Sudan denies arming Libyan militants

Sudan has hit back at allegations that it is secretly arming militants in Libya. These allegations arose after Libyan National Army’s spokesman, Mohamed Hijazi, told the Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath television channel on 7 June that “a suspicious plane carrying weapons landed at the Mitiga air base” on 5 June.

Although Hijazi asserted that he did not want to accuse the government in Khartoum or the people of Sudan directly, he made it clear that this was where the suspicion lay. He also claimed that this was not the first time that weapons meant for Islamist militants had arrived in Libya in this way, and hinted that Sudan had previously sent several such cargoes without the knowledge of the Libyan authorities.

The LNA spokesman claimed that over the past three years the Mitiga airport which is one of the main bases for militant Islamist brigades operating in Tripoli, had received some 270 weapons cargos that were channelled to extremist elements. He claims, however, prompted an official in the Sudanese Presidency to publicly deny the accusations.

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