Libya's unity negotiations are in disarray after allegations that Saddam Haftar, son of Khalifa Haftar, oversaw drone attacks on fuel storage facilities and power stations in western Libya. The claims have upended plans for the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) to continue cooperating with his father on a plan to unify the country.

Drone attacks on western Libya's fuel facilities

The attacks at the centre of the allegations came in August, when, over more than five days, drones struck the Zawiya oil station and fuel storage facilities in western Libya. They hit the gasoline-storage tank at the Zawiya oil complex west of Tripoli, triggering a large fire and the collapse of the tank. Libya's National Oil Corporation said the tank held approximately 4.5 million litres of fuel when it was struck.

• •The August round of attacks worsened electricity blackouts in the west of the country.
• •The blackouts put intense popular pressure on the GNU led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.

September arrests and the alleged terror cell

The core allegation is that Saddam Haftar, deputy commander of the so-called Libyan National Army (LNA), oversaw a "terror cell" that launched the drone attacks on fuel storage facilities and power stations in western Libya. On 5 September, the GNU arrested three Libyans and one Spanish citizen in southern Tripoli over their alleged role in a plot that was intended to include an attack on Tripoli airport.

• •The whole group was thought to number five Spaniards and four Libyans.
• •The three arrested Libyans were allegedly affiliated with the Tareq ben Ziyad brigade, an LNA formation.
• •Sources in the GNU said the alleged plotters were working for Saddam Haftar.
• •The strikes were attributed to Khalifa Haftar's anger at Dbeibah apparently stalling on the Boulos merger plan, and to Tripoli allegedly encouraging tribes in southern Libya to attack and kill his forces.

The Boulos plan to unify Libya's governments

Since the fall of Col Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been split between an east dominated by Khalifa Haftar and a west governed by the GNU, leaving the oil-rich country at the mercy of corruption, militias, migrant traffickers and myriad external actors. Massad Boulos, Donald Trump's Africa adviser, has devised a plan to unify the two governments: Khalifa Haftar, from the east, would take the role of president, and a member of the Dbeibah family, from the west, would become prime minister.

The US increasingly regards Saddam Haftar as an important figure in its plans to unify Libyan security, judicial and political institutions, and information emerging from interviews about the plot has been described as a goldmine capable of weakening Khalifa Haftar. Boulos insisted he is not attempting a quick fix that entrenches family elites: "It's not about families or names". He added:

Elections track and the battle among Haftar's sons

The claims also damage the parallel UN-sponsored 4+4 talks involving Libya's four main political institutions, which produced an August agreement to stage elections within two years. That deal, endorsed by the UN Security Council, overcame previous obstacles to elections and was backed by the main actors capable of delivering change.

Walid Ellafi, minister of state for political affairs in the UN-backed GNU and an enthusiast for elections, said GNU support for the 4+4 process "is rooted in its role as a UN sponsored framework offering a new approach". He argued the framework should deliver institutions whose legitimacy derives from the will of the people rather than a political settlement that overlooks violations, and he opposes an elite east-west deal brushing aside longstanding grievances such as the displacement of 9,000 families in Benghazi during the 2014 war.

• •The sabotage allegations may intensify a power struggle between Khalifa Haftar's three sons in the east.
• •Saddam Haftar is seen as his father's most likely heir, possesses the most resources and enjoys the backing of the United Arab Emirates, and has so far dominated the political tracks.
• •His brothers Khaled and Belqasim, more allied with Egypt than the United Arab Emirates, have recently started to challenge his dominance.

GNU sources said no formal decision had been made on continuing cooperation with Saddam Haftar, but that in light of what had been discovered it had become impossible to work with him.