The Wagner Group, a private Russian military security contractor with apparent links to Russia’s government, backed Khalifa Hiftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) in their attack on the Libyan capital, Tripoli. In August 2021, the BBC reported receiving an electronic tablet that had been left behind on the front lines in southern Tripoli and that they concluded belonged to a Wagner Group operative. Human Rights Watch also documented the deaths of three deminers attempting to dismantle some of these mines. On May 24, Human Rights Watch wrote to Russia’s foreign minister to present the organization’s findings and request information relating to the presence of Wagner Group operatives in Libya. Human Rights Watch is co-founder and chair of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, 1997 Nobel Peace Co-Laureate.

Source: Libya Today June 01, 2022 05:31 UTC