Who is the Legitimate Voice for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)?

By Evan Kohlmann

In the past few weeks, a communique published by several exiled former leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) based in the United Kingdom has caused a bit of a stir in British media.

Those familiar with the LIFG will recall that in November 2007, Al-Qaida's As-Sahab Media Foundation released an audio recording featuring Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu al-Laith al-Liby to announce the official merger of the LIFG into the ranks of Al-Qaida. According to Zawahiri in the recording, "Honorable members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group have announced that they are joining the Al-Qaida organization in order to continue the march of their brothers... Your good sons are gathering [in the Maghreb] under the banner of Islam and jihad against America, France, Spain and their people... O' nation of jihad, support your sons so that we defeat our enemies and rid our homeland of their slaves." In the As-Sahab recording, Zawahiri's address was followed by a response from Abu al-Laith al-Liby--in which he confirmed, "We announce we are joining Al-Qaida as loyal soldiers."

Then, on July 3, a faction calling itself "the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group--Britain" distributed its own statement declaring it was cancelling the two-year-old LIFG partnership with Al-Qaida. The authors criticized Al-Qaida for "wrongful practices like random bombings, destroying private and public property, and targeting civilians" and announced its support for "the current dialogue between the group's [LIFG] leadership and the Libyan regime." (An English translation of this communique can be downloaded from the NEFA Foundation website)

How significant a development really is this? It is important to understand that there has been a nearly decade-long schism within the ranks of the LIFG itself, pitting political dissidents in Europe versus Afghan-based military commanders. The split occurred in 1996-1997, after the LIFG lost its safe haven in Sudan and suffered catastrophic losses during an internal crackdown within Libyan borders. At the time, the LIFG leadership decided “to save as many people as possible. Therefore, the order was given to the most important people to leave the country [Libya] immediately.” The cadres of the LIFG were tossed about like spores in the wind, fleeing “to various Asian, Persian Gulf, African, and European countries,” as well as to Afghanistan. Those who returned to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan included many of the LIFG's most hardline voices--those who were already considered persona-non-grata by moderate Arab regimes and Western European security services (such as Abu al-Laith al-Liby). For the same reason there have been understandable complaints about Abu al-Laith al-Liby making the unilateral decision to hand over the reins of the LIFG to Al-Qaida in 2001, one wonders to what degree the exiled LIFG politburo ensconced in the U.K. can now legitimately speak on behalf of distantly-affiliated Libyan mujahideen fighting on the ground in Afghanistan (and elsewhere). For that matter, can the LIFG even still be considered a single, viable organization -- or have the forces of globalization torn it to shreds?

I believe this is also what my colleague Thomas Hegghammer is alluding to when he opines that the media have delivered "a misrepresentation of what’s happening but I can see why people want to spin it that way."

For more background on the LIFG, see my NEFA Foundation report here. The NEFA Foundation has also obtained and translated several communiqués previously issued by the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) which shed light on the group’s historical relationship with Al-Qaida and the Taliban. In the wake of both the 1998 East Africa Embassy Bombings and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the LIFG leadership issued statements supporting their fellow mujahideen “brothers” and condemning the United States and its allies. Following punitive U.S. missile strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan for the August 1998 Al-Qaida bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the LIFG issued an official communiqué condemning “these barbaric strikes” and “announcing its support for Muslims in Sudan and Afghanistan… Simultaneously, we would also like to present some facts to the Islamic nation, in order to prove that America is not only the enemy of the Mujahid Shaykh Usama Bin Laden and Islamist movements, but rather the enemy of the entire Islamic nation… The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group calls upon Muslims to confront this American aggression in order to give the proper response to this bellicose attack against the people of this Islamic nation.” Likewise, in reaction to the American invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the LIFG released a fatwah from Shaykh Hassan Qaid ruling that, “by declaring war against the Muslims and occupying their countries, the United States of America has made its interests all across the world into legitimate targets for the mujahideen. They should bomb and demolish them with any means available. Those interests include military, economic, social, embassies, cultural centers, tourists, or any individuals in any place upon earth.”