SUDAN NEWS ALERT: The Globe and Mail - UN probing Montreal lobbying firm’s possible role in Sudanese troop deployment in Libya
Canada’s Globe and Mail reports that a UN panel is investigating whether Canadian lobbying firm Dickens & Madson played a “direct role” in the illegal deployment of about 1,000 Rapid Support Forces troops to reinforce Libyan general Khalifa Haftar’s assault on Tripoli.
According to the UN Panel of Experts on Libya, RSF arrived in Libya in July, in defiance of an international arms embargo. The Globe and Mail previously revealed that RSF commander Himedti signed a lobbying contract with Dickens & Madson, who would assist Himedti in obtaining funds from Haftar in exchange for military help.
Dickens & Madson leader Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli intelligence officer, denied the allegations. He added that the RSF contract aims to integrate RSF into “peacekeeping” forces in Africa after Sudan is removed from the US SST list, although the Globe and Mail note that there is no mention of this in the contract.