Seven Sudanese rebel groups, including former Janjaweed forces, agreed to withdraw their forces from Libya at a meeting earlier this month.

The withdrawal of mercenaries and foreign forces out of Libya “will remain linked to the formation of an elected and representative Libyan government for all Libyans,” U.N. Advisor Stephanie Williams said on Monday.

Libya’s parliament-appointed Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha said on Wednesday his government supported removing all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya, guided by a committee set up to safeguard a ceasefire after the 2014-2020 conflict.

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has said that the presence of Wagner Group mercenaries in Libya is “on a commercial basis,” saying the private security company was invited by the authorities in Tobruk – referring to the House of Representatives.

The Libyan 5+5 Joint Military Commission (JMC) reconvened Wednesday in Cairo following meetings in Toledo, Spain and Tunis, Tunisia in May and June, respectively, according to UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

New information from Libyan agencies and demining groups links the Wagner Group to the use of banned landmines and booby traps in Libya in 2019-2020, Human Rights Watch said today. The Wagner Group, a private Russian military security contractor with apparent links to Russia’s government, backed Khalifa Hiftar’s Libyan Arab …

Libya faces a serious security threat from foreign fighters and private military companies, especially Russia’s Wagner Group which has violated international law.

Russian mercenaries in Libya systematically broke international law by laying mines in civilian areas without any attempt to mark their location or remove the lethal devices, UN investigators have found.

Moscow has pulled more than 1,000 Syrian and Russian mercenaries from Libya, as it faces setbacks and personnel losses in its invasion of Ukraine.

Up to 20,000 mercenaries from the Russian private military company the Wagner Group as well as from Syria and Libya are fighting alongside Moscow’s forces in Ukraine, a European official said Tuesday.