Libyan Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush on Sunday confirmed some foreign fighters have already left the war-torn North African country, reported Al Jazeera.
“The reports are correct. There is a very modest start,” Mangoush said at a news conference in Kuwait when asked whether some foreign fighters had been removed.
She said the Libyan authorities are aiming for the departure of a larger number and to implement a larger, more comprehensive departure strategy.
Referring to a meeting announced by Libya’s presidential council chief Mohamed al-Manfi, the foreign minister said the government will discuss the implementation of the departure strategy during the conference scheduled at the end of the month.
Mangoush, however, did not specify how many foreign fighters had already left the country.
The development comes as Libya is trying to emerge from a decade of chaos since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
According to the United Nations, it is estimated that over 20,000 mercenaries and foreign fighters are currently deployed in the country, including Russians from the private security company Wagner, Chadians, Sudanese, and Syrians.
Russian mercenaries supporting renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar’s side are deployed in the east of the country, while Turkey claims it has troops in Tripoli as part of a bilateral agreement with the federal government.
The UN, Washington, and several other countries have called for the departure of foreign troops as soon as possible from Libyan soil.
A unified Libyan transitional government was formed earlier this year under UN auspices as part of the 2020 ceasefire deal. The transitional body will lead the country to elections set scheduled for December 24. But unsuccessful negotiation talks over electoral laws have placed growing doubts over the process.
In related news, Libyan authorities detained at least 4,000 migrants in the western part of the country. The detained have been kept in the Collection and Return Center in Tripoli.
