Interior Minister of the Government of National Accord Fathi Bashagha said the GNA does not oppose the setting up of an American base in Libya to counter Russia’s expanding influence in Africa. Bashagha told Bloomberg on Friday that the GNA had proposed hosting a base after US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper laid out plans to scale back the US military presence on the continent and re-focus deployments globally on confronting Russia and China. The minister said redeployment strategies by the US are not clear to Libyans, adding that the GNA hopes that the redeployment includes Libya so that “it does not leave space that Russia can exploit.” Bashagha said Russia’s backing of Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar was part of a “broader push for influence,” explaining that the Russians were not in Libya just for Haftar, but they have a “big strategy” in Libya and Africa.