Tayeb el-Safi (Arabic الطيب الصافي; born 1954) is a Libyan political operative. He briefly served as Minister of Economy & Trade and was one of the closest aides of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during the Libyan Civil War.[1][2] In the 1980s, he had several international postings, primarily in Europe, at a time when many anti-Gaddafi dissidents were being assassinated extrajudicially abroad as a result of Gaddafi's "stray dog" policy.[3][4][5]
Biography
El-Safi is a native of Tobruk and later spent time in Tajura, where he caught the attention of Gaddafi.[3]
He was a shadowy figure who was virtually unknown by both Libyans and international observers until frequent communications between him and senior leadership of Gaddafi's government, including Gaddafi, Abdullah Senussi, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, and Baghdadi Mahmudi, were leaked by Al Jazeera in 2012.[2][6][7] El-Safi took a key role in attempting to put down the anti-Gaddafi opposition and orchestrated pro-Gaddafi propaganda and rallies. After the fall of Tripoli, El-Safi fled to Egypt. He was among an estimated 50,000 Gaddafi loyalists who fled to Egypt and among the most high-profile, along with Tohami Khaled, Ali Treki, and Ahmed Gaddaf al-Dam.[8] Despite the request of the National Transitional Council, he was not extradited for trial.[1]
In 2016, El-Safi returned to Libyan politics and aligned himself with Khalifa Haftar's Operation Dignity.[9] In April 2016, Haftar's Air Force head Fakir Jarroushi confirmed that El-Safi had returned to Libya and had a meeting with Haftar in Marj.[10] In November 2016, El-Safi publicly called for "comprehensive reconciliation" between the three rival governments in Libya and Gaddafi loyalists.[11] He also criticized the UN-sponsored Skhirat Agreement that created the Government of National Accord as lacking legitimacy and the GNA-appointed Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj as only having legality from international support rather than "legality from the Libyan people."
In June 2017, El-Safi claimed Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was released from prison due to a general amnesty and was with his family and tribe.[12]
In May 2018, prominent Gaddafi loyalists, including El-Safi, Abdul Majid al-Qa′ud, Mohamed Abu al-Qasim al-Zwai, Mustafa Zaidi, and Saleh Rajab, publicly organized a forum in Haftar-controlled Benghazi named "The Preparatory Forum for National Forces," where they announced their support for Haftar and claimed that they wanted to save Libya from "terrorism, chaos, and foreign intervention."[13]