Search for oil .. Why Sisi supports Haftar in his war against the Al-Wefaq government?

Mahmoud Mohamed - Tripoli

Egypt's involvement in the Libyan crisis and its support for the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Hifter raises many questions, especially with the release of public statements from high-ranking officials in the state that establish this intervention and justify it in the requirements of Egyptian national security.

Although the beginnings of the Egyptian military intervention in Libya go back to the year 2014 when Haftar launched the Operation Dignity in eastern Libya, this intervention strategically expanded and expanded the arrival of Haftar's forces to western Libya since his attack on the capital, Tripoli, on April 4 last, taking advantage of the absence of neighboring countries, including among them Algeria is preoccupied with its internal conditions.

Search for oil
Analysts believe that Libya's oil wealth is an attractive element in the saliva of the Egyptian presidency and the countries that are greedy in Libya, as Libyan oil reserves are estimated at 48 billion barrels, and shale oil reserves are estimated at 26 billion barrels.

The head of the National Oil Corporation, Mustafa Sanallah, announced in an interview with the British newspaper, Times, last June that Abdullah Al-Thani’s parallel government, backed by Haftar, had concluded agreements with Egyptian and Emirati companies to illegally sell Libyan oil at $ 55 a barrel.

Cairo supports Haftar with Egyptian-made armored vehicles, with weapons and ammunition, and Egypt participated in launching air strikes on the Libyan city of Derna in May 2017, while Libyan parties accuse the Egyptian government of launching unannounced raids to support Haftar's forces.

A United Nations report published on December 9 has accused companies and countries of violating the arms embargo imposed on Libya since 2011 by handing out weapons and fighters, including Egypt.

Not just military
Egypt's support for the Haftar camp is not limited to weapons only, but also includes political and media support, as the Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament announced mid-January recognition of the Libyan Parliament in Tobruk headed by Aqila Saleh as the only legitimate body to represent Libya.

This development comes after Cairo increased its intervention with the support of Haftar in his war on Tripoli, and the signing of the National Accord government at the end of last November. Two agreements with Turkey are concerned with security cooperation and the demarcation of the maritime borders between the two countries, which sparked an objection from Egypt and Greece.

Solstice systems are consistent
Salah al-Qadri, the researcher on issues of the Arab and Islamic world, attributed Sisi’s support to Haftar to the nature of the Sisi regime, which came with a military coup against the democratically elected president, as well as Haftar.

He added, "Sisi came to power with a military coup, and he cannot accept a democratic experiment on his borders because the success of the Arab Spring experience in Libya after the fall of Gaddafi and the manufacture of democratic institutions in the country and the installation of an elected president represents a threat to the Sisi regime, so he is looking for a system similar to him and found in Haftar better than Support it. "

In his statement to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Qadri believes that Al-Sisi is part of the alliance of the Arab Spring counter-revolution that is led by the Arab Emirates and involving Western countries, and it is the alliance that does not want Arab countries to become democratic countries and seeks to drop all the experiences of the Arab Spring.

Al-Qadri pointed out that Cairo has ambitions in Libya because of its suffering from the problem of lack of energy sources and fuel as Sisi seeks to deliver the Haftar regime to the rule of Libya in exchange for granting Egypt energy supplies, in addition to Egypt's ambitions in development projects and infrastructure and covering the Libyan market with Egyptian workers.

Regarding Algeria's silence about what is happening in Libya, Qadri says, "Algeria will intervene if there is direct Egyptian military intervention on Libyan soil." "There is pressure from the Algerian street on the regime after the recent change that foreign policy be supportive of democracy as required by the Algerians at home."

Unbalance loss
The Libyan academic, Ismail El-Mahishi, affirmed that the Egyptian government's bias towards the countries of the axis of the "counter-revolution", including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, France and Russia, has lost its balance in dealing with the Libyan file.

"Egypt is now the main supporter of the violations and crimes carried out by its ally in Libya, with its unlimited support for a hole in Egyptian armored vehicles, weapons and ammunition, in addition to seeking to issue a book for the political scene," he added.

Al-Muhaishi said that Cairo had shown a great failure in dealing with the Libyan file after the meetings to unify the Libyan military establishment held in Egypt, adding that the Egyptian presidency had no sincere intention to bring about a kind of security and political stability in its neighbor Libya.

Al-Muhaishi indicated that Sisi was talking about Libya in his statements as if it was an Egyptian province affiliated to him, indicating that the Libyans will not accept this insult, as there is great public and official anger over the provocative statements issued by the Egyptian presidency.

Exploiting absence
On the Egyptian role, which extends against the absent Algerian role, political analyst Idriss Rabouh said, "There are Arab countries and external parties that took advantage of the absence of Algeria, which is preoccupied with its internal conditions and negatively involved in the Libyan file."

Rabouh expected that after the inauguration of the President of the Republic, Algeria would push Egypt to review its accounts in the Libyan file, and that it would seek an alliance with Arab and regional countries to push for a political solution.

In his statement to Al-Jazeera Net, Rabouh stressed that Algeria's position is clear by supporting the political option and rejecting the military option supported by some countries to deepen the wounds of the Libyans, as happened in Yemen.