Libya’s National Army Rejects Claims RSF Training Camps Near Benghazi, Including Camp 17

Claims that RSF fighters are being trained at camps inside Libya have resurfaced, with Libya’s “National Army” led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and its General Command rejecting the allegations as a campaign aimed at tarnishing its image.

“Talk of ties between Libya's "National Army," led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, and Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has resurfaced following fresh allegations that RSF fighters are being trained at camps inside Libya”

Asharq Al-Awsat English

Asharq Al-Awsat reports that a senior Libyan military source denied foreign media reports of RSF training camps in Libya, saying the claims were “baseless.”

Asharq Al-Awsat English

The same article says recent reports identified four training camps in areas under the control of the “National Army,” including “Camp 17” near Benghazi where fighters are trained to operate drones and heavy weapons.

It also cites a denial from Libyan lawmaker Ali al-Soul, a member of parliament’s National Security Committee, who said reports of RSF camps on Libyan territory were “nothing more than media lies unsupported by any facts on the ground.”

A Turkish-language report in جريدة زمان التركية says a study reflected the existence of military camps for training RSF fighters inside Libya and links the training to weapons provided by the UAE.

The report quotes an RSF defector known as “Ahmed” saying: “The UAE supports the RSF. They were moving this equipment from their country here and we receive it here and transport it to Sudan.”

Dabanga Radio TV Online

It also says the joint study by Lighthouse Reports, Sudan War Monitor, and Evident identified five camps, including locations in Al-Suwaidiya, Sebha, and Jufra near Kufra in eastern Libya, and “the seventeenth camp near Benghazi.”

In the same report, Ahmed describes how equipment was moved from Kufra to Benghazi and then to the seventeenth camp, and it adds that researchers observed Colombian mercenaries inside the camps in Libya.

Separately, Radio Dabanga quotes Lighthouse Reports director Klaas van Dijken warning that “What we’ve uncovered is really just the tip of the iceberg,” while describing an investigation that found five military training camps and staging sites used to train RSF-members on heavy weaponry.

Le Monde.fr frames the Sudan-Libya borderland as a strategic stake, saying Jebel Uweinat overlooks the Sahara Desert at the borders of Egypt, Libya, and Sudan, and that whoever controls the promontory gains access to minerals and trans-Saharan routes.

“Jebel Uweinat overlooks the Sahara Desert, at the borders of Egypt, Libya, and Sudan”

Le Monde.fr

It reports that since the outbreak of the Sudanese civil war on 15 April 2023, the RSF announced on Wednesday, 11 June, that they had taken the site after driving out the Joint Forces, a coalition of local militias affiliated with the army led by Mr. al-Burhan.

Le Monde.fr also describes two days earlier fighting in the border area between forces and members of the Subul Al-Salam Brigade, under the command of the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, and says the RSF pushed back the regular army’s auxiliaries.

Returning to the allegations of training and support, Asharq Al-Awsat reports that Libyan political analyst Ayoub al-Awjali said the timing of the accusations was “not innocent,” adding that they “coincide with the US initiative led by US presidential adviser Massad Boulos on the Libya file.”

Asharq Al-Awsat further says al-Awjali expected “new accusations and attempts” to use various crisis cards in the next phase, while the “National Army” maintains its mission is limited to protecting the southern border and preventing threats to Libyan security.