US pledges $500,000 in security assistance to Libya

The US on Tuesday pledged $500,000 in security assistance to Libya’s UN-backed National Accord Government, Anadolu reports.

US Ambassador to Tripoli Peter Bodde and AFRICOM Commander Gen. Thomas Waldhauser met Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj in the capital Tripoli.

The US officials “affirmed Washington’s support for Libya as a unified, secure, and prosperous state under a government that can serve the Libyan people,” the US Embassy in Libya said in a statement.

The financial aid comes “in rapid-response non-lethal assistance in support of Ministry of Interior efforts to strengthen the capacity of the Tripoli Security Directorate,” the statement said.

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“This new assistance complements the United States’ $30 million in ongoing security assistance in support of Government of National Accord priorities,” it added.

Libya has remained beset by violence turmoil since 2011, when a NATO-backed uprising led to the ouster and death of President Muammar Gaddafi after four decades in power.

Since then, Libya’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of power — one in Al-Bayda (with which Haftar is affiliated) and another in Tripoli — along with a host of heavily-armed militia groups.