Tripoli, 2 April 2013:
Libya is considering an agreement with Serbia for the training of members of the armed forces in Serbia. . . .[restrict]The Belgrade newspaper Politika reported Deputy Defence Minister Khalid Al-Sharif on a visit to that country, that he believed a deal was imminent.
“We believe that this agreement will be signed very soon” the paper quoted Sharif as saying, “We already have a draft agreement, and we will form a joint technical commission immediately after that, and then start with the realisation of big deals. We are waiting for Serbia to send its defence attaché to Tripoli.”
The deputy minister could not be contacted this evening for to comment on the Serbian report.
However relations with Serbia were not easy during the revolution, when Serbian, as well as Croatian and Ukrainian mercenaries were allegedly captured fighting with Qaddafi’s forces. These reports were never substantiated. Likewise, it was reported, but never confirmed, that a group of Serb fighters was taken prisoner in a security building in Misrata, then shot summarily.
The government in Belgrade denied at the time that any past or serving members of its armed forces had been fighting for Qaddafi. [/restrict]
