Muhammad Qanunu, spokesman for the forces of the Libyan National Accord government, refused to talk about a ceasefire in light of what he described as the occupation of foreign mercenaries in the city of Sirte and the base of Jafra, while military sources revealed a map of the spread of mercenaries in the center and south of the country.
The government spokesman said that the "liberation of" Sirte and Al-Jafra "has become more urgent than ever" after hundreds of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Company and other nationalities were deployed in them.
Kanounou accused Arab and foreign countries of supporting mercenaries and contributing to bringing them, facilitating their entry, and providing them with protection, which makes their whereabouts red lines.
For her part, Acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Stephanie Williams expressed her dismay at reports that mercenary groups had entered the Sharara oil field and other oil installations.
Williams said - during her meeting with the President of the Presidential Council of the Government of Conciliation Fayez al-Sarraj - that this foreshadows the transformation of the Hilal oil region to a conflict zone.
The two parties also discussed the efforts of the UN mission in the military, security and economic tracks, the resumption of the political track, and the mines laid by Haftar forces in civilian homes south of Tripoli. It called for a speedy ceasefire.
Russian Wagner
Meanwhile, military and local sources in the Al-Jafra area of the island have revealed the whereabouts of Russian Wagner Company forces and other Arab and foreign mercenaries in central and southern Libya.
According to the sources, it was the first official Russian military visit to the Al-Jafra area on February 5, 2018, represented by an official delegation of army officers, who was received by Brigadier General Mohamed Al-Senussi Nasr, the commander of the Central Military Region of retired Major General Khalifa Hifter during that period, as the delegation toured the Al-Jafra base Which is the largest air base in the country.
The sources indicate that the number of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner in the Jufra region now ranges between 3 thousand and 3.5 thousand, most of whom were fighting in the fighting axes south of Tripoli, before they withdrew to the Jufra base.
The Russians are now deployed in the form of armed groups equipped with weapons and equipment on the farms and neighborhoods of civilians in the cities of Al-Jafra, accompanied by Russian air defense systems, the type of Pansier, estimated at 15 systems distributed in several regions, and the presence of militants is concentrated in the cities of Hun and Sokhna, in the Al-Jufra region.
Also in the city of Wadran, which is part of Al-Jafra, there is an operating room for Wagner Mercenaries, particularly near Camp Al-Baraem, where there are jamming devices, antennas and the Panzor air defense system.
Wagner gunmen are also present at the Tamnant Air Force Base in southern Libya, the Wau Air Force Base near the far south, as well as the Sharara oil field in the southwest.
Arabs and Chadians
Alongside the Russians, about seventy Emirati military personnel, including officers, deployed with Al-Jafra they arrived on regular flights from Abu Dhabi and Al-Qaeda just before they left after the Al-Wefaq government strikes in July of last year, and six Emiratis were killed.
Information indicates that the number of armed mercenaries from the Sudanese and Chadian factions in the Al-Jufra region ranges between 5 thousand and 6 thousand militants, deployed in several locations inside the base of Al-Jafra and the surrounding areas.
There are also Syrian mercenaries in the Al-Jufra region who came with the Russian mercenaries, and a number of them are stationed at the entrances to Al-Jafra at the road linking Al-Jufrah, Abu Qurain, Al-Jafrah and Sirte.