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The US has stepped up pressure on its Middle East allies to expel the Wagner Group a military contractor owned by an oligarch with close ties to Russias President from chaos-stricken Libya and Sudan, where it has expanded in recent years, regional officials told The Associated Press.

The US effort described by officials comes as President Joe Biden's administration is making a broad push against the mercenaries. The US has slapped new sanctions on the Wagner Group in recent months over its expanding role in Russia's war in Ukraine.

The group does not announce its operations, but its presence is known from reports on the ground and other evidence.

In Sudan, it was originally associated with former strongman Omar Al Bashir and now works with the military leaders who replaced him. In Libya, it is associated with eastern Libya-based military commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

Wagner has sent thousands of operatives to African and Middle East countries including Mali, Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic and Syria.

Wagner tends to target countries with natural resources that can be used for Moscows objectives - gold mines in Sudan, for example, where the resulting gold can be sold in ways that circumvent Western sanctions, said Catrina Doxsee, an expert on Wagner at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

The groups role in Libya and Sudan was central to talks between CIA Director William Burns and officials in Egypt and Libya in January. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also discussed the group with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in a late-January trip to Cairo, Egyptian officials said.

The group and Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin have been under US sanctions since 2017, and the Biden administration in December announced new export restrictions on its access to technology and supplies, designating it as a significant transnational criminal organisation.

Wagner started operating in Sudan in 2017, providing military training to intelligence and special forces, and to the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, according to Sudanese officials and documents shared with the AP.

Wagner mercenaries are not operating in a combat role in Sudan, officials said. The group, which has dozens of operatives in the country, provides military and intelligence training, as well as surveillance and protection of sites and top officials.

The US is making efforts to convince power brokers in Libya and Sudan to expel the Russian private military company Wagner, regional officials tell The Associated Press. AP

Sudanese military leaders appear to have given Wagner control of gold mines in return. The documents show the group has received mining rights through front companies with ties to Sudans powerful military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Two companies have been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for acting as fronts for Wagners mining activities.

The main camp of Wagner mercenaries is in the contested village of Am Dafok on the border between the Central African Republic and Sudan, according to the Darfur Bar Association, a legal group that focuses on human rights.

In Libya, Mr Burns held talks in Tripoli with Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, head of one of Libya's two rival governments.

The CIA director also met with Mr Haftar in eastern Libya, according to Libyan officials.

UN experts said Wagner mercenaries have been present Libya since 2018, helping Mr Haftar's forces in their fight against Islamist militants in the east. The group was also involved in his failed offensive on Tripoli in April 2019.

CIA Director Bill Burns held talks in Tripoli as the US is pressuring allies in the region to expel the Wagner Group from Sudan and Libya. Reuters

Since the 2020 ceasefire, Wagner's activities have centred around oil facilities in central Libya, and they have continued providing military training to Mr Haftar's forces, Libyan officials said. It is not clear how many Wagner mercenaries are still in Libya.

US officials have demanded that mercenaries be pulled out of oil facilities, another Libyan official said.

Mr Haftar did not offer any commitments, but asked for assurances that Turkey and the militias it backed in western Libya would not attack his forces in the coastal city of Sirte and other areas in the central part of the country.

Egypt, which has close ties with Mr Haftar, has demanded that Wagner not be stationed close to its borders.

There is no evidence yet that the Biden administrations pressure has yielded results in either Sudan or Libya, observers said.

Updated: February 03, 2023, 7:06 PM

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US seeks to expel Wagner Group from Sudan and Libya

CAIRO -- Italys prime minister held talks in Libya on Saturday with officials from the countrys west-based government focusing on energy and migration, top issues for Italy and the European Union. During the visit, the two countries' oil companies signed a gas deal worth $8 billion the largest single investment in Libyas energy sector in more than two decades.

Libya is the second North African country that Premier Giorgia Meloni, three months in office, visited this week. She is seeking to secure new supplies of natural gas to replace Russian energy amid Moscow's war on Ukraine. She previously visited Algeria, Italys main supplier of natural gas, where she signed several memorandums.

Meloni landed at the Mitiga airport, the only functioning airport in Libyas capital, Tripoli, amid tight security, accompanied by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, her office said. She met with Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, who heads one of Libyas rival administrations, and held talks with Mohamed Younis Menfi, who chairs Libyas ceremonial presidential council.

At a round-table with Dbeibah, Meloni repeated her remarks from Algeria, saying that while Italy wants to increase its profile in the region, it doesnt seek a predatory role but wants to help African nations grow and become richer.

During the visit, Claudio Descalzi, the CEO of Italys state-run energy company, ENI, signed an $8 billion deal with Libyas National Oil Corporation to develop two Libyan offshore gas fields. NOC's chairman Farhat Bengdara also signed.

The agreement involves developing two offshore fields in Block NC-41, north of Libya and ENI said they would start pumping gas in 2026, and estimated to reach 750 million cubic feet per day, the Italian firm said in a statement.

Meloni, who attended the signing ceremony, called the deal significant and historic and said it will help Europe securing energy sources.

Libya is clearly for us a strategic economic partner, Meloni said.

Saturday's deal is likely to deepen the rift between the rival Libyan administrations in the east and west, similar to previous oil and military deals between Tripoli and Ankara. It has already exposed fractions within the Dbeibahs government.

Oil Minister Mohamed Aoun, who did not attend the signing, criticized the deal on a local TV, saying it was illegal" and claiming that NOC did not consult with his ministry.

Bengdara did not address Aouns criticism during his conference but said those who reject the deal could challenge it in court.

ENI has continued to operate in Libya despite ongoing security issues, producing gas mostly for the domestic market. Last year, Libya delivered just 2.63 billion cubic meters to Italy through the Greenstream pipeline well below the annual levels of 8 billion cubic meters before Libya's decline in 2011.

Instability, increased domestic demand and underinvestment has hampered Libyas gas deliveries abroad, according to Matteo Villa of the Milan-based ISPI think tank. New deals are important in terms of image, Villa said.

Also, because of Moscow's war on Ukraine, Italy has moved to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas. Last year, Italy reduced imports by two-thirds, to 11 billion cubic meters.

Meloni is the top European official to visit oil-rich Libya since the country failed to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in December 2021. That prompted Libya's east-based parliament to appoint a rival government after Dbeibah refused to step down.

Libya has for most of the past decade been ruled by rival governments one based in the country's east, and the other in Tripoli, in the west. The country descended into chaos following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising turned civil war that toppled and later killed longtime autocratic ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

Piantedosis presence during the visit signaled that migration is a top concern in Meloni's trip. The interior minister has been spearheading the governments crackdown on charity rescue boats operating off Libya, initially denying access to ports and more recently, assigning ports in northern Italy, requiring days of navigation.

At a joint news conference with Meloni later Saturday, Dbeibah said that Italy would provide five fully equipped boats to Libyas coast guard to help stem the flow of migrants to the European shores.

Alarm Phone, an activist network that helps bring rescuers to distressed migrants at sea, criticized Italys move to provide the patrol boats.

While this is nothing new, it is worrying, the group said in an email to The Associated Press. This will inevitably lead to more people being abducted at sea and forced to return to places they had sought to escape from.

Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya expert and an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said that Meloni needs to show some kind of a step-up, compared to her predecessor in terms of migration and energy policy in Libya.

But it will be difficult to improve upon Romes existing western Libya tactics, which have been chugging along, he said.

The North African nation has also become a hub for African and Middle Eastern migrants seeking to travel to Europe, with Italy receiving tens of thousands every year.

Successive Italian governments and the European Union have supported the Libyan coast guard and militias loyal to Tripoli in hopes of curbing such perilous sea crossings.

The United Nations and rights groups, however, say those European policies leave migrants at the mercy of armed groups or confined in squalid detention centers rife with abuse.

___

Associated Press writer Colleen Barry in Milan, Italy, contributed to this report.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Libya is the second North African country that Meloni visited in January, not third; she did not travel to Tunisia.

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Italy, Libya sign $8B gas deal as PM Meloni visits Tripoli

Libyas opposing factions agreed to reach a constitutional base for a political road map on Thursday following years of being entrenched in a deadly war.

The meeting was hosted and facilitated by Egyptian parliament Speaker Hanafy El-Gebaly. Egypt has been engaged in the Libyan file, mediating talks in a bid to end the division in the North African country.

The meeting was attended by Khaled al-Mishri, chairman of the High Council of State an advisory body to the Tripoli-based government and Aguila Saleh, speaker of the parliament in eastern Libya.

The US Embassy in Libya welcomed the agreement in a tweet encouraging the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections, thanking Egypt for the role it played.

1/2 Special Envoy Ambassador Richard Norland: "The conclusion of discussions between the leaders of the HoR and HSC today in #Cairo leaves no reason to delay setting an early date for parliamentary and presidential elections. #Libya pic.twitter.com/FRA2r4OiBZ

A joint communique issued by Saleh and Mishri provides an overview of the agreement in which both parties agreed to establish a road map that would legally and effectively launch the election process and carry out the unification of institutions.

No timeline or details for the constitutional base have been discussed.

Why it matters: Libya has been divided and drowning in chaos since a revolt that ended with the killing of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The country is split between two governments, one led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah based in Tripoli, garnering the support of the United Nations and the international community, and another led by Fathi Bashagha in eastern Libya.

The chaos that ensued left a power vacuum that was filled by different groups and a tangible power struggle with armed militia forces scattered everywhere.

Militant activities and sporadic warfare have spread across the country and across the border into the Egyptian desert area.

Know More: Egypt has been trying to facilitate an agreement between the rival Libyan parties for years. Concerned about growing militant activities and cross-border attacks, the countrys internal fights pose a threat to Egypts national security. Last month, Egypt announced defining its maritime border with Libya.

Following the meeting, a press conference was held where Saleh said, according to Egyptian media outlets, that Egypt has always sided with the interests of Libya and Libyans in order to be able to solve their crises, put an end to foreign intervention into their country's internal affairs and help the Libyan state restore sovereignty. The brotherly neighboring state of Egypt has always encouraged Libyans to close ranks and exchange views, not to mention that it has hosted and sponsored on its eternal land the different meetings and talks among Libyans to enable them to reach a consensus and find final solutions to their internal political divisions that have negatively impacted the lives of Libyan citizens.

There seems to be a political will to stabilize the Libyan file. Italian press reports mentioned a Qatar-sponsored meeting between Libyan political and Islamist figures.

Stability in Libya is also paramount to Italy that suffers waves of immigrants arriving on its shores as the country battles economic difficulties and political challenges. According to media reports, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that Libyas stability is the absolute priority of Italys strategy, as it is an essential element to ensure the security of the entire region. We are ready to do our part to achieve this stability in support of the United Nations, while respecting Libyan sovereignty, further calling for parliamentary and presidential elections as soon as possible.

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Libya rivals agree to pursue 'constitutional base' for settlement

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Libya | United Nations

There is no shortage of candidates to host the trans-Saharan gas pipeline. The project, valued at 13 billion euros, is succulent. It could supply around 30 billion cubic metres of gas per year to Europe, according to initial estimates. This is almost double the amount of gas imported from Russia by EU members in 2021. Its implementation would provide a solid alternative to Russian gas, whose dependence has undermined the ability of continental allies to act in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.

The plan was first proposed just over four decades ago. In 2009 some agreements were signed between countries, but did not come to fruition. This time, with Europe in the midst of an unprecedented energy crisis, the project to build the trans-Saharan gas pipeline makes sense again. This explains why Nigeria, the country with the largest energy reserves in Africa and the main promoter of the plan, has restarted contacts to put the pipeline into operation as soon as possible, in record time. Brussels is calling for cruising speed in order to have everything ready within two years.

The route has yet to be mapped out. According to experts, there are two viable proposals on the table. The first is from Algeria and the second from Morocco. Nigeria has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the two countries, which are locked in a perpetual standoff over the Western Sahara dispute and rivals for hegemony in the Maghreb. Bilateral relations have been formally severed since August 2021. Therefore, beyond the geographical conditions, it is incompatible that the two initiatives could coexist or converge at any point. Only one can remain.

Algiers has an advantage. The length of the infrastructure is shorter than that proposed by Rabat, and it would only need to pass through Niger, the backbone of the tripartite MoU signed in July. For its part, the Moroccan proposal includes a dozen countries, those of the Gulf of Guinea plus Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, among others. Too many actors, most of them quite unstable. It is true that the jihadist insurgency has been shaking Niger's foundations for years, but the crisis, though acute, is more or less manageable. No firm decision has yet been taken.

However, Libya has, against all odds, entered the running to host the trans-Saharan gas pipeline. The Government of National Unity (GNU) revealed in September that it had formally submitted its bid to Nigeria during the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO) ministerial summit. This was announced at a press conference by the Libyan oil minister, Mohamed Aoun, whose ministry had months earlier launched "technical and economic studies on the feasibility of the project", according to the spokesman for the acting government, Mohamed Hammouda.

The starting conditions, at least from a geographical perspective, would be more profitable than those envisaged in the Algerian proposal. The distance would be shortened by approximately 1,000 kilometres and it would only be necessary to cross Chad, a country also threatened by jihadism and the political crisis reopened after Mahamat Dby's coup d'tat. Less distance translates into lower costs and shorter construction times. And that, in turn, means lower gas prices. These characteristics make the Libyan proposal feasible.

But there are major hurdles to overcome on this route. First, the political instability that has plagued the country since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Libya has been a wasteland ever since. The current institutional division and the duplicity of administrations, one in the west based in Tripoli and the other in the east based in Tobruk, undermine any chance of development. The rift between Abdul Hamid Dbeib's Government of National Unity (GNU) and Fathi Bashagha's Government of National Stability (GSN), allied with Parliamentary Speaker Aguila Saleh and General Khalifa Haftar, is complete.

The presence of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group in Libya also threatens Tripoli's plans. The Kremlin's PMC controls much of the oil installations and prevents the Dbeib government from accessing the oil fields. They are acting on behalf of General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army, their host on Libyan soil. Analyst Robert Uniacke writes in Foreign Policy that their presence 'positions the Kremlin as a spoiler in these future calculations, or at least as a card to play in the negotiations'.

It is by no means out of the question that Russia will use its destabilisation capacity to sabotage the trans-Saharan gas pipeline in the event that Libya succeeds in getting its project approved. All the more so given that its implementation would provide a clear alternative to Russian gas, which is still flowing to Europe in dribs and drabs. This factor is compounded by the presence of Daesh-affiliated militants in the far south of Libya, an area that the infrastructure should also pass through. Attacks against the security forces are a regular occurrence there, although normality is trying to make inroads.

With all the facts on the table, the undertaking seems complicated. But Tripoli is not alone in this persuasion campaign. According to the pan-Arab daily Al Arab, Ankara is on its side. Recep Tayyip Erdoan's circle could be putting pressure on Abuja to fulfil the plans of Dbeib's Government of National Unity (GNU). The Turkish business sector could benefit from a project that would turn the vast Maghreb country into the energy nexus between Africa and Europe. Big words.

Algeria is well advanced in the negotiations and is unlikely to give in. Even less so in this area, even if there are fluid relations between the Algerian leadership and Dbeib's Government of National Unity. Algeria backed Fayez al-Sarraj's Government of National Accord (GNA) and before that, the Islamists. It also has good relations with Erdoan's Turkey, but here there are insurmountable cross-interests.

The alliance between Ankara and Tripoli was strengthened after Monday's diplomatic visit, which resulted in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for hydrocarbon exploration, implying a consolidation of support for the interim government of Dbeib, but in reality "Turkey does not agree with the time that the acting prime minister has been in power", explains Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya specialist and associate member of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). Turkey is thus playing both sides of the fence, maintaining contacts with both factions so as not to irritate its internal and external partners.

Harchaoui stresses that Turkey "acts according to Erdoan's needs". The president needs political capital to be re-elected in the next elections, and the polls are not favourable for the Islamist leader. This type of agreement "improves his image", the analyst told Atalayar, because, among other things, "Libya is really useful for Turkey, especially from a nationalist point of view", he added.

The MoU signed by the parties on Monday put Turkish businessmen in the front line to take advantage of Libya's vast energy resources, both on land and sea. "At the moment, nothing has been done to favour Turkish companies," Harchaoui says. In the hypothetical future, if the institutional rift is resolved and the Dbeib government takes back control of the National Oil Company (NOC), this is likely to be the case. If the Libyan plan for the trans-Saharan pipeline is approved, Ankara stands to gain because, among other things, 'Dbeib cannot refuse any deal. He is not in a position to say no because of his position of vulnerability", the analyst argues.

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Is Turkey behind Libya's bid to host the trans-Saharan gas pipeline? - Atalayar