“Saddam Haftar’s” promotion to the rank of “Lieutenant General”… Does it carry political and military implications, distort the image of an “organized army”, and pave the way for a military coup?

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Libyan Center for Security and Military Studies

The military institution is a sovereign entity with its own regulations, laws, and traditions. It serves as an example of discipline, seriousness, and the fight against chaos. Any violations or breaches of these laws and regulations cause crises, loss of trust, and damage to the image of the military institution, which is responsible for providing security and safety to the country and its people. Any laxity in punishing those who break military laws tarnishes the image of the disciplined soldier, negatively impacting their role in protecting the nation’s security.

One of the most significant issues that has seen violations and breaches of military norms and explicit violations of military law is promotions and the granting of ranks within the military institution in Libya, both in the east, represented by the forces of the General Command, and in the west, within the Chiefs of Staff under the government and the armed groups affiliated with it.

The crisis of promotions is represented in granting them to undeserving individuals, either by not going through the stages specified by the promotion law with its numerous well-known articles, or by the individual receiving the promotion under “militia” pressure, influence, or as an attempt by governments to neutralize or gain loyalty, or by granting these promotions for political objectives and personal projects to secure control and influence. In other words, promotions are granted to those who are trusted and closely connected, not to those who are capable and competent.

“Promotions that Disfigure the Military Institution”

Given that we at the Libyan Center for Security and Military Studies give special and precise attention to the military institution, as we see that undermining this institution and its role is one of the greatest threats to national security, we have presented several papers on the rebuilding of the military institution in Libya in line with the strategies of global, regional, and Arab military powers. We have addressed the crisis of promotions and ranks in several papers, including one titled “Military Ranks and Exceptional Promotions… and the Challenges of Building a Unified Libyan Army in a Regionally Divided Society,” published on our official pages on December 20, 2023. In this paper, we emphasized that Libya is experiencing a military and political conflict, with many high-ranking positions and ranks within the military institution negatively affecting the Libyan military institution, in a scene Libya had not witnessed before 2011. These positions and ranks are outside the organizational structures and professional norms, burdening the Libyan state’s financial budgets due to the strong privileges granted to these positions, which come through political elites without deserving qualifications, but rather through nepotism and favoritism. To this, we add “kinship, family ties, a love for control and influence, and ensuring blind and direct loyalty.”

We confirmed in the paper, which can be fully accessed through our platforms, that “one of the greatest tragedies in post-2011 Libya is the issue of military ranks and exceptional promotions granted to undeserving individuals, causing a range of negative phenomena that affect the rebuilding of a professional, unified Libyan army that maintains Libyan national security and borders. We add that such steps, taken without study or hierarchy, disfigure and weaken the military institution, leading to instances of chaos and even coups within it, as the veteran ranks see themselves being bypassed in favor of individuals who are new to the military institution, rapidly promoted to the highest military ranks such as ‘General,’ causing resentment, chaos, and loss of trust.”

Thus,

We consider the unstudied promotion decisions in both the east and west, which are made to buy loyalties and provide protection and are granted to trusted individuals, while bypassing those who are competent, to be systematic steps to disfigure the military institution, emptying it of its substance in favor of young leaders who have never fought a real war. This means weakened performance, which results in a threat to the national security of the country, its borders, and its sovereignty, as these young leaders, lacking negotiation or military experience, can be manipulated by external or internal parties. Not to mention the suppressed anger these promotions leave in the hearts and minds of veteran fighters and leaders, leading to the internal disintegration of the army and the expectation of its collapse at the first opportunity for the founding fathers to revolt against the young officers who hold high ranks and medals. This makes the army always susceptible to chaos and division, turning it into armed groups with different loyalties, lacking loyalty to God and the nation, as is the military doctrine—meaning we are facing a dilapidated project that could explode at any moment.

In fact, the recent promotions, especially what “Saddam Haftar” received in the rank of General, make us anticipate some scenarios concerning the military institution, including the formation of a military council that Haftar could convince soldiers in western Libya to accept and join, which means the country would fall under tight military rule, ending the democratic experiment, or military coups occurring within the army institution in the east or west, leading to chaos, security collapse, and the failure to secure borders, or a return to fighting and clashes between the two military camps in the east and west.

Therefore, the Libyan Center for Security and Military Studies recommends that the Presidential Council, as the “Supreme Commander of the Army,” as well as Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, should take into account the military laws and their provisions, especially in the area of promotions and military ranks. Haftar should reconsider his decisions to grant promotions to his sons and the impact of this on the unity of the army and its national image. We also recommend that the 5+5 Military Committee should discuss the issue of promotions and military ranks, as the “10” members are leaders and sons of the military institution, and they are the most knowledgeable about the dangers of promoting the unqualified and undeserving. Therefore, both sides of the committee should provide recommendations and advice to their leaders on the need to review the issue of promotions and military ranks, as it might be an opportunity and a step toward building a real army, with real tools and leaders, where loyalty is first to God and then to the nation, reassuring the citizen that there is an army that protects his borders and resources, not one that protects individuals and leaders.

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