CORRECTS - Blackwater tried to overthrow Libya gov’t: UN report

CORRECTS SPELLING OF NAME IN PARAGRAPH ONE, MINOR EDITS

By Abdul-Jabbar Aboras

ANKARA (AA) – Erik Prince, the founder of security firm Blackwater, violated a United Nations arms embargo on Libya, a confidential UN report delivered to the UN Security Council has revealed.

According to the report, the notorious security firm tried twice to overthrow the UN-backed Government of National Accord in 2019.

The report stated that Prince sent foreign mercenaries and weapons to support Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar against the Tripoli-based government.

The mercenaries planned to form a team aimed at tracking down Libyan leaders and assassinating them, the report said.

Last December, then-US President Donald Trump issued a decision to grant clemency to four US security contractors who worked for Blackwater and were convicted of killing Iraqi civilians in 2007, a move condemned by Iraq.

Prince is also the brother of Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary under Trump.

Libya has been plagued by chaos since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

On Feb. 5, Libya's rival political groups agreed during UN-mediated talks in Geneva to form an interim authority that would lead the country to elections in December this year.

*Ibrahim Mukhtar contributed to this report from Ankara