UAE FIRMS JOINED TRUMP ALLY IN VIOLATING LIBYA ARMS SANCTIONS

American security contractor Erik Prince, a close ally of former US President Donald Trump, violated the U.N. arms embargo against Libya along with three United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based companies and their top managers during an operation to help a rebel military commander take the capital Tripoli, UN experts said.

In a key section of a report to the UN Security Council obtained by Edith M. Lederer of the Associated Press (AP), the panel of experts outlined “a well-funded private military company operation” called “Project Opus” designed to provide military equipment to eastern-based commander Khalifa Hifter.

“The Project Opus plan also included a component to kidnap or terminate individuals regarded as high value targets in Libya,” the experts said. The plan was first reported by the New York Times and the Washington Post.

The panel of experts report said it identified “Project Opus” in June 2019. It was designed to have private military companies provide Hifter’s forces with “armed assault rotary wing aviation, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, maritime interdiction, cyber, UAV, and intelligence fusion and targeting capabilities,” the experts said, Prince became involved when Jordanian authorities became aware of elements of the plan “and suspended the auction” of surplus military helicopters to Hifter on June 18, 2019, according to the experts.

"This required the Project Opus team to initiate a contingency plan to rapidly identify and procure new aircraft,” the panel said.

“These included three medium utility helicopters from a South African company and three light utility helicopters from a United Arab Emirates company,” the experts said.

“Also purchased within a tight time frame were an Antonov AN-26B from a Bermudian company, a LASA T-Bird light attack aircraft from a Bulgarian company, and a Pilatus PC-6 ISR aircraft from an Austrian company.”

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