DUBAI – A United Nations report accuses Blackwater founder Erik Prince of cooperating in violations of an international arms embargo against Libya, putting the military contractor at risk for UN sanctions, a diplomat who has access to the report said.
According to the report of the UN panel of experts overseeing the ban on arms transfers to Libya, companies controlled by Mr Prince have supplied three planes to assist in the dispatch of helicopters and military contractors to aid the Russian-backed Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar in 2019.
The plan to send Western mercenaries to Libya developed as foreign weapons and fighters poured into the country in 2019 and 2020 from a variety of outside powers, including Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, causing a conflict that has been ongoing since 2014, the diplomat reports.
According to the New York-based diplomat and a former official with knowledge of the situation, Mr. Prince is likely to be referred to the UN Sanctions Committee, which could order an asset freeze or a travel ban. Permanent members of the Security Council, including the US, Russia or China, could veto possible sanctions against Mr Prince, who has done business with all three countries.
“Erik Prince had absolutely nothing to do with an operation in Libya in 2019, or at any other time,” said a spokesman for Mr Prince in an email.