region, and also our effortsas a country that supports a lasting peace and political process in Libya."

Last week Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the motion would be submitted to parliament in light of a request by Libyas UN-recognized government for military assistance.

Cavusoglu added that the Foreign Ministry learned that the motion will go to parliament with the signature of our president."

Cavusoglu spoke to main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu about the motion behind closed doors for nearly an hour.

2 parties deciding on motion

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Cavusoglu said: "Of course the decision on the motion is up to the CHP.

"We told them why we need a resolution, including the threats we face, in terms of our country and its national interests."

Cavusoglu added that he will not be visiting the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), another major party in parliament, as it already voiced its support for the motion over the weekend.

After the meeting, Unal Cevikoz, the CHPs deputy chair, said that they oppose the motion.

Cevikgoz said that Turkeys foreign policy in recent years, especially on Syria, had caused the country trouble and they do not want to spread this to another country.

He said that instead of being a party to the proxy war by sending troops to Libya, diplomacy should be prioritized instead.

Cavusoglu and Meral Aksener, leader of the opposition Good (IYI) Party leader, also spoke on the motion for over an hour behind closed doors.

On Nov. 27, Ankara and Libya's UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) signed a pact on military cooperation, as well as one on maritime boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Since the ouster of late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: one in eastern Libya supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and another in Tripoli, which enjoys UN and international recognition.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara

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Turkey: Motion on troops in Libya headed to parliament - Anadolu Agency

The expedited efforts of Turkish and Libyan officials to revive the business environment have created a stir among businesspeople, who expect these efforts to boost bilateral trade between the two countries.

Mahmoud Al Shawash, vice chairman of the board of directors of the Misurata Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, said Turkey is an indispensable trading partner for Libya.

Al Shawash's remarks come after Nov. 27 when Ankara and Libya's U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) signed two separate pacts: one on military cooperation and the other on maritime boundaries of countries in the Eastern Mediterranean.

A new era has begun in the ties of the two countries, Al Shawash told the Turkish newspaper Sabah Monday, adding that in particular, a considerable increase is expected in Turkey's exports to the country.

Pointing to the trust of Libyan people in Turkish goods, he said, "Large investment opportunities await Turkish companies in sectors such as infrastructure, electricity, oil and natural gas in our country."

The new period could pave the way for a range of new trade agreements, according to Al Shawash.

"We hope to make various agreements between the two countries to remove fees and customs restrictions," he added.

On the other hand, Turkish contractors have been carrying out various infrastructure and construction projects in Libya since the 1970s. The North African country was the first overseas market in which Turkish contractors entered in 1972 with the STFA's building of the Tripoli port in the Libyan capital.

The outbreak of the revolution in 2011 and the subsequent civil war that has torn apart the country since 2014 have stalled all the ongoing projects, leaving the contractors aggrieved as they were unable to collect a large number of receivables. They have recently expressed their wish to return to the country a very familiar market for them, looking forward to the restoration of peace and stability.

Stating that Libya's facilities and infrastructure were destroyed during the war, Al Shawash said, "We are working on cooperation with Libyan companies to invest in infrastructure, contracting, manufacturing and other fields."

Turkish Contractors Association (TMB) Chairman Mithat Yenign said there is a need for Turkish contractors in the reconstruction of the country.

"Libyans want to work with Turkish contractors again. We've done a lot of good things in the past. I hope the war in the country will be over soon and we will return to the good old days," Yenign told Sabah.

With the projects worth $28.9 billion, Libya was the third country where Turkish contractors undertook the most number of projects to date. Prior to the internal intricacies, Turkish companies had reached an annual business volume of up to $4 billion in Libya.

When internal turmoil in Libya emerged in 2011, Turkish and Libyan partners were at the height of discussing joint projects. In the aftermath of the revolution which was followed by civil war and terror events, the construction sites of the Turkish contractors were burnt down. Turkish firms were forced to leave their projects abandoned and 25,000 Turkish workers had to return home. However, Turkish firms continued to make their payments including insurance commissions, letters of accreditation obtained from Libyan banks, subcontracting deals, site security expenditures and other compensations.

The accrued receivables of Turkish companies total $1 billion and the value of their letters of accreditation stand at $1.7 billion. The loss of equipment and inventories has been calculated at $1.3 billion. The TMB chairman recently underscored that Turkish contractors continue to pay $50 million per year for their letters of accreditation, which is hurting their businesses.

Some of the ongoing projects have been looted or became targets during armed clashes. Yenign, earlier, also stressed that Turkish and Libyan officials agreed that the incurred losses will be determined by a delegation.

Turkish contractors have paid $400 million in commissions for letters of accreditation since the beginning of the internal turmoil in Libya.

The trade between the two countries has particularly entered a growth trend again in 2019, according to the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEK) Turkey-Libya Business Council head Muzaffer Aksoy.

The $1.5 billion trade volume in the first 10 months of the current year is expected to close 2019 at over $1.6 billion, Aksoy said.

"Libya, will be Turkey's gate to Africa in the long term," added Aksoy. "Our goal is to sign MoU [memorandum of understanding], namely a cooperation agreement that will solve the problems of our construction companies. We will conclude this in January 2020," he noted.

Turkish Exporters Assembly (TM) Chairman smail Glle said Libya is the country with which Turkey has been developing economic and trade relations for 40 years.

"Our exports to Libya have reached $1.5 billion in the first 10 months of 2019, already reaching the figures of the whole of 2018," said Glle.

"As a result of the initiative and contacts with the leadership of our president, we think the agreement of historic importance between Turkey and Libya will pave the way for the bilateral trade between the two countries," Glle concluded.

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Turkey, Libya trade to benefit from increased joint efforts - Daily Sabah

The entry of African mercenaries risks further destabilising the situation in Libya and presents risks for the countries these fighters will return back to.

There is a history of mercenaries from sub-Saharan African countries coming to Libya for work. It is no secret that Sudanese and Chadian fighters have been involved in Libyas crisis, fighting for a range of actors such as the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), the countrys UN-recognised government, as well as extremist groups like Daesh.

The role of Sudanese and Chadian mercenaries in the Libyan conflict has deepened since General Khalifa Haftar launched his ongoing campaign to take control of Tripoli in April 2019. According to UN sources, Sudans Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (a.k.a. Hemeti)provided Haftar with military support and deployed 1,000 Sudanese Rapid Support Forces to eastern Libya in mid-2019.

Earlier this month, the Guardianreported on a new flow of Sudanese and Chadian mercenaries to Libya as the North African conflict further regionalizes. According to the leaders two factions comprised of Sudanese fighters operating in Libya, there have been hundreds of new recruits entering these two groups ranks as Libyas civil war rages on - placing the number of Sudanese mercenaries involved in the Libyan crisis above3,000. Both factions are allied with Haftars LNA, which is fighting to topple the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli.

Who are these Sudanese fighters in Libya?

According to Jason Burke and Zeinab Mohammed Salih, many of the dominant Sudanese factions fighting in Libya previously waged war in Darfur and also participated in the uprising against former Sudanese strongman Omar al-Bashir. These authors alsoreported on claims that a large contingent of Sudanese fighters from the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces were deployed to Libya on [Haftars] request...

Thus far, it appears that these Sudanese fighters in Libya have made somewhat of a difference in the North African countrys civil war. A UN panel of experts produced reports which maintained that mercenaries from Sudan helped Haftars forces secure Libyas oil crescent, which was extremely important to the LNAs set of objectives on the ground after the launch of Operation to Liberate Tripoli.

Mercenaries from these African countries are travelling to Libya for reasons similar to why Sudanese fighters crossed the Red Sea to fight in Yemen. It is mainly about money. A lack of opportunities and resources at home have prompted these thousands of fighters to secure an income through the Libyan civil war. At the same time, tribal links and geopolitical factors are also part of the picture. Sudanese, Chadian, and Nigerien factions involved in the Libyan crisis have fought there based on hopes that their respective groups could garner support down the road for their sides in conflicts back in their home countries.

It seems safe to bet that the ramifications of Sudanese and Chadian fighters joining forces with other actors in Libyas conflict will prove destabilising for both Libya and these mercenaries home countries too. Years ago, officials in Khartoum raisedalarm over the Minnawi faction of the Sudan Liberation Movements participation in Libyas conflict because of concerns about what this group could potentially do after returning to Darfur. In mid-2017 the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey addressed the role of that mercenaries from sub-Saharan African have been playing in Libyas civil war,warning that the ChadSudanLibya triangle has once again become the center of a regional system of conflicts. A notable consequence of these conflicts has been the re-emergence since 2011 of a regional market for cross-border combatants.

Difficulties in the Sahel

Many lawless havens exist throughout Africas Sahel. Borders are porous and many live on the brink of famine in this waterless region. Armed groups, kidnappers, and smugglers take advantage of desperate conditions in this impoverished part of the world where centralised governments often exercise no control over large swathes of land within their official borders.

Many people throughout the Sahel have gone to Libya for work since the countrys plunge into chaos during the NATO intervention of 2011. As evidenced by the crisis that shook Mali in 2012, themovement of weaponry from Gaddafis forces sank Mali into its own nightmarish conflict. Throughout this past decade, security in other parts of the Sahel such as the Burkina Faso-Mali-Niger tri-border area has suffered from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, and Ansarul Islam among other violent and hateful extremist groups.

With Libyas civil war raging on and Sudanese and Chadian mercenaries continuing to contribute to the instability that has beset Libya since Qaddafis ouster, the long-term impacts on Darfur and Chad are yet to be realised. Yet as more Sudanese and Chadian citizens go north to Libya to fight as mercenaries there are difficult questions about these militants activities following the Libyan civil war, which remain open.

For their part, ordinary Libyans who want a return to peace have their fears mounting as more mercenaries enter their country. With both sidesthe GNA and LNAalong with extremist groups such as Daesh counting on foreign fighters to help with their respective struggles, there seems to be a nearly endless supply of militants from sub-Saharan Africa who can help Haftar and others in the conflict conclude that continued warfare can achieve objectives at a time in which Libya truly needs a diplomatic solution to resolve its civil war.

While the international community has expressed much concern about the illegal flow of weapons into Libya, there should be greater attention paid to the flow of mercenaries into the war-torn country. Undoubtedly, resolving the Libyan conflict will require addressing multiple factors related to these foreign fighters.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT World.

We welcome all pitches and submissions to TRT World Opinion please send them via email, to opinion.editorial@trtworld.com

Source: TRT World

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African Mercenaries and the ChadSudanLibya Triangle - TRT World

The UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame has told French newspaper Le Monde that the UNSMIL has documented intensified non-Libyan drone activity in the Libyan airspace recently.

Salame, in an interview on Monday, indicated that there are also several planes coming frequently from Syria to Benghazi, adding that the UNSMIL doesn't know what was on those planes.

He also explained that the Libyan Presidential Council's government had requested the support of Turkey in response to the presence of Russian mercenaries fighting for Khalifa Haftar's forces on Tripoli frontlines.

"There are multinational mercenaries, including Russians, coming to help Haftar's forces. There are indeed countries that support the war in Tripoli." Salame remarked.

He told Le Monde as well that some member states of the Security Council are violating the Security Council's arms embargo in Libya.

Since April 04, Haftar's forces have been leading an offensive against Tripoli in a bid to take control of the capital from the Libyan Presidential Council's government, yet making little progress as they remain positioned on the outskirts of Tripoli.

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UN envoy to Le Monde: Multinational mercenaries are fighting for Haftar in Libya - The Libya Observer