/ 20 October 2011

Gaddafi bids old allies to ‘enter Libya and start the fight’

Gaddafi Bids Old Allies To 'enter Libya And Start The Fight'

Libya’s acting prime minister said on Wednesday that ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi is believed to be recruiting fighters from other African countries and preparing for a possible insurgency, hoping to destabilise Libya’s new regime.

Mahmoud Jibril comments to reporters reflected fears that Gaddafi will be able to use friendly relations with neighbouring countries cultivated during his more than four decades in power to help him launch a bid to return to power.

“Reports have shown that 68 vehicles with at least eight fighters each crossed the Libyan borders to Mali and Gaddafi is hiding in the southern desert,” Jibril said.

He said Gaddafi had made a deal with the Hamada tribe, which roams the borders between Chad, Sudan and Libya, to provide 12 000 fighters “to enter Libya and start the fight”.

Suggesting that the United States also was concerned about the possibility, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said during a visit to Tripoli on Tuesday that she hoped Gaddafi would be captured or killed.

Gaddafi loyalists already have put up fierce resistance in several areas, preventing Libya’s new leaders from declaring full victory nearly two months after revolutionary forces seized Tripoli and have seized many other parts of the oil-rich North African nation.

Civil strife
Revolutionary fighters gained control of one stronghold, Bani Walid, this week. In the other loyalist bastion of Sirte, anti-Gaddafi commanders said they have squeezed Gaddafi’s forces into a residential area of about 700 square metres but were still coming under heavy fire from surrounding buildings. Deputy defence minister Fawzi Abu Katif said that authorities still believe Gaddafi’s son Mo’tassim is among the ex-regime figures holed up in the diminishing area.

It took the anti-Gaddafi fighters, who also faced disorganisation in their own ranks, two days to capture a single residential building.

It is unclear whether Gaddafi loyalists who have escaped might continue the fight and attempt to organise an insurgency using the vast amount of weapons Gaddafi was believed to have stored in hideouts in the remote southern desert.

Unlike Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi had no well-organised political party that could form the basis of an insurgent leadership. However, regional and ethnic differences have already appeared among the ranks of the revolutionaries, possibly laying the foundation for civil strife.

Gaddafi has issued several audio recordings trying to rally supporters. Jibril and other Libyan officials have said they believe he’s hiding somewhere in the vast south-western desert near the borders with Niger and Algeria.

Revenge attacks
Jibril also addressed concerns about a rise in revenge attacks and lawlessness as thousands of young men with weapons have found themselves unemployed after waging months of brutal fighting.

He said authorities were considering plans to give them the option of joining private security companies that will be given priority for securing the borders, oil fields and public institutions, or the national army.

He also reiterated that he plans to resign after liberation is declared and turn over the reins of the country to a new interim government that can guide the nation to elections. The transitional leadership has said a vote would be held within eight months of liberation.

The US-educated Jibril said he will turn his attention to working with non-governmental organisations to help fight corruption.

Also on Wednesday, Libya’s transitional government said it has formally recognised the Syrian opposition’s umbrella group as the country’s legitimate representative, making it the first country to do so.

Hassan al-Sughayer, a member of Libya’s National Transitional Council, announced the decision in Tripoli after meeting with members of the Syrian National Council.

The recognition is largely symbolic and unlikely to have any practical impact. Syria’s government has threatened tough measures against any country that recognizes the opposition council. — Sapa-AP