“Chad”… Qatar’s portal to financing terrorism in Libya

Aya Ezz

Fighter jets of the Libyan airforce have launched airstrikes on Chadian armed groups in southern Libya’s Tmassa. Later, a Libyan army statement said the groups were funded by Qatar.

Chadian armed groups have been spreading in souther Libya since 2011, especially after the Libyan uprising, and they have taken control over the oil-rich southern area.

Spokesperson of Ajdabiya’s military operations room, Siraj Jibreel, said in 2017 that the army managed to detect one of Qatar’s terrorism arms in Libya, namely the Defense Companies, which paid armed groups in southern Libya around 12 million Libyan dinar.

Jibreel also pointed out that Qatar funded these groups to launch terrorist attacks over the oil-rich Jufra District, which is characterized by the abundance of natural springs and date palm trees.

He also added that the Libyan army was able to arrest 3,000 mercenaries in Jufra with laptops that have information about Qatari funds and arms supply, attached with pictures of the money they received from Qatar.

Among the pictures were the identifications of some terrorist leaders who are all wanted by the Chadian authorities for involvement with Qatar and committing terror crimes.

In Aug. 2017, the Chadian Foreign Ministry accused Qatar of attempting to destabilize its security through Libya and shut down the Qatar embassy in N’Djamena.

“In order to safeguard peace and security in the region, Chad calls on Qatar to cease all actions that could undermine its security as well as those of the countries of the Lake Chad basin and the Sahel,” the foreign ministry statement said.

A report by the ministry further revealed that Qatar sponsors an army of around 18 thousand Chadians and nercenaries to invade the country and southern Libya.

Some armed Chadian militias who were arrested confessed that they received weapons and money from Qatar to initiate attacks against the Libyan national army.

A study made by international relations professor Ibrahim Heiba suggested that Qatar supports Chadian armed militias in southern Libya, including the Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad, which consists of Toubou people who used to move to south Libya and claim they are Libyans with an aim to spread chaos in the country.

Heiba added that these groups also include the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the Sahara, also consisting of Toubou people, which moved to Libya in 2011.

International Relations Expert, Saeed Ellawendi, told The Reference in an interview that Qatar supports all the terrorist organizations in Libya, forcing them to cooperate with Chadian groups in the south so that it could lay its hand on Libya’s oil.

Moreover, Mohamed Ezzeddin, a researcher specializing in African affairs, said Qatar want to make history through controling some African countries, including Chad.