Khalifa Haftar

**Khalifa Belqasim Haftar** (November 7, 1980 -) was a Libyan and then later Arab politician and soldier who served as Governor of the Shanghai Pact Administrative Zone in Africa from June 10, 2038 onwards, having previously held office as the second and final president of the United Arab Republic from November 2035 until April 2036. Additionally, Haftar served as vice president of the United Arab Republic from August 2031 until November 2035.

Haftar was born in Ajdabiya, and was a member of the Firjan tribe. He studied at al-Huda School in Ajdabiya in 1990 and then moved to Derna to obtain his secondary education between 1998 and 2001. He joined the Benghazi Military University Academy (also known as Benghazi Royal Military College) on 16 September 2001 and graduated from there in 2003. Haftar later pursued further military training in Egypt and was stationed with the artillery corps. In 2005, Haftar was commissioned into the Libyan armed forces and rose through the ranks to become a senior leader. With the 2031 formation of the United Arab Republic, Haftar was appointed vice president and head of the Arab armed forces under the government of President Kais Saied. During the Conquest of Africa, Haftar proclaimed martial law in the UAR state of Libya in response to an invasion from the Bovido Imperium in early 2035, and personally led the Arab armed forces in the defence of his home state; however, by October 2035, Haftar had transferred his command to an undisclosed part of the republic and delegated his military duties in Libya to subordinates.

Following the death of President Kais Saied during the decimation of Tunis in November 2035, Khalifa Haftar proclaimed himself as president of the United Arab Republic. However, with Saied's death and the encroaching Bovido Imperium having conquered much of Libya, very few of the regions of the UAR remained loyal to the nominal government - in a last bid to form his own polity in northwest Libya, Haftar gathered regional defence forces in the city of Tripoli and sought to established a defendable perimeter around the city. On April 10, 2036, President Khalifa Haftar fled Tripoli with the aid of the Shanghai Pact and went into exile in Persia; following Haftar's departure, the United Arab Republic surrendered to the Bovido Imperium and dissolved itself. From April 2036 until July 2037, Haftar continued to claim the role of president of the United Arab Republic in exile and formed a dedicated personal office to assist his claim, before renouncing the claim in 2037 after being appointed as a major general within the Shanghai Pact.

In July 2037, Khalifa Haftar was appointed as the leader of a military division within the Shanghai Pact and was tasked with formulating plans for a potential land-based invasion of Bovido territories in northern Africa. In September 2037, these plans were put into force with the official designation of Operation Safeguard, with Haftar being granted command over the overall Shanghai Pact task force. Between September and October 2037, thousands of soldiers from across the organisation arrived in the Shanghai Pact Administrative Zone in Africa in preparation for the assault, which launched on October 1, 2037. Following several initial successes, the taskforce liberated Libya and Tunisia in May 2038, partnered with several successful conquests in the Sahara region. In May 2038, Haftar travelled to Beijing for a meeting with Libirachi empress Penny Fox and president Karyn Voor, before holding a follow-up meeting with Empress Fox, Persian president Hassen Ahmed, and Shanghai Pact secretary general Geena Kulmuni in June 2038. Following the meeting, Haftar was appointed as governor of the Shanghai Pact Administrative Zone in Africa, replacing commissioner Gwen Ranol as the administrative zone's leader.