The son of the de facto ruler of eastern Libya, Gen. Khalifa Haftar, on Wednesday paid a previously unannounced visit to president of the ethnic Greek community of Benghazi, seen as an effort to defuse a diplomatic “snub” this week involving an EU delegation.

EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Asylum Magnus Brunner, who was accompanied by relevant ministers of Italy, Malta and Greece, i.e. Thanos Plevris, was hastily ordered to leave Benghazi on Tuesday. The leadership of the Libyan House of Representatives, which is based in the eastern port city, reportedly took offense to the delegation first visiting Tripoli for talks with the internationally recognized Government of National Unity (GNU).
Two days later, Field Marshal Haftar’s eldest son, Al-Sadiq Haftar, arrived at the home of Kanakis Mandalios, the father of two adult children, Angela and Filippos, who with another three members of a Greek aid delegation, lost their lives in Libya in a traffic accident in September 2023.

The Greek delegation was working deliver relief aid in the wake of the deadly Derna flooding that struck the region.

Al-Sadiq Haftar, a top adviser to his father, also met recently with visiting Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis.

The meeting was widely covered by local media, with television crews on hand, and with the younger Hafter warming referring to Greece’s humanitarian aid during the catastrophic flooding. According to other reports, he also conveyed a message that the “cold shoulder” to the EU delegation a day earlier was not aimed at Athens.

The younger Haftar presented Mandalios with a special proclamation issued by his father, Gen. Haftar in his capacity as the head of the armed forces, and a plaque honoring the latter’s two adult children.

Greece’s interest in Libya has been significantly piqued since 2019, when the Triipoli-based GNU signed a controversial maritime MoU with Turkey to delimitate Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) between them – in the process “erasing” all Greek island territory, include Crete, in between the two disparate states.

More recently, eastern Libya has seen migrant-smuggling gangs launching migrant boats filled with third country nationals towards Greek waters.

In terms of Tuesday’s “incident”, Greek media a day later said the EU delegation led by Brunner declined to meet with the entire Libyan House of Representatives, but only with Gen. Haftar, and after having held official contacts in Tripoli. The same reports had Haftar balking at the prospect and ordering the delegation’s members to immediately depart from Benghazi airport.