Greek FM Dendias meets Haftar in defiance of Libyan officials

GREECE’S Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias on Thursday met with eastern-based Libyan putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar after refusing to get off his plane in Libya’s capital Tripoli.

Dendias snubbed his Libyan counterpart, abandoning a planned visit to Tripoli to avoid being welcomed by the top diplomat of a government allied with arch-rival Türkiye.

Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush was left waiting on the tarmac at Tripoli airport when Dendias refused to disembark from his plane and instead flew on to the second city Benghazi, where a rival administration holds sway.

Athens blamed the incident on Tripoli, where Dendias had been scheduled to meet the head of Libya’s Presidential Council, Mohamed Younis Menfi, without meeting members of the executive, according to the Greek Foreign Ministry.

Dendias’ visit to the politically divided North African nation comes after Libya’s Tripoli-based government signed a memorandum of understanding with Ankara over exploration for Mediterranean oil and gas that is bitterly contested by Athens.

Greek media outlets said Dendias’ plane went from Tripoli to Benghazi via Malta because Libya did not approve the flight plan.

Mangoush had been waiting on the tarmac to welcome Dendias “in keeping with diplomatic norms”, a statement from her ministry said. But “in a surprising and insulting move, the Greek minister refused to disembark from his plane and left without any clarifications,” it added.

Mangoush’s ministry said it would take “appropriate diplomatic measures” in response.

Shortly afterward, it recalled its ambassador from Athens and summoned his Greek counterpart in Tripoli, government spokesperson Mohamad Hamouda told Al-Ahrar, a satellite news channel.

Built on a 2019 border deal between Tripoli and Ankara, the energy exploration agreement signed last month angered Greece, Egypt and Greek Cyprus which argue that neither side has a right to drill in those areas.

The agreement contradicts Greece’s own expansive and unprecedented maritime boundary claims, under which islands would have huge exclusive economic zones, while Türkiye would be confined to the Gulf of Antalya.

The rival administration which holds sway in Benghazi also condemned the deal, insisting the Tripoli-based government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah no longer has the mandate to rule or sign international agreements.

The Libyan ministry said Dendias had been invited in response to a request from Athens, “despite (him) taking offensive positions... and making unbalanced statements about Libya’s sovereignty and its right to establish relations that meet the hopes of its people”.

After the signing of the hydrocarbons memorandum in October, Dendias said it “threatens stability and security” in the region.

“Ms. Mangoush tried to impose on me by her presence at the airport to meet with her. As a result, I interrupted the visit in Tripoli and we flew to Benghazi, where the schedule was followed,” the Greek minister said in the eastern city of Benghazi.

He also met members of the easternbased parliament, tweeting that he had thanked them for “their clear stance on condemning the Turkish-Libyan ‘memorandum’ in 2019 and the one signed in October”.

Later, Dendias met military strongman Haftar, for talks he said focused “on the need for Libya stabilization and promoting peace and stability in the wider region”, according to his Twitter account.

Libya, which has been mired in turmoil since the 2011 uprising that overthrew and killed dictator Moammar Gadhafi, has two rival administrations, in the country’s east and west.

Dbeibah was appointed as part of a United Nations-guided peace process following the last major battle in Libya in 2020. Tripoli’s troops, backed by Türkiye, pushed back Haftar’s forces, backed by Egypt and others, after their year-long attempt to capture the city.

The parliament and Haftar say Dbeibah’s mandate has expired, further complicating the country’s foreign relations as well as its domestic landscape.

Libya’s east-based parliament subsequently appointed a rival prime minister, Fathi Bashagha.

Meanwhile, Cairo and Athens have strengthened ties in recent years, including signing new maritime border agreements with Greek Cyprus.

Relations between Athens and Ankara in turn, have sharply declined, with undersea gas and oil exploration rights a key part of the dispute. Türkiye remains a prominent backer of Dbeibah.