Washington considers France’s plan to withdraw Erdoğan’s mercenaries from Libya

France has offered Washington and other parties a plan to withdraw foreign mercenaries from Libya over a period of 6 months.

According to the US magazine Politico, France’s plan is for Turkey to begin withdrawing Syrian mercenaries from Libya on July 1.

A US official said his country is consulting with its partners in Libya and the international community to maintain the ceasefire and call for the removal of foreign forces from the country.

The French plan follows the failure of two previous ones. Last October’s ceasefire included a provision calling for all foreign fighters and mercenaries to leave the country within 90 days, but the deadline passed with no serious action.

The Security Council also adopted a resolution calling on all parties concerned to withdraw their foreign forces, but the resolution was also ignored.

Last Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he had received assurances from his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, that he wanted mercenaries to leave Libya as soon as possible.

Speaking at a press conference at the end of a summit of NATO leaders in Brussels, Macron added : “We agreed to work on the withdrawal of foreign mercenaries.. I can tell you that President Erdoğan, during our meeting, confirmed his desire to see foreign mercenaries and foreign militias operating on Libyan territory depart as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, Libyan military and political experts said Erdoğan’s remarks were a Turkish ploy to avoid “embarrassment” before NATO leaders, ahead of the Berlin 2 conference on June 23.

They said foreign troops and mercenaries remained in Libya even after the next election, fearing the fall of its Brotherhood allies and their failure to secure parliamentary and presidential posts.