Posts Tagged ‘Muammar al-Gaddafi’

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Gaddafi’s air force is his trump card and needs to be stopped

March 9, 2011
Map showing key locations

map from bbc

It seems that the town of  Zawaya has been attacked by air and by heavy artillery and by tanks and has been virtually wiped out.

The death toll is now thought to be greater than 1000 and it is Gaddafi’s air force (which is dominated by his clan) which is his trump card. Not only are they attacking directly, but they are also providing the air cover for his land forces to move against the opposition. Heavy fighting is reported around Ras Lanuf.

The sooner a no-fly zone can be established over Libya the better.

Yemen News Agency reports:

The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Tuesday supported the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya but rejected military intervention in the North African country, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, at a special meeting with the permanent representatives here, voiced backing to imposing a no-fly zone over Libya which has been experiencing clashes between forces of Muammar Gadhafi and rebels, which killed and injured hundreds of people.

“We are joining voices demanding the imposition of a no-fly zone on Libya, he said, and called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to live up to its responsibilities in that respect.

But Ihsanoglu refused the military option to solving the crisis in Libya.
He called on the Libyan authorities to allow entry of humanitarian aid. The unrest in Libya forced tens of thousands of people from different nationalities to flee the country.

France and the UK, with the US support, had circulated elements of a draft resolution to the other permanent members of the UNSC to impose a no-fly zone.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had voiced backing to the no-fly zone in a meeting of foreign ministers yesterday.

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Interpol orange notice against Gaddafi, family and friends

March 4, 2011

The purpose of an Interpol Orange Notice is – To warn police, public entities and other international organizations of dangerous materials, criminal acts or events that pose a potential threat to public safety.

http://www.interpol.int/

LYON, France – INTERPOL has issued a global alert known as an Orange Notice against Colonel Al-Qadhafi and 15 other Libyan nationals, including members of his family and close associates, in a bid to warn member states of the danger posed by the movement of these individuals and their assets, to assist member states in their efforts to enforce sanctions under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970 (2011), and to support INTERPOL’s assistance to the International Criminal Court investigation into alleged crimes against humanity in Libya.

  1. Qadhafi, Muammar Mohammed Abu Minyar DATE OF BIRTH: 1942 in Libya
  2. AL-BAGHDADI, Dr Abdulqader Mohammed DATE OF BIRTH: 01/07/1950
  3. DORDA, Abu Zayd Umar DATE OF BIRTH: 04/04/1944
  4. Jabir, Major General Abu Bakr Yunis DATE OF BIRTH: 1952 in Jalo, Libya
  5. Qadhafi, Aisha Muammar DATE OF BIRTH: 1978. Place of birth: Tripoli, Libya
  6. Qadhafi, Hannibal Muammar DATE OF BIRTH: 20/09/1975 in Tripoli, Libya
  7. Qadhafi, Mutassim DATE OF BIRTH: 1976. Place of birth: Tripoli, Libya
  8. Qadhafi, Saadi DATE OF BIRTH: 25/05/1973. Place of birth: Tripoli, Libya.
  9. Qadhafi, Saif al-Islam DATE OF BIRTH: 25/06/1972. Place of birth: Tripoli, Libya
  10. DIBRI Abdulqader Yusef DATE OF BIRTH: 1946- Houn in Libya
  11. Matuq, Matuq Mohammed DATE OF BIRTH: 1956 in Khoms
  12. Qadhaf Al-dam, Sayyid Mohammed DATE OF BIRTH: 1948. Place of birth: Sirte, Libya
  13. Qadhafi, Khamis Muammar DATE OF BIRTH: 1978. Place of birth: Tripoli, Libya
  14. Qadhafi, Mohammed Muammar DATE OF BIRTH: 1970. Place of birth: Tripoli, Libya
  15. Qadhafi, Saif al-Arab DATE OF BIRTH: 1982. Place of birth: Tripoli, Libya
  16. Al-Senussi, Colonel Abdullah  DATE OF BIRTH: 1949. Place of birth: Sudan

The Interpol Notice is here.

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LSE head quits over suspect ties to Gaddafi & son

March 4, 2011
Sir Howard Davies, British businessman and eco...

Sir Howard Davies: Image via Wikipedia

Not only did the UK government provide Gaddafi with absolution for all his sins for the sake of weapons deals and oil contracts, they also orchestrated the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

And the LSE was part of the process of providing legitimacy to a bunch of thugs and murderers  – of course in return for a suitable remuneration. The LSE Director has now resigned.

BBC:

The director of the London School of Economics has resigned over its links to Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi. Sir Howard Davies said he recognised the university’s reputation had “suffered” and he had to quit. He said the decision to accept £300,000 for research from a foundation run by Col Gaddafi’s son, Saif, “backfired”.

The LSE council has commissioned an independent inquiry into the university’s relationship with Libya and Saif Gaddafi. It will seek to clarify the extent of the LSE’s links with Libya and establish guidelines for future donations.

Lord Woolf, former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and former chairman of the Council of University College London, has been appointed to carry it out. Sir Howard said he regretted visiting Libya to advise its regime about financial reforms, calling it a “personal error of judgement”. …..

The LSE has already announced it is investigating claims that Saif Gaddafi plagiarised his PhD thesis, which was awarded in 2008. The Libyan leader’s son had studied at the LSE, gaining both an MSc and PhD.

The Guardian:

A leaked US diplomatic cable indicates that the British government was also party to the deal to bring 400 Libyans to Britain for leadership training. The cable, published by WikiLeaks, suggests that other UK universities were involved in similar schemes, though there is no independent confirmation of this.

The university’s reputation has taken a battering over links with the Libyan regime, which include a donation of £1.5m from a charitable foundation run by Saif, who studied at the LSE. On Tuesday, the LSE agreed to put £300,000, equivalent to the cash it has received from the foundation, into a scholarship for north African students. …..

Ashok Kumar, the education officer of the LSE students’ union said : “The recent revelations have shone a light on one part of the relationship between the upper echelons of the LSE and the Gaddafi family, which is deeper and more perverse than we would have ever imagined.

“This issue is damaging the reputation of the school – it should be a place of learning – not at the centre of unscrupulous dealings with Libyan regime.”

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Mass evacuations of foreign workers from Libya – oil industry will be hard hit

March 3, 2011

As around 150,000 foreign workers – mainly from the oil industry – gather at the border with Tunisia thousands of them have already been evacuated. China and Turkey were the fastest in getting their evacuations under way followed by Egypt and India and Greece.

  1. A total of 35,860 Chinese citizens had been evacuated from Libya up to 23:10 Wednesday Beijing time (1510 GMT), according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among them, 20,745 are already back in China, Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao said.
  2. Almost 20 per cent of an estimated 18,000 Indians in Libya have been evacuated even as the government received landing clearance for 3 special flights daily from India to Tripoli up to March 12, extending the March 7 time period.
  3. After several consecutive meetings, Turkish officials decided to evacuate the close to 25,000 Turkish citizens in Libya. The Turkish government launched its largest evacuation operation ever. Close to 7,000 people have been evacuated from Libya via air, sea and land transportation. Several countries with communication problems with the Libyan administration and a lack of logistical means have asked Ankara for support to get their citizens out of the protest-ridden country. Turkey is so far believed to be the most successful country in evacuating its people from Libya.
  4. Tripoli has given Cairo a green light to carry out 37 evacuation flights for Egyptians caught up in the Libyan uprising. Some 1.5 million Egyptians work in Libya. Thousands have streamed back through the Salloum border crossing on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast into oil-producing eastern Libya. Egypt also plans to send ships to Tunisia to pick up nationals who fled Libya by going west.
  5. Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Shami thanked on Wednesday Egypt for facilitating the evacuation of Lebanese in Libya through the Egyptian border.
  6. The last Europeans who want to get out of Libya will be evacuated within days, an EU official said Monday. Only about 500 European Union passport-holders are still waiting to leave and about 1,000 wish to stay.

But in the meantime a Swedish Hercules plane was denied landing permission in Tripoli and had to return empty to Malta. 56 Swedish citizens have left Libya and of the 45 left 41 have indicated that they want to stay.

It is mainly foreign workers trying to get out and there does not seem to be any great number of Libyans trying to “invade Europe” as was feared by the Italians. The oil industry in Libya will suffer from an acute shortage of workers for some time to come.

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Belarus – not Venezuela – maybe Gaddafi’s bolt-hole

March 1, 2011

Soon after it was reported last week that Gaddafi was on his way to Venezuela, Hugo Chavez was forced to announce that this was untrue and that Gaddafi would not be given a safe haven in his country.

Yesterday the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said it suspected that arms were being transported from Belarus to Gaddafi and other reports implied that Gaddafi or his family could be shifting valuables and some family members to Belarus. AP reports:

An arms trade watchdog says it suspects Libya received a shipment of military equipment from Belarus as Moammar Gadhafi’s regime started a bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, said Monday that an Ilyushin 76 aircraft left a military base near the Belarusian city of Baranovichi and landed at the Libyan airport of Sebha in mid-February.

That was before the U.N. Security Council adopted a weapons embargo on Libya.

“The aircraft came from a dedicated military base that only handles stockpiled weaponry and military equipment,” SIPRI arms trafficking expert Hugh Griffiths said.

The Sebha airport where the plane landed is Gadhafi’s “key military logistics space in southern Libya,” Griffiths said, adding the area is controlled by a tribe loyal to the Libyan leader.

He also said a Libyan government plane has made two flights to Belarus in the past week, though it was unclear who was on board or what cargo it was carrying.

SIPRI closely monitors weapons transfers around the world. Its annual yearbook is considered one of the most authoritative reviews on the global arms trade.

Other reports from Israel were about Gaddafis executive jet:

Dassault Falcon 900B: image wikipedia

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports in its Hebrew edition today that the private Dassault Falcon jet 5A-DCN belonging to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had flown to Minsk, in Belarus.

MaltaToday has established that the Gaddafi jet had been monitored around Malta’s flight information region.

According to a new flight-plan filed this morning, the 5A-DCN – which landed in Minsk on Friday afternoon – was destined to arrive in Tripoli at 12:30pm, having left Minsk at 9:30am (CET). The plane is believed to have landed in Mitiga airport, east of Tripoli.

Air spotters on Twitter and internet fora today noted that the Dassault Falcon had been “heard working with Hungarian and later Malta air control”.

Haaretz reported that it was unclear whether this was the same plane which the Lebanese transport minister had refused landing last Wednesday in Beirut. The plane was believed to be carrying a Gaddafi family member.

The Maltese government this week also denied that the name of Gaddafi’s daughter Aisha had been among the 14 passengers refused landing in Malta on Thursday.

The Dassault Falcon jet is one of three planes used by Gaddafi – the other two are an Airbus 300 and 340. It is unclear who was flying on the Falcon jet.

Haaretz reports that Belarus hosts the last dictatorship in Europe and that President Alexander Lukashenko is “a close ally of Libya militarily, economically and politically.”

“Belarus is a country of refugee dictators. Controversial figures hosted in the past include the deposed president of Kyrgyzstan, Courmnbeak Kiev, and the Holocaust denier Jürgen Graf. Belarus had also agreed to grant asylum to Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic, who was a close ally of Lukashenko,” Haaretz said.

Today Belarus was emphatically denying all such reports. Belarus is already under sanctions and just this publicity may make it impossible for Gaddafi to use this country as a sanctuary but perhaps many family members will end up in Balarus. Swedish radio reports today suggested that one family member is already in Minsk.


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Posted in Belarus, Libya | 2 Comments »

The end is nigh for Gaddafi: Galyna Kolotnytska has returned to Ukraine

February 27, 2011

According to Svenska Dagbladet, Galyna Kolotnytska who was Gaddafi’s personal nurse has landed in Ukraine along with 120 other Ukrainians.

She had announced to her daughter last Friday that she would be returning from Tripoli after 9 years in Libya.

Galyna Kolotnytska Foto: Scanpix

Galyna Kolotnytska : Photo scanpix

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Gaddafi’s children are a motley – but dangerous – lot

February 27, 2011

As Gaddafi’s regime enters its end-game, the future prospects of the eccentric and depraved Libyan dictator and his children do not look bright. All his children, with the notable exception of Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, have not been slow to take advantage of their father’s position or to invoke diplomatic immunity whenever they have been pulled up for misbehaviour in European countries.

Muammar Gaddafi has a total of eight children, one with his first wife Fathia Khaled and seven with his second wife Safia Farkash, who was his nurse. He has a nephew who he has also adopted as his son. His adopted daughter supposedly killed in a US attack probably never existed. According to WikiLeaks, a third woman, Galyna Kolotnytska his personal nurse, is now his current favourite but there are no reports of any offspring and she is on her way back to Ukraine.

That they are all eccentric and a little odd is no surprise and probably genetically inevitable. Together they make up a soap-opera with characters who include plagiarists, wife-beaters, maid-torturers, playboys and a footballer. But they are a dangerous lot and their posturing and positioning could prolong the bloodshed in Tripoli.

Gaddafi and 5 of his 8 children: montage credit SvD

Sourced from Al Arabiya, SvD and Wikipedia

  1. Mohammed Gaddafi, the Libyan leader’s son from the first marriage, is an engineer who heads the Libyan Olympic Committee that owns 40% of the Libyan Beverage Company. He is also head of the General Post and the Telecommunication Committee.
  2. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, an architect, is the eldest son with the Libyan leader’s second marriage. He graduated from al-Fateh University in Tripoli in 1994. Saif al-Islam is most known for his chairmanship of the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF).  According to WikiLeaks, Saif al-Islam’s role as the spokesman of the Libyan regime has been both a blessing and a curse: a blessing because it strengthened his position in the West and a curse because it made Libyans consider him a subordinate of foreign countries. He was also criticized by conservatives for his love of women and partying. Saif al-Islam is not on good terms with his brothers Mutassim, Hannibal, al-Saadi and his sister Ayesha.He was awarded a PHD by the LSE but his  PhD thesis is suspected to contain plagiarised material and may have been partially or wholly ghost-written.
  3. Al-Saadi Gaddafi, known for his obsession with football, is a shareholder in his favorite football club — Italy’s Juventus — and is also head of the Libyan national team. He runs the Libyan Football Federation and signed for various professional teams including Italian Serie A team U.C. Sampdoria, although without appearing in first team games. Saadi also heads a military battalion. Saadi was described by WikiLeaks as a man with a turbulent past who is known for misbehavior including clashes with the police in Europe, especially Italy, taking drugs and alcohol as well as throwing extravagant parties.
  4. According to WikiLeaks, Mutassim Gaddafi is his father’s national security advisor and in this capacity he met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In 2008, he requested an amount of $1.2 billion to establish a security unit similar to the one headed by his younger brother Khamis. Between 2001 and 2005, Mutassim lost several of his companies when his brothers took advantage of his absence to control his businesses.
  5. Hannibal Gaddafi, consultant to Management Committee of the General Libyan Marine Transport Organization that monopolizes the transport of Libyan fuel, was arrested in 2008 in Geneva with his wife for mistreatment of two maids. This led to a diplomatic crisis between Libya and Switzerland. According to his Lebanese wife Aline Skaf, they both met in 2003 in Copenhagen. She lived in Paris after marrying him then she moved to Lebanon and used to go to Paris occasionally. Hannibal once beat Skaf up while in a hotel in Switzerland six years ago when she was pregnant. This incident took place in the hotel’s café a few days before she gave birth to their only son. Hannibal beat his wife until she fainted. Employees at the café saw he was armed, so they attacked him and seized the weapon. After Skaf was transferred to the hospital, the police arrested Hannibal. On 15 July 2008, Hannibal and his wife were held for two days and charged with assaulting two of their staff in Geneva, Switzerland and then released on bail on 17 July. The government of Libya subsequently put a boycott on Swiss imports, reduced flights between Libya and Switzerland, stopped issuing visas to Swiss citizens, recalled diplomats from Bern, and forced all Swiss companies such as ABB and Nestlé to close offices. In December 2009 police were called to Claridges Hotel in London after staff heard a scream from Hannibal’s room. Aline Skaf, now his wife, was found to have suffered facial injuries including a broken nose, but charges were not pressed after she maintained she had sustained the injuries in a fall. Hannibal is also known for running a red traffic light in Paris while driving his luxurious car in 2004. The police chased him for a long time until they were finally able to arrest him. Hannibal appeared for the first on the French radar screens when he was driving under the influence at a speed of 150 kilometers per hour. He was arrested then released for his diplomatic immunity.
  6. Ayesha, Gaddafi’s only daughter, is a Lieutenant General in the Libyan army and was a mediator between her country and the corporations of the European Union. A book was written about her life under the title Ayesha Muammar Gaddafi: Princess of Peace, by Geneva-based Tunisian writer Sami al-Jalouli. The 92-page book tells Ayesha’s autobiography in 16 chapters. In 2006, Ayesha got married to Ahmed al-Gaddafi al-Qahsi, her father’s cousin and an officer in the Libyan army. Ayesha, who was known as the Claudia Schiffer of Libya for imitating the German actress before wearing the veil, is said to be her father’s favorite. Ayesha met with late president Saddam Hussein before the fall of his regime and headed his defense team after he was arrested by American troops. Before this, in 2000 when sanctions were imposed on Iraq, she boarded a Libyan plane and arrived in Baghdad on top of a delegation made up of 69 officials. There, Ayesha said that her father will be the first Arab leader to visit Iraq by air despite the blockade, but he never did. When Hannibal was arrested by the Swiss police in 2007, she threatened to get back at Switzerland for devising what she labeled “a cheap conspiracy” to defame her family and vowed to take all the necessary measure to preserve the dignity of Libyans abroad.
  7. Saif al-Arab Gaddafi is the most low-profile of Gaddafi’s sons and spends most of his time in Germany.
  8. Khamis Gaddafi, a captain in the Libyan army, is the leader of the 32nd brigade, based in the Mediterranean city of Benghazi.
  9. Adopted son, Milad Abuztaia al-Gaddafi is also Gaddafi’s nephew. Milad is credited with saving Gaddafi’s life during the April 1986 bombing of the Gaddafi compound. After the United States bombed several Libyan military airbases and barracks that had been used in supporting terrorism in Europe and elsewhere, the regime’s media claimed that Gaddafi’s “adopted daughter” had been killed. The name “Hanna” was given to the press. Nobody had ever heard of such daughter. Information about her also conflicted, for example, her age varying from 12 months to 6 years.

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The last straw? Gaddafi’s nurse is going home

February 26, 2011

As Gaddafi’s forces left Tajura – which is on the outskirts of Tripoli – the end-game is being played out for Gaddafi. There could still be considerable violence and bloodshed in Tripoli but my expectation (hope?) is that the loyalty felt towards the Libyan dictator is not going to be strong enough to keep them going for much longer. Only self-interest on the part of those closely associated with Gadaffi will keep some with him till the bitter end.

The WSJ reports that even his “voluptuous Ukrainian ” nurse, Galyna Kolotnytska, told her family yesterday that she will soon be returning home.

Galyna Kolotnytska : image vysotska.blogspot.com photo Segodnya

Embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is set to be deserted by another close ally after his Ukrainian nurse said she was heading home. Galyna Kolotnytska, described in a diplomatic cable published by Wikileaks as a “voluptuous blond” who “travel[s] everywhere” with Col. Gadhafi, called her family in Kiev on Friday to say she intends to return to Ukraine, her daughter told daily Segodnya.

“Mom got in touch yesterday. She said she was now in Tripoli,” Tetyana Kolotnytska said. “She spoke in a calm voice, asked us not to worry and said she’d soon be home.” According to the cable from September 2009, contacts in Tripoli told U.S. diplomats that Col. Gadhafi “relies heavily” on Ms. Kolotnytska, then 38, as “she alone ‘knows his routine.'”

The cable also reported claims from unnamed sources that the eccentric Libyan leader and the nurse, part of a retinue of four Ukrainians, “have a romantic relationship.” Ms. Kolotnytska’s daughter said her mother had been in Libya for nine years, originally employed in a hospital before starting work for Col. Gadhafi. “Other Ukrainian women also work for him as nurses. Mom is one of them,” she said. “For some reason, he doesn’t trust Libyan women with this matter.”

Perhaps his mistrust of Libyan women will play a prominent role in the inevitable end. Poison in the desert  – either self administered or by those around him – once his Ukrainian nurses are gone could be what awaits.

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Gaddafi ordered Lockerbie strike says his former Justice Minister

February 23, 2011

The Local reports: (Original Swedish report in Expressen is here)

Photo: Scanpix (file)

Photo: Scanpix (file)

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi ordered the 1988 terror attack that downed a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie in Scotland, the Libyan leader’s former justice minister told a Swedish reporter on Wednesday.

“I have evidence that Qaddafi gave the orders for Lockerbie,” Mustafa Abdel-Jalil told a reporter for Swedish tabloid Expressen who is currently stationed in Libya.

Until Monday, Abdel-Jalil served as minister of justice to Qaddafi, but resigned in protest “over the excessive use of violence against government protesters” he is quoted as telling the privately-owned Quryna newspaper.

According to Abdel-Jalil, his former boss gave the orders to carry out the Lockerbie bombing, which claimed the lives of 259 people on board Pan Am Flight 103 as well 11 people in the Scottish village below.

Among those killed in the bombing was Swedish diplomat Bernt Carlsson, who was serving in the United Nations at the time.

Following a lengthy probe involving Scotland Yard and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as well as other agencies, investigators concluded that the bomb had been placed on the plane by two Libyan nationals working for the country’s intelligence services.

In 1991, charges were filed against Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA), as well as Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, a Malta-based LAA station manager.

Following lengthy negotiations, Qaddafi agreed to hand over the two suspects to Scottish police in 1999 so they could stand trial in the Netherlands.

See also: Lockerbie bomber release orchestrated by Tony Blair’s gov’t in exchange for trade deals

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Berlusconi won’t “disturb” Gaddafi – as one Dirty Old Man supports another

February 21, 2011

As the brush fire of revolution against dictators spreads in North Africa and the Middle East, Bunga bunga Berlusconi ( 75 years old) announced that he will not “disturb” his soul-brother Gaddafi (69 years) in his time of trial. They are of course both senior members of the Association of Dirty Old Leaders.

Reuters reports:

Opposition lawmakers criticised Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for failing to condemn violence in Libya and saying he did not want to “disturb” Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during the revolt in his country.

Berlusconi’s government, which has aggressively courted Libyan petrodollars and rolled out the red carpet during Gaddafi’s multiple visits to Italy, has said little on Libya’s crackdown on protesters that has killed more than 170 people.

Pressed by reporters on whether he had spoken to Gaddafi since the uprising began, Berlusconi said on Saturday: “No, I haven’t been in contact with him. The situation is still in flux and so I will not allow myself to disturb anyone.”

The comment stirred outrage among the leftist opposition, which has long accused Berlusconi of turning a blind eye to Gaddafi’s human rights record and pandering to the Libyan leader for the sake of lucrative contracts and investment in Italy, which is Libya’s former colonial ruler.

In this photograph from June 2009 where Berlusconi is welcoming Gaddafi accompanied by a rather plump member of his all-woman bodyguard, it is not clear why Gaddafi finds it necessary to wear cardboard medals and an old photograph on his chest. It is probably something only Bunga bunga will know.

Silvio Berlusconi welcomes Muammar Gaddafi at Rome Ciampino airport

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi welcomes Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at Rome's Ciampinio airport, Italy, on 10 June 2009. Photograph: ALESSANDRO DI MEO/EPA

As the Guardian put it when Gaddafi visited Italy in 2009:

The highlight of Gaddafi’s trip to Rome is a meeting, personally requested by the Libyan leader, with 700 women from the worlds of “politics, industry and culture”. So Berlusconi got down his Bumper Catalogue of Hot Stuff, got rid of any that were over 25, discarded those with a loud voice or body hair, and whittled down the rest by ballot until he got to 1,000, whereupon the disappointed remainder that didn’t get to meet Muammar were given a senior post in his cabinet or a mini-break in his fancy villa with the pools and the elephants.

Before we start thinking this is just a pact of weirdness between two profoundly weird men, it is not the first time Gaddafi has extended the hand of friendship to the ladies of Europa (I do not mean the convenience store chain; I am romanticising the continent, trying to get into the mind of the mighty dictator). Two years ago in Paris, he met 1,000 French women. His message was clear: he wanted to “save European women”.

Gaddafi and his nurse: image EPA

Of course in addition to his bodyguards Wikileaks has told us that he also has his own voluptuous Ukrainian nurse(s).

Diplomats in Tripoli described how the Libyan leader appeared to be reliant on Galyna Kolotnytska, without whom he reportedly “cannot travel”.

In a despatch to the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, sent in September 2009, embassy officials painted an intimate portrait of Col Gaddafi’s many fears and “eccentricities”.

The secret memo, which was headed “A glimpse into Libyan leader Gaddafi’s eccentricities”, said he “appears to rely” on his senior nurse, and less than in the past on his “legendary” band of women bodyguards who used to accompany him everywhere.

 

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