Erik Prince Libya Contract: Privatizing UAE and Haftar’s Offensives
The legal system of a country is only successful when the severity of the penalty matches the severity of the crime conducted. Currently, there is zero cost for killing a human being in Libya, as per Hanan Salah, a senior Libya researcher for Human Rights Watch. Therefore, despite being named in several war crimes, including the shocking discovery of thousands of mass graves in Libya, the UAE-backed warlord Khalifa Haftar has remained free from international scrutiny and legal consequences for human rights violation Libya.
In an explosive exposé of the clandestine Erik Prince Libya operation, ugly details of the privatization of the Libyan civil war by the ill-famed mercenary contractor surfaced. The investigation revealed the illicit intervention of paid mercenaries in the Middle East nation, for the eradication of the internationally recognized Government of National Accord.
Unfolding the Web of Secret Libyan Operations
The plot sounds straight out of a movie scene, the only differences are unlawful civilian casualties are real, there isn’t a protagonist who saves everybody in the end, and most importantly, the end is nowhere in sight for years to come. Especially with international actors and mercenary contractors shaking hands with a brutal warlord like Khalifa Haftar, the end of human rights violation Libya is out of sight and question.
In fact, a top gun Australian fighter pilot of his days, former Flt. Lt. Christiaan Durrant enrolled himself in the war as a private mercenary for Opus — the private operation to topple GNA in Libya — and started working for the notorious former Navy SEAL and American mercenary contractor, Erik Prince.
Being a former fighter pilot, a daily dose of adrenaline was necessary for Durrant, which led to his increased interest in the mercenary job pitched to him by friend Erik Prince. When the bureaucracy-struck Durrant left the force in 2004, frustration led him to try different walks of life such as, flying jumbos for Qantas, joining an aviation consultancy, starting a tourism business and even becoming a farmer. However, nothing worked, until he met Erik Prince in UAE.
Prince is known for having ties with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed and serving as his defense advisor for almost a decade. The Emirati prince is also the deputy commander of the UAE armed forces that backs Khalifa Haftar’s army, LNA, in Libya.
Monkey, Marine and the Mercenary
In his 2012 autobiography, Durrant told how he kept himself motivated. He said, “there is a monkey on your back … He only eats danger, excitement and impossible feats. If he is not fed, he will whisper in your ear how little you are worth,” which further became the reason for Durrant to join team Erik Prince Haftar alliance.
It was the ‘monkey’ on his back that pushed Durrant to accept what the Erik Prince Libya contract offered him. The thirst for adrenaline and doing something dangerously impossible was the motivation behind joining a Libyan warlord like Khalifa Haftar’s army in conducting a coup against the opposition GNA, toppling their government.
In 2014, when Durrant began working for Erik Prince at the Frontier Services Group as an aviation specialist, he was also responsible for covertly helping him in the weaponization of Thrush crop dusters to be used as attack aircraft.
Unfortunately, two investigative journalists exposed the The Thrush project. Yet the professional relation shared by Durrant and Prince remained unproved as they had gone to lengths to ensure keeping them separate on paper. In one of his statements, Christiaan Durrant has even denied having any “business or financial relationship” with Prince.
The name Erik Prince has resonated multiple times in the world of political conspiracies and controversies. Four Corners revealed in its investigation Durrant’s alleged role, along with that of the two other Australian military men hired for Erik Prince Libya operation. The Australian military men and Durrant were all in breach of a UN arms embargo on Libya imposed to end violence in the country since the regime of Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011, leaving Libya leaderless.
Opus, the 2019 operation led by a shadowy group of mercenaries allegedly Prince’s Frontier Service Group and Durrant’s Lancaster6. FSG came into being after the mercenary contractor sold off Blackwater — his first military contracting firm. In early 2020, Blackwater mercenaries Libya offered Russia’s Wagner Group military support. However, the firm collapsed for violating US arms trafficking regulations, illicit killing and mismanagement.
However, Durrant never agreed upon the coalition, and said in his defense, “We don’t breach sanctions; we don’t deliver military services, we don’t carry guns, and we are not mercenaries.” He argued that the United Nations’ accusations were based on “false documents” to hold him accountable in the Erik Prince Libya operation, Opus.
Meanwhile, the UN assured that they were convinced of the credibility of the documents they based their allegations on. In fact, apart from the UN investigations, FBI also started investigating Erik Prince Libya operation overseen by the mercenary contractor. Durrant on the other hand, is asserted by the UN to be accomplice in the operation as the organizer and has thus, breached the arms embargo equally.
By early next year, the expert panel at UN will publicly deliver its final report of evidence providing the alleged Erik Prince Libya operation, Opus, and Durrant’s connection to it.
If proven in the Australian court, the allegations could lead to severe domestic implications for the citizens involved in the operation, i.e., up to 10 years of jail or a 500,000 USD fine for Durrant.
