WASHINGTON — The United States is working to renew a military
relationship with Libya despite Tripoli's opposition to a U.S. presence on the continent to combat the migration of Islamic militants to the region.
Officials said the Defense Department has initiated discussions with
Libya to explore defense and military cooperation. They said U.S. commanders
have visited Tripoli and discussed the prospect of training of and exercises
with the Libyan military.
Libya, however, has become a vociferous opponent of U.S. African
Command, expected to begin full-scale operations in October 2008. Officials
said Tripoli has urged Arab League and other African states to deny U.S.
requests to host the command's headquarters. As a result, Washington has
been considering keeping the headquarters of the new command in Germany, Middle East Newsline reported.
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"There has been contact with the Libyans...about other
military-to-military engagement activities, given the emerging relationships
that we have," U.S. European Command chief Gen. William Ward said. "How that
will evolve in the future, I do not know."
"That [African Command] could include some headquarters presence on the
continent; that was not defined," Ward said. "So, what we will do is work
through that process, as we take these coming months to determine what it
needs to be, so that value added is brought to our program."
During an Oct. 15 briefing, Ward did not specify the military
cooperation discussed by Washington and Tripoli. But the general said Libya
had not been requested to host American soldiers or the new U.S. African
Command.
"I have not had any discussions with the Libyans about basing any
headquarters," Ward said.
Officials said the Bush administration pledged to develop Libya's
military in wake of Tripoli's agreement in 2003 to eliminate its
medium-range ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs. They said the
United States and the European Union have been discussing exports of
aircraft and dual-use systems to the North African state.
