by Alan Cai
After the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, people celebrated around the world. Gaddafi was a brutal dictator that was ousted in 2011 when democratic rebels overthrew his government in a bloody civil war. However, after the civil war, nationalists and Islamic militias failed to disband, and only three years after the first civil war, the world watched as Libya fractured yet again. Nationalist militias under the command of Libyan Warlord Khalifa Haftar launched preemptive attacks against rival Islamic militias, sparking a second civil war.
Today, the conflict in the oil-rich North African nation that started almost six years ago has seen several foreign powers backing two of the major factions in the conflict. One of the groups, the Government of National Accord (GNA), has evolved from Islamic militias allegedly allied with the Muslim Brotherhood into a barely functioning democracy that is ripe with corruption. The GNA has found support in Middle Eastern states that support Islamist policies such as Sharia Law. These countries include Qatar and Turkey. The GNA has also found support in the United Nations, being the officially recognized government of Libya. On the opposite side is the House of Representatives (HoR). The HoR has only nominal authority over its territories with the real power lying in the hands of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA). The LNA is not recognized by the international community and is run as a nationalist police state with limited freedom of expression for its citizens. It is sponsored by Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt. The LNA has been known to use torture against prisoners and has been linked to several extra judicial executions of prisoners of war and civilians. Libya’s civil war has quickly evolved into a proxy war between foreign backers and conflicting ideologies. Russia and the United Arab Emirates have imported millions of dollars worth of equipment and mercenaries to help strengthen the position of the LNA. Turkey has responded by deploying its own mercenaries and equipment to aid the GNA. The utilization of PMCs and mercenaries on both sides of the conflict illustrates a new approach to warfare.
Private military contractors (PMCs) are companies that usually take contracts from countries that want to supplement their military forces. PMCs usually recruit ex-Special Forces operators that have previous fighting experience. PMCs directly pay and employ their own contractors. In contrast, mercenaries are usually single operatives that do not belong to any PMC but who are usually contracted by governments to support their militaries. Mercenaries are usually paid directly by a country or faction instead of by an organization or company. Mercenaries were banned by the 1989 International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing, and Training of Mercenaries. However, almost all major countries have refused to ratify this agreement because of their prevalent use of PMCs. Many international organizations have led efforts to ban Mercenaries and PMCs because they have no clear legal jurisdictions. PMCs are nominally subject to the laws of their parent country. However, when serving in territories outside of the jurisdiction of their client countries, PMC groups are not required to follow local laws and are not necessarily expected to follow the laws of their client country. This creates a lack of accountability for military contractors.
Russia deployed the Wagner Group to Libya to support the LNA in 2018. The Wagner Group is a PMC that is run by Yevgeniy Prigozhin. Prigozhin has close links to the Kremlin, which is believed to effectively have hegemony over the Wagner Group. According to Rear Admiral Heidi Berg in an interview with the New York Times, “Russia’s Wagner Group now has 3,000 personnel and 2,000 Syrian mercenaries on the ground in Libya.” Russia has also provided political support to the LNA, recently blocking a UN Security Council statement that would have called upon the LNA to stop the escalation of hostilities in Libya. Russian fighter jets have also been spotted in Libya, helping Wagner Mercenaries in their defense of Sirte, a key coastal city in Libya.
The United Arab Emirates has sent thousands of tons of equipment to the LNA, largely flouting the UN mandated embargo. The UAE has sent Chinese manufactured drones to the LNA, as well as laser guided bombs, small arms, and air defense systems. Recently, the UAE has brought thousands of Sudanese mercenaires to Libya.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “the number of [Syrian mercenaries hired by Turkey] who arrived in Libya rose to nearly 18,000 [mercenaries], including 350 children under the age of 18, of whom 10,750 returned to Syria after completing the duration of their contracts and receiving their financial dues.” Turkey has also deployed drones to Libya, such as the Bayraktar TB2 and air defense equipment.
Libya’s Civil War has shown the effectiveness of mercenaries. Talking to the Independent, a GNA aligned fighter admitted that, “we were planning on running away. We were very afraid of the Russians because of their target accuracy. They are incredibly professional in using artillery.” Furthermore, during the Battle of Tarhuna, a key city located in Northwest Libya, GNA soldiers taking the city after Russian Wagner mercenaries withdrew from the frontline, reported that, “all the resistance we faced on all fronts vanished in one night.”
The rise of mercenaries signals a change in foreign policy among major world powers. Instead of deploying their own soldiers to fight in proxy wars, many nations have now turned to mercenaries that cannot be easily linked to their clients. This has been reflected in growth trends throughout the industry. Recently, a report from US Central Command (CENTCOM) Quarterly Contractor Census Reports revealed that the US government spent $208 billion on private military contractors between 2009-2018, with 49,451 contractors serving in the armed forces at the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2018, and 28,189 contractors serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the end of the Obama Administration, US military contractors outnumbered American troops by a three to one ratio. Mercenaries and PMCs make it easier for foreign powers to intervene in foreign conflicts. Countries that intervene in foreign wars usually deploy modern equipment and trained mercenaries which draw out conflicts and make them deadlier. Many governments have already begun replacing general infantry with military contractors who answer to no one but money. These mercenaries are also not held to the same rules of warfare as their conventional counterparts. The trends reflected in the Libyan Civil War hold a chilling vision of the future.