By Denis Korkodinov
The Deputy Secretary of the Government of the National Accord of Libya, Shaaban Hadia al-Zawi, has been officially invited in Russia to participate in the Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum “For Peace, Security and Development”.
The international community is perplexed by such an initiative in Moscow, since Shaaban Hadia al-Zawi, also known as Abu Obeida, was the head of the Libyan Islamic revolutionary operations group affiliated to al-Qaeda.
The decision to invite Abu Obeid (Shaaban Khadia) was made as a result of the agreements reached between the head of the Libyan PNS Foreign Ministry Mohammed Siyala and the Special Representative of the President of Russia for Africa and the Middle East, Mikhail Bogdanov. As part of the international summit in Sochi, Shaaban Khadia will make a presentation at the Safe Africa session, at which event participants will discuss the problems of illegal migration, smuggling and criminal activity.
Shaaban Khadia, is on the list of non-grata persons of more than ten states as a terrorist who has stable contacts with al-Qaeda. His full name is Shaaban Masoud Khalifa Khadiya. He was born in 1972 in the region of Al-Kharsha Zawiya (Libya).
For the first time he attracted the attention of the Libyan secret services in 989, when he was convicted on terrorism charges more than ten times during the year.
From 1993 to 2003, he studied and worked as a teacher at a Salafi educational center in Yemen. His mentor was the well-known theologian Mukbil ibn Hadi al-Wadi, who founded the Salafi educational center Dar al-hadith in the city of Daraj in northwestern Yemen. Pupils of this particular educational center subsequently took an active part in the armed confrontation to the militants of the Ansar Allah (Husits) movement in the city of Saad.
It is Shaaban Hadia al-Zawi who is credited with the abduction of Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zaydan in October 2013. In the same year, the Libyan Islamist was arrested by Egyptian special services on charges of participating in illegal armed groups, kidnapping, organizing terrorist acts.
Shaaban Khadia adheres to a radical Islamic ideology, which made him one of the most famous field commanders in the west of Libya. In addition, he took an active part in hostilities as part of the Islamic Combat Group under the leadership of Abdel-Hakim Belhadj. Shaaban Khadiah was the confidant of al-Qaeda leader Naziq al-Rukai, known as Abu Anas al-Libi, who was responsible for recruiting Libyan citizens. He currently holds the post of Deputy Secretary of the Government of National Accord of Libya.
It is noteworthy that Moscow, formally fighting international terrorism, including in Libya, officially invited a person who is a vivid embodiment of international terrorism to participate in the summit in the Russian city of Sochi.
One way or another, Russian politicians and diplomats, and, in particular, the special envoy of the President of Russia on Africa and the Middle East, Mikhail Bogdanov, who were organizing the visit of Shaaban Khadia al-Zawi, will have to make excuses not only to the Kremlin, but also to the international arena. In particular, because of the upcoming Russian tour of the Libyan terrorist, they expressed serious concern not only in the official Tripoli, but also in the leadership of the Libyan National Army Khalif Haftar and the headquarters of the second son of Muammar Gaddafi Saif al-Islam.
However, many experts consider the news about Shaaban Khadia’s invitation to Russia to be a fake aimed at discrediting the Government of Libya’s National Accord.
Meanwhile a Libyan political scientist, Fattala al-Farjani, who is a political activist close to the Libyan National Army, has the opposite opinion.
Fattala al-Farjani said that through the invitation of Shaaban Hadia al-Zawi, Russia, quite possibly, wants to appeal to armed groups operating in the west of Libya, in order to gain control of oil fields. In addition, in addition to direct Turkish support for Libyan terrorists, the Zawiya region, under the control of Shaaban Khadiya, is now considered the key to the capital of Tripoli.
With all this, we see that Russia is moving in parallel with the Libyan and Syrian dossiers, but Russia is concerned about the transformation of Tripoli into the Idlib model, that is, the alliance of militias with terrorist groups threatens the stability of the countries of North Africa as a whole.
Mr. al-Farjani emphasized that Shaaban Khadiya is unlikely to attend the Russia-Africa summit, and even if he does, it is simply a trump card for the Russians for reaching several decisions in the Tripoli war. So, according to Fattal al-Farjani, the Russians are not so stupid as to invite an international terrorist, but they did to put pressure on Fayez al-Sarraj.
Shaaban Khadiya is a gift, according to the Libyan expert. He has an important file: illegal immigration and human trafficking. All suspicious transactions with Europeans know about them and participate in them, and all gangs in the west of Libya are under his control.
(The views expressed in this article belong only to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights)
Image Credit: Tass (Russian Foreign Ministry Holds Briefing on Russia–Africa)