The Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya (PFLL; ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير ليبيا) is a
Gaddafi loyalist militia and
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
that aims to elect
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi ( ar, سيف الإسلام معمر القذافي; born 25 June 1972) is a Libyan political figure. He is the second son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife Safia Farkash. He was a p ...
, son of the late Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi, as president of Libya.
Aims and ideology
The PFLL follows a
Gaddafi loyalist agenda.
The party maintains that the
First Libyan Civil War
The First Libyan Civil War was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were seeking to oust his government. It erupted with the Libya ...
was the result of a conspiracy against Libya.
It holds a negative view of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
and
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
, which played a large role in overthrowing Gaddafi during the
2011 intervention. Its stated aim is to build a sovereign state and "liberate the country from the control of terrorist organizations that use religion as a cover and are funded by foreign agencies." It has run advertisements opposing
Turkish military intervention in the Second Libyan Civil War as well as the presidency of
Fayez al-Sarraj
Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj ( ar, فائز السراج or ; born 20 February 1960) is a Libyan politician who served as the Chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya and Head of Government of the Government of National Accord from 2016 to 2021 ...
. It opposes normalizing relations with Israel.
Timeline of activities
* 26 December 2016: the PFLL was founded.
* October 2017: the PFLL was defeated in clashes with the
Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade
The Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade or Free Tripoli Guardian was a unit of the National Liberation Army of Libya created during the Libyan Civil War that merged into the Tripoli Protection Force. Originally formed in April 2011 in the opposition ...
,
leading to the arrest of the military leader, Al-Mabrouk Ehnish, on the 16th.
* March 2018:
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi ( ar, سيف الإسلام معمر القذافي; born 25 June 1972) is a Libyan political figure. He is the second son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife Safia Farkash. He was a p ...
announced his intention to run in the
2019 Libyan general election under the PFLL.
* 6 July 2019: it was reported that the PFLL had joined the
Libyan National Army
The Libyan National Army (LNA; ar, الجيش الوطني الليبي, ''al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii'') is a component of Libya's military forces which were nominally a unified national force under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa ...
in the
2019 Western Libya offensive
The Western Libya campaign was a military campaign initiated on 4 April 2019 by the Operation Flood of Dignity ( ar, عملية طوفان الكرامة) of the Libyan National Army, which represents the Libyan House of Representatives, to capt ...
.
* 30 September 2019: the coordinator of the group's Ajdabiya branch, Ahmed Abdel Mawla, held a speech wherein he praised the Libyan National Army's advances against anti-LNA factions, re-affirmed the PFLL's support for Saif and denounced the 2011 uprising as a Turkish-Qatari conspiracy. He stated that "Since the conspiracy erupted in 2011, we see what happened in the homeland of the violation of sovereignty, and the loss of its political decision, and here we urge and stress that we all join together and all loyal to fight terrorism and uproot from the roots, these guilty of this era of heretical terrorists who destroyed the country, They destroyed everything."
* 3 November 2019: PFLL members held a demonstration in
Bani Walid, waving flags reminiscent of the
green flag used during the reign of Muammar Gaddafi.
* 2020: In this year, the party was intended to be replaced by a new party titled Libya Tomorrow (Arabic: ''Libya Al-Ghad''), though these plans did not bear fruit.
* 7 February 2020: the PFLL held a panel discussion in Tunisia, titled "Tunisia's role in resolving the Libyan crisis between foreign interventions and the depth of belonging", wherein party members discussed the security situation in Libya in light of the civil war and the proliferation of arms carriers, as well as fears of foreign military intervention in Libya, which would further complicate the situation, according to participants. The panel was attended by a number of Tunisian political parties.
*7 November 2020: the PFLL announced that it rejected the legitimacy of the
Libyan Political Dialogue Forum.
*31 July 2021: Saad al-Senussi al-Barasi, a PFLL leader, responded to an enquiry by ''
Asharq Al-Awsat
''Asharq Al-Awsat'' ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, Aš-Šarq al-ʾAwsaṭ, meaning "The Middle East") is an Arabic international newspaper headquartered in London. A pioneer of the "off-shore" model in the Arabic press, the paper is often noted ...
'' regarding circulated photos of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. He described the photos as authentic, and sceptics as "enemies of the nation, and those who cling to power."
*12 August 2022: Othman Barka, a representative of the PFLL in Egypt, stated he was in regular contact with Saif Gaddafi.
References
External links
Official websiteFounding Declaration of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya
2016 establishments in Libya
Political parties established in 2016
Political parties in Libya
Rebel groups in Libya
Second Libyan Civil War
Socialist parties in Libya
{{Libya-party-stub