01/22/2024

Independent U.N. sanctions monitors accused Prince of proposing a private military operation - known as 'Project Opus' - to Libya's eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar in April 2019 and helping procure three aircraft for it.

The report described Prince's proposal as "a well-funded private military company operation" designed to provide Haftar with armed assault helicopters, intelligence surveillance aircraft, maritime interdiction, drones, and cyber, intelligence and targeting capabilities.

"The Project Opus plan also included a component to kidnap or terminate individuals regarded as high value targets in Libya," the monitors wrote.

Libya initially descended into chaos after the NATO-backed overthrow of leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 when the U.N. Security Council imposed an arms embargo. The country has been divided since 2014 between the internationally recognized government in its west and Haftar's eastern-based forces.

On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 (UNSCR 1973), in response to events during the First Libyan Civil War. With ten votes in favour and five abstentions, the intent of the UN Security Council was to have "an immediate ceasefire in Libya, including an end to the current attacks against civilians, which it said might constitute 'crimes against humanity' ... [imposing] a ban on all flights in the country's airspace — a no-fly zone — and tightened sanctions on the Muammar Gaddafi regime and its supporters."[23]


https://www.reuters.com/world/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-accused-helping-evade-un-libya-sanctions-2021-02-21/