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Subscribe to RSSWhat are mercenaries doing in Libya and what is their connection to Moammar Gadhafi?
Given the near media blackout in cities like Tripoli, reports are hard to confirm, but eyewitnesses say they have seen black, French-speaking mercenaries reportedly from countries as diverse as Chad, Niger, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Suhaib Salem / Reuters
Suspected African mercenaries held by anti-government protesters stand in a room at a courthouse in Benghazi on Friday.
Ali Al-Essawi, the former Libyan ambassador to India who resigned in protest over the reported violence, told Al Jazeera English about reports he heard about the use of mercenaries. “They are black Africans and they don't speak Arabic. They are foreigners, doing terrible things. They are going to houses where there are children and women and killing them.” Al-Essawi spoke to Al Jazeera in New Delhi and said he could not possibly return to Libya at the moment, out of fears for his safety.
Jose Luis Gomez del Prado, chairman of the U.N. Working Group on the use of mercenaries, said he has received reports from both journalists and non-governmental organizations in Libya that “mercenaries – foreign private forces – have been recruited by Col. Gadhafi to repress the peaceful demonstrations of the people in Libya.”
But how does one go about employing a small army of mercenaries?
Given Gadhafi’s 40-year rule of Libya and his history of pan-Africanism, he has longstanding relationships with the continent’s leaders, rebels, and would likely have ready access to a deep pool of would-be mercenaries.
Pan-Africanism
Listening to his recent ramblings on state radio about how al-Qaida was spiking teenagers’ Nescafe, it’s hard to remember that at one time Gadhafi won acclaim in the region for his efforts toward closer co-operation between the Arab world and sub-Saharan Africa. For several years, he proposed a “United States of Africa” (which would have conveniently shared the U.S.A. abbreviation with the United States).
His idea was for a continent-wide government with a single currency, a single passport for Africans that would allow them to move around more freely, and even a single military, an African Legion, based on the idea of the French Foreign Legion. The idea never took off, but given his nation’s oil wealth, he remained highly influential.
“You have to understand something: Gadhafi is the only Arabic leader who had an African policy. So he spent over 30 years getting involved in African affairs, being in touch with all the African governments and all the Africa rebels,” said Thierry Vircoulon, Central African project director for the International Crisis Group based in Nairobi.
Vircoulon explained Gadhafi long history of supporting of foreign militaries. “The Libyan regime used to be a training area for a lot of rebel groups in the Sahel region,” referring to the geographic region in North Africa.
“He has got a huge network of contacts across the continent…so that’s the reason why you have all these people who were actually very used to flying to Libya to get a bit of money and [go] back to their country. Even Nelson Mandela flew to Libya to get money in 1994.”
Vircoulon said that the idea of mercenaries from Chad, Mali, Niger would seem, “geographically and politically normal and explainable.” But he called the idea of Congolese mercenaries in Libya “far-fetched.”
Patrick Kovarik / AFP - Getty Images
Click on the photo above to see a slideshow of the life and times of Libya's mercurial and flamboyant leader Moammar Gadhafi.
“Congolese are not known to be very efficient soldiers or fighters. I’m not even sure there is such a thing as Congolese mercenaries on the market.”
Big market for mercenaries
Del Prado, from the U.N. committee on mercenaries, explained that the world market for “guns for hire” is robust – particularly given the privatization of warfare.
“You have plenty of ex-combatants…former military, former paramilitaries, former employees of private military and security companies that are unemployed, and ready to go anywhere,” del Prado explained. “You have a lot of people who are ready to go and fight for money.”
Del Prado noted that mercenaries are easy to come by via shady, fictitious companies on the Internet. But Vircoulon did not think that Gadhafi would have to rely on outside companies to hire the foreign fighters.
“I think it’s all the contacts that he had and that his security services had with those African rebel groups. That’s enough actually,” said Vircoulon, adding, “it shows clearly the very deep link between the Libyan government and indeed the rest of Africa.”
Del Prado noted that South Africans are a big contingent of the mercenary market. “After the apartheid regime finished, they dumped to the market many foreign military and policemen – and they are still there. They are still fighting in different private security companies in Iraq, or everywhere.”
While South Africans mercenaries had not been mentioned among the litany of foreign fighters in Libya, Vircoulon doubted they would be there given Gadhafi’s past support of the anti-apartheid movement.
“It would be very weird that a Muslim leader like him would link up with some white Christian South African mercenaries,” said Vircoulon. “It doesn’t seem very natural. The other African people seem very natural. But some white, former South African Special Forces in Libya? Well it seems unlikely.”
‘It’s creepy’
Of course, the fear of foreign mercenaries in any conflict situation is that they would be extremely harsh and show no mercy toward civilians. They would also be less likely to hesitate shooting on people with whom they share no cultural or tribal affiliation.
“It’s creepy,” said John Campbell, the Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies. “If you talk about using mercenaries, at least I tend to assume, that they are going to show less restraint firing on people than say the Egyptian forces did with respect to Egyptians.”
Del Prado said that one of main problems with mercenaries is the fact that there is “no accountability,” their only goal is profit. He speculated that Gadhafi is probably down to a core group of foreign fighters defending him.
“There are some army forces who have just abandoned Gadhafi because it is very hard to kill your brothers,” said del Prado. “Whereas if you are a foreigner and you have been recruited as a private soldier, you don’t have anything to lose. Except if Gadhafi doesn’t win, you will lose your job and your money.”
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How about an ultimatum: using Gaddafi's frozen assets to offer mercenaries money and a way home or prosecution as war criminals, jail or execution? Even if they wanted to give up, there is no place for them to go. If the mercenaries were to leave, Gaddafi would fall.
Better we find some special forces unit send them in and inialte the problem, here is a man who doesn't deserve to live, and who sadly seems to have raised an entire family who believe the same as he does. The lybians need freedom, they deserve it, and the mad man who is their dictator simply will go down fighting to control his losses.
Excellent idea. It would also be nice if African Union troops were to seal off Libya to keep these hired guns out. It would be delicious irony to have the original proponent of pan-Africanism brought down by a pan-African force.
I like that idea. The problem will be implementation. Things are happening too fast.
I like that idea too. As far as the implementation, and a quick one, it could be announced publicly that Gaddafi's assets are frozen and will be given (by whoever controls them) to the mercenaries, along with amnesty, if they turn on Gaddafi. I've read the reports of how paranoid he is, imagine what that would do to his mind? Instilling that " Oh my God, what if they actually do it?" fear into him and his boys. His paranoia would be the start of it, followed by the icing on the cake if the mercenaries actually took the deal and turned on him. Better worth a try than the U.N. sanctions pap
I wonder how much he is paying.
One fighter attempting to enter the country had a chek for 15,000 dinars in his possesion. That would amount to about 12,000 US dollars. No way to know for what length of time this would have been for.
...And if you are a mercenary, you'll likely lose your life if captured.
A Mercenary doesn't get caught, the death they face is an incentive to die fighting or shoot yourself.
These mercernaries should be shot to death. No mercy for criminals.
Very civilized attitude.
Is Gadhafi, Howard Stern's brother? He looks just like him.
I don't care how much he is paying I'd not work for him, however if the Libyan rebles want a hand...
There are disadvantages to using mercenaries for your defense. As the article states, a merc's loyalties are to money, not ideaology. Macchiavelli was in favor of volunteer, citizen soldiers for exactly this reason, as they were unlikely to be bought. The rebels are in control of the majority of Libiya now, including it's resources and assets. They could undermine the remnants of Ghadaffi's regime by paying his mercs to betray him.
Very bad eye lift.
You misspelled mercenaries. It's correctly spelled "security contractors". At least that's how the US spells it.
Exactly.
Killer Gaddafi turned Libya into a safe haven for assassins and terrorists from all over the world. The self-confessed assassins of the founding father of Bangladesh were allowed to stay in Libya and shuttle back and forth between Saudi Arabia and Libya, given millions of dollars to set up businesses in the Arab world and Bangladesh. One of the assassins, a retired colonel in the Bangladesh Army, Colonel Farukh ( hanged recently in Dhaka) along with several other assassins who were given arms and money in the eighties to raise a terrorist political party called the Freedom Party in Bangladesh preaching so called pan islamism. The terrorist Freedom Party activists openly carried axes and cutlasses in their processions during military dictatorial periods to scare and keep at bay secular progressive parties.
Saudi Arabia is also another country that refuses to hand over these assassins to the Bangladesh government for their execution. Saudi Arabia also gives billions of dollars through banking operations and hard cash in petrodolars to the Jamaat-e-Islami party well known for their role in the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh along with the Pakistani military has close links with the assassins and terrorist Islamic fundamentalist parties and the major opposition party. Saudi Arabia is the biggest obstacle to the war crimes trial of war criminals of 1971. It threatens economic sanctions against Bangladesh if war criminal Golam Azam and his aides in 1971 are tried by the government.
Very reliable sources have confirmed recently that another assassin Colonel Rashid has fled to Saudi Arabia from Libya fearing for his life in the hands of freed Libyans once they move in to Tripoli to bludgeon the mercenaries and assassins hired and trained by the killer Gaddafi regime and his family.
The world should immediately send troops to Libya and free Libya from Gaddafi's ongoing massacre and carnage. He is a madman with murderous intent. The hypocrisy of the West has allowed this rabid demagogue of 42 years to believe in the false belief of being a messiah! He must be taken out as soon as possible and his terrorist regime tried for crimes against humanity.
Well said and totally in agreement with you. First, Start with a no-fly zone and second, take out all of Gadaffi's military/mercenary installations. There is no need for any US or other troops on the ground. The rest, I am sure, the newly freed Libyan army (rebels) will take care of.
Yes, Angry Guy, the mercenaries must be Black Water Co. our ex-VP got another contract.
I doubt Blackwater would want to muck into Libya (Blackwater is now Xe, but they don't deserve to be recognized differently, just as Altria Group is just Philip Morris in disguise). Xe was bought out by some mysterious investment group, USTC Holdings, which doesn't even have a website.
That's either good (meaning that secret investors want to stay secret, and won't take controversial contracts) or bad (because a secret investor is able to avoid oversight and do all sorts of evil things)
Is it just me, or does he look and act just like Jim Jones?
Good point, there are definitely similarities.
These are people used to making $5 a month legally. Where the heck do you think they get them?
And finally blackwater mercenaries have a job where they have some experience, shooting into crowds of people. Great job. I tell you kadafi reminds me soooo much when we were being led by the gop, birthers, & tea party. Being led by the rich & powerful. The mister common man obama takes over and send blackwater packing. And they now show up again by kadafi's side. The guy who sends his air force jets to strafing protesting crowds.
There are no white mercenaries in Libya, there are plenty of mercenaries in Africa with combat experience. No White man would want to be involved in the Middle East as a Mercenary.
Does that include Chechen rebels / mercs too?,..
The exports of Libya are numerous in amount. One thing they export is corn, or as the Indians call it, "maize". Another famous Indian was Crazy Horse. In conclusion, Libya is a land of contrast. Thank you.
The Chewbacca defense. A classic, sir.
The most reasonable post I've seen in days.
Gadhifi cannot possibly be paying these mercinaries with Liberian currency. I doubt that they would take it and I doubt that they come cheap - after all how many mercinaries do you need to put down a nation wide revolt. That is a lot of money and a lot of mercinaries. If we had a strong president, who acted instead of making useless speeks, he would get the international community to freeze Gadhfi's funds. His funds are certainly not in Libia. They all seem to hate him as much as we do. So why don't we unify and cut off Gadhfi's funds and there go the mercinaries and Gadhifi. I think it's a very obvious and viable idea but the idiot on Pennsylvania Ave. is to busy listening to Motown, at taxpayers' expense, and has no idea what is going on or how to deal with it.
what a surprise this is. the vast intellectual community that is the teabagger movement has found a way to place the blame for a foreign crisis squarely on obama. at least hes not wasting billions in tax money to send in the troops like a GOP admin probably would
Not yet,.. but as Secretary of State Clinton said,.. 'All options are on the table,..'
Gil, maybe you ought to become his (Obomas) personal advisor.
You sir are a fool!~
Mercenries in war are oportunists. they have no soul. they sold it along time ago. especially these mercenaries fighting for that Satan in Libya.
Mercanaries are some of the worst scum this world has to offer. They are down there with child molestors, rapists and murderers. Every and any mercenary should be hunted down and executed like the dogs they are. They have no allegiance and shed blood for money..Being a mercenary should be qualified as being a child molestor, rapist, muderer, thief all rolled into one. Treat them as such.
Gadhafi is a mercenary of his sick, rotted for money mind!
Moammar Gadhafi is a despot, demented moron, and murderer -- an international shame for the 21st century -- and should be executed quickly by Libya’s armed forces even for the sake of saving their skins if not solely to save Libyan lives, while at the same time taking over and installing a temporary military government that over a period of 2 years could bring things back to normal, including oil flows. Needless to say, in the process, the armed forces there should be purged of any of Gadhafi´s cronies so that the "revolution" continues to the benefit of the Libyan population.
The only political system that will last forever so to speak will be a western style-type democracy. Apparently this truth has been realized by a whole new generation of Libyans educated within and outside of that country. The internet has helped bridge the technological gap and to come to full realization that their young lives were meaningless and had no future with a corrupt animal like Gadhafi in power.
However, Libyans will not have freedom and dignity for a long time. They have to work at it, together with their armed forces that must see their role as only temporary -- 2 years -- until the country´s new institutional basis is set up so that political parties can prosper in peace and without fear. Once this is achieved, elections must be convened so that regional-party political representatives can be elected nationwide with a view to integrating a National Assembly to draft a new Constitution for the country. This would be the beginning of a new future for the Libyan population. Meanwhile, if captured alive, the military government should prosecute Gadhafi so that the death penalty can be brought to bear on this god forsaken animal. His own and family assets, in general, should be confiscated in Libya as well as outside of the country. But more than anything, the world must congratulate the Libyan population for having acted with such courage, with their hearts and minds, to try to topple a ruthless and corrupt regime from the face of the earth.
Needless to say many more countries will follow, not only in the Middle East but also in Latin America, especially in the case of those with presidential lunatics trying to emulate the Cuban political system which under the noses of the USA and the rest of the Americas has failed miserably.
In general, the combination of authoritarian rule, high unemployment, poor opportunities for social advancement, demographic youth bulges, low public investment in education and health and other public services, and anger at high levels of corruption in the Middle East and North Africa, and in Latin America, will prompt public uprisings that will topple their leaders.
The UN´s Security Council should give its mandate for NATO to intervene, otherwise the slaughter will continue and thousands more Libyans will be assassinated without reason, except to want to live in democracy and in peace. It is estimated that at least ten thousand Libyans have been killed already. And, what about the arsenal of chemical and biological weapons that Gadhafi has at his disposal? Will he use them to kill even more human beings?, or perhaps contaminate the Libyan oil fields? The West must make peace with the people of Libya now! The WORLD must intervene now! Later will be too late.
Thank you "German", it is obvious from your writing that you know something about "Libya and the "Satan" of Libya, Gadaffi. This man will not leave peacefully and he will fight with everything he has and will definitly use any means of destruction possible against his own people and against the world to preserve his regime. As a Libyan-American I will describe him as a cancer that the sooner it's destroyed the better. US help is urgently needed in imposing a no-fly zone and in the surgical bombings of Gadaffi's military camps. The rest has to be done by the Libyans themselves.
Winsettz is right about Blackwater being XE now. It was a simple name change caused by a high ranking Blackwater Official who was a Christian fanatic who found a handfull of like minded individuals among their ranks . They would "hunt" Muslims at night using non-private security weapons . Thank God they were eventualy caught and many are now serving long prison terms. That got Blackwater banned from Iraq. So a name change that was just a symbol because the majority of Blackwater's employees are now working for Xe. Personaly I hate Blackwater. They gave a bad name to legitimate Private Contract Security Officers. I know this first hand because I was offered a position as a Private Contract Federal Security Officer after Katrina and Rita hit (Rita seems to be the forgotten hurricane). I spent nearly five months in Louisiana doing various assignments . Our main goal when we tasked up was to provide security for all American Red Cross Volunteers 24hrs a day. We reported to FPS (Federal Protection Service) Homeland Security's private police force. The company I worked for had many restrictions on us and fired anyone not following protocol. An example was while under contract no alcohol consumption at all. Seen many of our people sent home for having a beer. It was called "The ARC Campaign but branched out to provoding protection for any federal entity. We provided security for FEMA and even a corrupt Salvation Army in Lake Charles that was disbursing money to Rita victims . That made them a Federal site. We were legit but any article online about Blackwater always included WSI , the company I worked for. Blackwater was our nemisis going after federal contracts because they had an in with Gov. Blanco. They provided bodyguard services to her and her key people. We only did federal security while Blackwater did some federal contracts but mostly private jobs such as guarding Mansions and Corporate buildings for the very wealthy. They did a few dirty deeds down there . My point is there are some albeit a few legitamate private security contractors. These Mercs in Libya are not highly trained and have no morals or respect for human life at all. Gadhafi should be targeted by some blackbag operative and eliminated . One less monster in the world.
It's a long jump in logic associating security firms performing legimtate US govt contracts, FEMA and the Red Cross to hired African guns in Sub-Sahara Affirca,.. but suit yourself,..
FEMA is a front for aliens, didn't you know?
I don't think the majority of these people are professional mercs...it seems it is a combination of left overs from civil wars in Africa, special forces from countries friendly to Gadaffi (Chad, Niger, and others) and also white prof. mercs/or elite units from Serbia and Ukraine. This is according to Libyan sources but not confirmed.
Libyan LEader Gadhafi having a nice time with his bodyguards as seen in
A bad ruler in worst scenario ever...
Libyan LEader Gadhafi having a nice time with his bodyguards as seen in
A bad ruler in worst scenario ever...
to GIL 2872519
People like you alway talk a good game, but when it come's down to you stepping up.
Everyone know's what you are, here kitty kitty kitty. and this is not sarcasum just the truth.
These mercs are truly "Dogs of War"killing without just cause is an abomination.
Send the marines in..for a short period and the let the French Foriegn Leion take over. From the shores of Tripoli...Semper Fidelis