All-Out Proxy War Looms in Libya as Turkey Mulls a Military Intervention

All-Out Proxy War Looms in Libya as Turkey Mulls a Military Intervention
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives to deliver a speech at an event in Ankara, Dec. 30, 2019 (Presidential Press Service photo via AP Images).

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent.

With Turkey’s parliament approving a bill this week to greenlight a military deployment in Libya, the chaos that followed the 2011 ouster of long-time Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi threatens to deepen further. Turkish legislators voted overwhelmingly to make good on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s promise to intervene in Libya on behalf of the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, known as the Government of National Accord, or GNA.

Although Erdogan must still determine the exact size and scope of the Turkish military mission, his immediate goal will be to buttress the GNA as it battles the encroaching forces of Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s breakaway Libyan National Army, which dominates the eastern half of the country.

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