Libya 2011 Demonstrations (8 Viewers)
- Thread starter ReBeL
- Start date
Thousands flee violence in Libya - in pictures
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/feb/23/libya-muammar-gaddafi
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/feb/23/libya-muammar-gaddafi
Many rape victims in Tripoli last night.
A source from Tripoli has confirmed to us that Al Zawiya Street hospital seen many rape victim admittances last night. Such deplorable and sickening actions were committed after Gaddafi’s speech in which he called for door-to-door cleansing of the city from those who are against his regime.
http://www.libyafeb17.com/?p=1951
A source from Tripoli has confirmed to us that Al Zawiya Street hospital seen many rape victim admittances last night. Such deplorable and sickening actions were committed after Gaddafi’s speech in which he called for door-to-door cleansing of the city from those who are against his regime.
http://www.libyafeb17.com/?p=1951
The Libyan people's committee for general security called on protesters to surrender their weapons and offered rewards for those who inform on protest leaders, in a statement broadcast live on Libyan TV.
"He who submits his weapon and shows remorse will be exempted from being pursued legally. The committee calls on citizens to cooperate and inform on those who led on the youth or supplied them with money, equipment or intoxicating substances and hallucinatory pills," the statement said.
The committee also said those cooperating would be given money.
"A lucrative monetary reward will be given to anyone who contributes or informs on them," the statement, read out by a Libyan army officer, said on television monitored in Cairo.
Reuters
"He who submits his weapon and shows remorse will be exempted from being pursued legally. The committee calls on citizens to cooperate and inform on those who led on the youth or supplied them with money, equipment or intoxicating substances and hallucinatory pills," the statement said.
The committee also said those cooperating would be given money.
"A lucrative monetary reward will be given to anyone who contributes or informs on them," the statement, read out by a Libyan army officer, said on television monitored in Cairo.
Reuters
Qaddafi Massing Forces in Tripoli as Rebellion Spreads
BAIDA, Libya — As rebellion crept closer to the capital and defections of military officers multiplied, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi called on thousands of mercenaries and irregular security forces on Wednesday to defend his bastion in Tripoli, in what residents said was a desperate and dangerous turn in the week-old uprising.
Distrustful of even his own generals, Colonel Qaddafi has for years quietly built up this ruthless and loyal force. It is made up of special brigades headed by his sons, segments of the military loyal to his native tribe and its allies, and legions of African mercenaries he has helped train and equip. Many are believed to have fought elsewhere, in places like Sudan, but he has now called them back.
Witnesses said thousands of members of this irregular army were massing on roads to the capital, Tripoli, where one resident described scenes evocative of anarchic Somalia: clusters of heavily armed men in mismatched uniforms clutching machine guns and willing to carry out orders to kill Libyans that other police and military units, and even fighter pilots, have refused.
Some residents of Tripoli said they took the gathering army as a sign that the uprising might be entering a decisive stage, with Colonel Qaddafi fortifying his main stronghold in the capital and protesters there gearing up for their first organized demonstration after days of spontaneous rioting and bloody crackdowns.
The fall of other cities to rebels on Wednesday, including Misurata, 130 miles east of the capital, left Colonel Qaddafi more embattled — and his opponents emboldened.
“A message comes to every mobile phone about a general protest on Friday in Tripoli,” one resident of Tripoli said. Colonel Qaddafi’s menacing speech to the country on Tuesday — when he vowed to hunt down opponents “house by house” — increased their determination “100 percent,” the resident said.
Dozens of checkpoints operated by a combination of foreign mercenaries and plainclothes militiamen lined the road west of Tripoli for the first time, witnesses said, requiring not only the presentation of official papers but also displays of flag-waving, fist-pumping enthusiasm for Colonel Qaddafi, who has long fashioned himself as a pan-African icon.
“You are trying to convince them you are a loyalist,” one resident said, “and the second they realize that you are not, you are done for.”
The overall death toll so far has been impossible to determine. Human rights groups say they have confirmed about 300 deaths, though witnesses suggested the number was far larger. On Wednesday, Franco Frattini, the foreign minister of Italy — the former colonial power with longstanding ties — said that nationwide more than 1,000 people were probably dead in the strife.
Egyptian officials said Wednesday that nearly 30,000 people — mostly Egyptians working in Libya — had fled across their border. People fleeing west into Tunisia said the rebellion was now taking off far from its origins just a week ago in the eastern city of Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, which fell over the weekend.
There were reports for the first time of protests in the southern city of Sabha, considered a Qaddafi stronghold.
On Wednesday, in addition to the northwestern city of Misurata, protesters claimed victory in nearby Zawai, where local army units are said to have joined them. Some said there had been intense fighting in the past few nights in the town of Sabratha, home of an important Roman archaeological site 50 miles west of Tripoli, where witnesses on Wednesday reported a heavy deployment of machine-gun toting foreign mercenaries and Qaddafi loyalists known as revolutionary committees.
“The revolutionary committees are trying to kill everyone who is against Qaddafi,” said a doctor fleeing Sabratha, declining to give his name for fear of reprisals if he returned.
But amid spreading rebellion and growing defections by top officials, diplomats and segments of the regular army, Colonel Qaddafi’s preparations for a defense of Tripoli also reframed the question of who might still be enforcing his rule. It is a puzzle that military analysts say reflects the singular character of the society he has shaped — half tribal, half police state — for the past 41 years.
“It is all shadow and mirrors and probably a great deal of corruption as well,” said Paul Sullivan, a professor at Georgetown who has studied the Libyan military.
Colonel Qaddafi, who took power in a military coup, has always kept the Libyan military too weak and divided to do the same thing to him. About half its relatively small 50,000-member army is made up of poorly trained and unreliable conscripts, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Many of its battalions are organized along tribal lines, ensuring their loyalty to their own clan rather than to top military commanders — a pattern evident in the defection of portions of the army to help protesters take the eastern city of Benghazi.
Colonel Qaddafi’s own clan dominates the air force and the upper level of army officers, and they are believed to have remained loyal to him, in part because his clan has the most to lose from his ouster.
Other clans, like the large Warfalla tribe, have complained that they have been shut out of the top ranks, Professor Sullivan noted, which may help explain why they were among the first to turn on Colonel Qaddafi.
Untrusting of his officers, Colonel Qaddafi built up an elaborate paramilitary force — accompanied by special segments of the regular army that report primarily to his family. It is designed to check the army and in part to subdue his own population. At the top of that structure is his roughly 3,000-member revolutionary guard corps, which mainly guards him personally.
Then there are the militia units controlled by Colonel Qaddafi’s seven sons. A cable from the United States Embassy in Libya released by WikiLeaks described his son Khamis’s private battalion as the best equipped in the Libyan Army.
His brother Sa’ad has reportedly used his private battalion to help him secure business deals. And a third brother, Muatassim, is Colonel Qaddafi’s national security adviser. In 2008 he asked for $2.8 billion to pay for a battalion of his own, to keep up with his brothers.
But perhaps the most significant force that Colonel Qaddafi has deployed against the current insurrection is one believed to consist of about 2,500 mercenaries from countries like Chad, Sudan and Niger that he calls his Islamic Pan African Brigade.
Colonel Qaddafi began recruiting for his force years ago as part of a scheme to bring the African nations around Libya into a common union, and the mercenaries he trained are believed to have returned to Sudan and other bloody conflicts around Africa. But from the accounts of many witnesses Colonel Qaddafi is believed to have recalled them — and perhaps others — to help suppress the uprising.
Since the Libyan military withdrew from the eastern border, Egyptian officials said, tens of thousands of Egyptians — many of whom had worked in Libya’s oil-propelled economy — have fled back to Egypt. About 4,200 crossed over on Sunday, a similar number on Monday, and about 20,000 on Tuesday, when border security collapsed.
The Egyptian authorities said the migrants brought the bodies of three people killed in the crackdown on Benghazi, five people wounded by bullets and 14 others who were taken to a hospital with serious injuries. Many complained that they had been attacked and robbed by the mercenaries, officials said.
Mustafa Said Ahmed, 26-year-old accountant who had worked in Benghazi, said in an interview that he saw 11 people killed by the mercenaries in “a massacre” after the noon prayer last Friday.
The country’s long-serving interior minister, Gen. Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi, said Wednesday that he had decided to resign after the people of Benghazi were shot down with machine guns.
In an interview with CNN, he said he had argued against Colonel Qaddafi’s intention to use airplanes to bomb that city, the nation’s second largest, warning that it would kill thousands. State media, however, claimed he had been kidnapped by “gangs.”
The justice minister has already resigned for similar reasons. Two Libyan bombers diverted to Malta rather than bomb civilians, and on Wednesday a Libyan newspaper reported that a third Libyan military pilot had downed his bomber in the eastern province rather than carry out a mission to bomb Benghazi.
After nightfall on Wednesday, witnesses reported sporadic bursts of gunfire around Tripoli neighborhoods. But they said the streets seemed eerily deserted. Green Square, which had been a rallying point for pro-Qaddafi forces, had only a few hundred left in it. And the state television headquarters, which had been heavily guarded, was left almost unattended.
Elsewhere, there were signs that Colonel Qaddafi’s forces were refortifying. For the first time, witnesses said, at least four army tanks had rolled into the streets of the capital.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/world/africa/24libya.html?_r=3&hp
BAIDA, Libya — As rebellion crept closer to the capital and defections of military officers multiplied, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi called on thousands of mercenaries and irregular security forces on Wednesday to defend his bastion in Tripoli, in what residents said was a desperate and dangerous turn in the week-old uprising.
Distrustful of even his own generals, Colonel Qaddafi has for years quietly built up this ruthless and loyal force. It is made up of special brigades headed by his sons, segments of the military loyal to his native tribe and its allies, and legions of African mercenaries he has helped train and equip. Many are believed to have fought elsewhere, in places like Sudan, but he has now called them back.
Witnesses said thousands of members of this irregular army were massing on roads to the capital, Tripoli, where one resident described scenes evocative of anarchic Somalia: clusters of heavily armed men in mismatched uniforms clutching machine guns and willing to carry out orders to kill Libyans that other police and military units, and even fighter pilots, have refused.
Some residents of Tripoli said they took the gathering army as a sign that the uprising might be entering a decisive stage, with Colonel Qaddafi fortifying his main stronghold in the capital and protesters there gearing up for their first organized demonstration after days of spontaneous rioting and bloody crackdowns.
The fall of other cities to rebels on Wednesday, including Misurata, 130 miles east of the capital, left Colonel Qaddafi more embattled — and his opponents emboldened.
“A message comes to every mobile phone about a general protest on Friday in Tripoli,” one resident of Tripoli said. Colonel Qaddafi’s menacing speech to the country on Tuesday — when he vowed to hunt down opponents “house by house” — increased their determination “100 percent,” the resident said.
Dozens of checkpoints operated by a combination of foreign mercenaries and plainclothes militiamen lined the road west of Tripoli for the first time, witnesses said, requiring not only the presentation of official papers but also displays of flag-waving, fist-pumping enthusiasm for Colonel Qaddafi, who has long fashioned himself as a pan-African icon.
“You are trying to convince them you are a loyalist,” one resident said, “and the second they realize that you are not, you are done for.”
The overall death toll so far has been impossible to determine. Human rights groups say they have confirmed about 300 deaths, though witnesses suggested the number was far larger. On Wednesday, Franco Frattini, the foreign minister of Italy — the former colonial power with longstanding ties — said that nationwide more than 1,000 people were probably dead in the strife.
Egyptian officials said Wednesday that nearly 30,000 people — mostly Egyptians working in Libya — had fled across their border. People fleeing west into Tunisia said the rebellion was now taking off far from its origins just a week ago in the eastern city of Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, which fell over the weekend.
There were reports for the first time of protests in the southern city of Sabha, considered a Qaddafi stronghold.
On Wednesday, in addition to the northwestern city of Misurata, protesters claimed victory in nearby Zawai, where local army units are said to have joined them. Some said there had been intense fighting in the past few nights in the town of Sabratha, home of an important Roman archaeological site 50 miles west of Tripoli, where witnesses on Wednesday reported a heavy deployment of machine-gun toting foreign mercenaries and Qaddafi loyalists known as revolutionary committees.
“The revolutionary committees are trying to kill everyone who is against Qaddafi,” said a doctor fleeing Sabratha, declining to give his name for fear of reprisals if he returned.
But amid spreading rebellion and growing defections by top officials, diplomats and segments of the regular army, Colonel Qaddafi’s preparations for a defense of Tripoli also reframed the question of who might still be enforcing his rule. It is a puzzle that military analysts say reflects the singular character of the society he has shaped — half tribal, half police state — for the past 41 years.
“It is all shadow and mirrors and probably a great deal of corruption as well,” said Paul Sullivan, a professor at Georgetown who has studied the Libyan military.
Colonel Qaddafi, who took power in a military coup, has always kept the Libyan military too weak and divided to do the same thing to him. About half its relatively small 50,000-member army is made up of poorly trained and unreliable conscripts, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Many of its battalions are organized along tribal lines, ensuring their loyalty to their own clan rather than to top military commanders — a pattern evident in the defection of portions of the army to help protesters take the eastern city of Benghazi.
Colonel Qaddafi’s own clan dominates the air force and the upper level of army officers, and they are believed to have remained loyal to him, in part because his clan has the most to lose from his ouster.
Other clans, like the large Warfalla tribe, have complained that they have been shut out of the top ranks, Professor Sullivan noted, which may help explain why they were among the first to turn on Colonel Qaddafi.
Untrusting of his officers, Colonel Qaddafi built up an elaborate paramilitary force — accompanied by special segments of the regular army that report primarily to his family. It is designed to check the army and in part to subdue his own population. At the top of that structure is his roughly 3,000-member revolutionary guard corps, which mainly guards him personally.
Then there are the militia units controlled by Colonel Qaddafi’s seven sons. A cable from the United States Embassy in Libya released by WikiLeaks described his son Khamis’s private battalion as the best equipped in the Libyan Army.
His brother Sa’ad has reportedly used his private battalion to help him secure business deals. And a third brother, Muatassim, is Colonel Qaddafi’s national security adviser. In 2008 he asked for $2.8 billion to pay for a battalion of his own, to keep up with his brothers.
But perhaps the most significant force that Colonel Qaddafi has deployed against the current insurrection is one believed to consist of about 2,500 mercenaries from countries like Chad, Sudan and Niger that he calls his Islamic Pan African Brigade.
Colonel Qaddafi began recruiting for his force years ago as part of a scheme to bring the African nations around Libya into a common union, and the mercenaries he trained are believed to have returned to Sudan and other bloody conflicts around Africa. But from the accounts of many witnesses Colonel Qaddafi is believed to have recalled them — and perhaps others — to help suppress the uprising.
Since the Libyan military withdrew from the eastern border, Egyptian officials said, tens of thousands of Egyptians — many of whom had worked in Libya’s oil-propelled economy — have fled back to Egypt. About 4,200 crossed over on Sunday, a similar number on Monday, and about 20,000 on Tuesday, when border security collapsed.
The Egyptian authorities said the migrants brought the bodies of three people killed in the crackdown on Benghazi, five people wounded by bullets and 14 others who were taken to a hospital with serious injuries. Many complained that they had been attacked and robbed by the mercenaries, officials said.
Mustafa Said Ahmed, 26-year-old accountant who had worked in Benghazi, said in an interview that he saw 11 people killed by the mercenaries in “a massacre” after the noon prayer last Friday.
The country’s long-serving interior minister, Gen. Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi, said Wednesday that he had decided to resign after the people of Benghazi were shot down with machine guns.
In an interview with CNN, he said he had argued against Colonel Qaddafi’s intention to use airplanes to bomb that city, the nation’s second largest, warning that it would kill thousands. State media, however, claimed he had been kidnapped by “gangs.”
The justice minister has already resigned for similar reasons. Two Libyan bombers diverted to Malta rather than bomb civilians, and on Wednesday a Libyan newspaper reported that a third Libyan military pilot had downed his bomber in the eastern province rather than carry out a mission to bomb Benghazi.
After nightfall on Wednesday, witnesses reported sporadic bursts of gunfire around Tripoli neighborhoods. But they said the streets seemed eerily deserted. Green Square, which had been a rallying point for pro-Qaddafi forces, had only a few hundred left in it. And the state television headquarters, which had been heavily guarded, was left almost unattended.
Elsewhere, there were signs that Colonel Qaddafi’s forces were refortifying. For the first time, witnesses said, at least four army tanks had rolled into the streets of the capital.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/world/africa/24libya.html?_r=3&hp
From the Guardian:
We have been forwarded an email from a man saying he is in Tripoli, who makes a heartfelt plea for intervention. It was filed in haste as he was afraid internet service would be interrupted.
The security council should take actions not only words, people inside has no weapon so how can you imagine that they defend or fight against the mercenaries, we use stones and whatsoever and we go outside at night to get the benefit of the dark but ... against heavy and light weapons it's like you're committing suicide ... people had to do this to keep the battle in other field away of their families and houses. The problem with the leaders of the western word is that they care only about money and business, they have a strong relations with him and he is a tycoon and president of a wealthy country ... probably calculations are being made, what a shame. Your people should really do us a favour and protest outside in front of the American embassy and the Italian parliament ... Europe unfortunately is doing almost nothing, may be because of his tight control over communications so they know almost nothing. Plz do something tangible.
We have been forwarded an email from a man saying he is in Tripoli, who makes a heartfelt plea for intervention. It was filed in haste as he was afraid internet service would be interrupted.
The security council should take actions not only words, people inside has no weapon so how can you imagine that they defend or fight against the mercenaries, we use stones and whatsoever and we go outside at night to get the benefit of the dark but ... against heavy and light weapons it's like you're committing suicide ... people had to do this to keep the battle in other field away of their families and houses. The problem with the leaders of the western word is that they care only about money and business, they have a strong relations with him and he is a tycoon and president of a wealthy country ... probably calculations are being made, what a shame. Your people should really do us a favour and protest outside in front of the American embassy and the Italian parliament ... Europe unfortunately is doing almost nothing, may be because of his tight control over communications so they know almost nothing. Plz do something tangible.
Mugabe dispatches Commandos to protect Gaddafi
HARARE – There are unconfirmed reports doing the rounds in Zimbabwe State intelligence circles saying President Robert Mugabe has sent troops from his Commando crack unit to Libya to save his long time ally and financier Colonel Muammaur Gaddafi.
The accuracy of these allegations have not been verified but plausible bags of evidence based on the relationship between the two leaders are hugely backing the reports.
Libya’s ambassador to India, who resigned following a crackdown on protests, told Reuters on Tuesday that African mercenaries were being used by the authorities, prompting some army troops to switch sides to the opposition.
In Harare the rumour mill in the intelligence and military circles said a chartered Russian aircraft flew into Harare on Monday evening and left for Libya early Tuesday morning carrying troops from the crack Commando Unit.
Last night’ the Libyan leader signaled his defiance in the face of a mounting revolt against his 41-year rule, making bizarre sporadic appearances on state television living up to his eccentric gamesmanship in a desperate effort to show up his waning power.
Swathed in brown robes, Gaddafi seethed and banged a podium on Tuesday outside one of his residences that was damaged in a 1986 U.S. air strike aiming to kill him.
Next to him stood a monument of a fist crushing a U.S. fighter jet.
"I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr," Gaddafi said on state television, refusing to bow to calls from some of his own ministers, soldiers and protesters who braved a fierce crackdown to clamour for him to go.
His forces have cracked down fiercely on anti-government demonstrators, with fighting now spreading beyond the capital Tripoli after erupting in Libya's oil-producing east last week.
This morning, The Zimbabwe Mail tabled a number of questions to Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa with regards to these allegations and his office has not rejected or confirmed the claims.
Over the years, Gaddafi has become one of Robert Mugabe's most vocal political allies in African Summits and is believed to have contributed millions of dollars towards the Zimbabwean president's re-election campaigns.
In 2001, a British newspaper reported that Gaddafi had sent troops to Zimbabwe, to help Robert Mugabe crack down on his political opponents and the white farmers, according to Zimbabwean intelligence officers.
The two leaders have signed dozens of bilateral agreements which contributed millions of dollars worth of Libyan oil supplies.
Gaddafi once visited Zimbabwe, driving down from the Zambian capital, Lusaka, in a motorcade packed with female Nubian bodyguards. During his visit, the Libyan dictator urged Zimbabwe's Asian Muslims to wage a jihad against Zimbabwe's small white population.
While in Zimbabwe, the Libyan leader also held secret talks with Pagad, a secretive Muslim organisation based in Cape Town.
As part of the oil deal, Gaddafi's regime acquired some 20 Zimbabwean properties, from mansions in Harare's northern suburbs to farms.
There are fears in Zimbabwe that the properties could become bases for the Gaddafi’s rogue terrorist agents seeking retribution once he is deposed from power.
Gaddafi once dreamt of a United Africa States under him as King, with the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as his prime minister. The pair have long streak of bullying other African leaders in African Summits and imposing their wills on the continent’s resolutions.
Uganda has even accused　Colonel Muammar Gaddafi　of involvement in　recent terrorism　attacks in which two suicide bombs killed 76 people as they watched the FIFA World Cup final in Kampala last year.
Controversial whistleblower website, Wikileaks has already revealed that Uganda leader Yoweri Museveni fears the Libyan leader is out to shoot down his Presidential plane and he has since asked the US security agencies for surveillance protection whenever he is flying.
The embattled Libyan leader　has also made controversial remarks calling for Nigeria to be divided, and some in Nigeria have　fingered him the recent violence　between Christians and Moslems which have left thousands dead.
"The mercenaries are from Africa, and speak French and other languages," Libyan ambassador to India Ali al-Essawi said in an interview, adding that he was receiving information from sources within the OPEC-member country.
Essawi, who has left the Libyan embassy since he resigned on Monday to protest the violent crackdown and is now staying at a hotel in New Delhi, said he had been told there had been army defections.
"They (troops) are Libyans and they cannot see foreigners killing Libyans so they moved beside the people," Essawi said, looking nervous and agitated.
Diplomats have said the U.N. Security Council would hold a closed-door meeting on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in Libya.
"Libyans cannot do anything against the air fighters. We do not call for international troops, but we call on the international community to save the Libyans," Essawi said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Essawi told Reuters that he expected more diplomats at foreign missions to resign due to the ongoing violence in Libya. He said ambassadors in China, Poland, Tunisia, the Arab League, and the United States had also stepped down.
"Fighter aircraft were bombing civilians on the streets of Tripoli, this is unprecedented violence," Essawi said.
Last month, the mainstream Movement for Democratic Change warned the Libyan embassy in Zimbabwe against continued funding of Zanu (PF) and said it was also incensed that the party had embarked on a massive vote buying campaign using food handouts and farming inputs.
The Morgan Tsvangirai led MDC said in statements it had been dismayed to learn that the Libyan embassy had donated nine tractors and other farming implements at a function in the town of Chegutu.
Zimbabwe is expected to hold elections later this year after the completion of the constitutional process which has been marred by violence and intimidation by Zanu (PF) supporters. There are fears that Zanu (PF) is planning a war like campaign to retain to power and are said to be prepared to use violence reminiscent of the 2008 post March elections to force people to vote for them.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/7397.html
HARARE – There are unconfirmed reports doing the rounds in Zimbabwe State intelligence circles saying President Robert Mugabe has sent troops from his Commando crack unit to Libya to save his long time ally and financier Colonel Muammaur Gaddafi.
The accuracy of these allegations have not been verified but plausible bags of evidence based on the relationship between the two leaders are hugely backing the reports.
Libya’s ambassador to India, who resigned following a crackdown on protests, told Reuters on Tuesday that African mercenaries were being used by the authorities, prompting some army troops to switch sides to the opposition.
In Harare the rumour mill in the intelligence and military circles said a chartered Russian aircraft flew into Harare on Monday evening and left for Libya early Tuesday morning carrying troops from the crack Commando Unit.
Last night’ the Libyan leader signaled his defiance in the face of a mounting revolt against his 41-year rule, making bizarre sporadic appearances on state television living up to his eccentric gamesmanship in a desperate effort to show up his waning power.
Swathed in brown robes, Gaddafi seethed and banged a podium on Tuesday outside one of his residences that was damaged in a 1986 U.S. air strike aiming to kill him.
Next to him stood a monument of a fist crushing a U.S. fighter jet.
"I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr," Gaddafi said on state television, refusing to bow to calls from some of his own ministers, soldiers and protesters who braved a fierce crackdown to clamour for him to go.
His forces have cracked down fiercely on anti-government demonstrators, with fighting now spreading beyond the capital Tripoli after erupting in Libya's oil-producing east last week.
This morning, The Zimbabwe Mail tabled a number of questions to Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa with regards to these allegations and his office has not rejected or confirmed the claims.
Over the years, Gaddafi has become one of Robert Mugabe's most vocal political allies in African Summits and is believed to have contributed millions of dollars towards the Zimbabwean president's re-election campaigns.
In 2001, a British newspaper reported that Gaddafi had sent troops to Zimbabwe, to help Robert Mugabe crack down on his political opponents and the white farmers, according to Zimbabwean intelligence officers.
The two leaders have signed dozens of bilateral agreements which contributed millions of dollars worth of Libyan oil supplies.
Gaddafi once visited Zimbabwe, driving down from the Zambian capital, Lusaka, in a motorcade packed with female Nubian bodyguards. During his visit, the Libyan dictator urged Zimbabwe's Asian Muslims to wage a jihad against Zimbabwe's small white population.
While in Zimbabwe, the Libyan leader also held secret talks with Pagad, a secretive Muslim organisation based in Cape Town.
As part of the oil deal, Gaddafi's regime acquired some 20 Zimbabwean properties, from mansions in Harare's northern suburbs to farms.
There are fears in Zimbabwe that the properties could become bases for the Gaddafi’s rogue terrorist agents seeking retribution once he is deposed from power.
Gaddafi once dreamt of a United Africa States under him as King, with the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as his prime minister. The pair have long streak of bullying other African leaders in African Summits and imposing their wills on the continent’s resolutions.
Uganda has even accused　Colonel Muammar Gaddafi　of involvement in　recent terrorism　attacks in which two suicide bombs killed 76 people as they watched the FIFA World Cup final in Kampala last year.
Controversial whistleblower website, Wikileaks has already revealed that Uganda leader Yoweri Museveni fears the Libyan leader is out to shoot down his Presidential plane and he has since asked the US security agencies for surveillance protection whenever he is flying.
The embattled Libyan leader　has also made controversial remarks calling for Nigeria to be divided, and some in Nigeria have　fingered him the recent violence　between Christians and Moslems which have left thousands dead.
"The mercenaries are from Africa, and speak French and other languages," Libyan ambassador to India Ali al-Essawi said in an interview, adding that he was receiving information from sources within the OPEC-member country.
Essawi, who has left the Libyan embassy since he resigned on Monday to protest the violent crackdown and is now staying at a hotel in New Delhi, said he had been told there had been army defections.
"They (troops) are Libyans and they cannot see foreigners killing Libyans so they moved beside the people," Essawi said, looking nervous and agitated.
Diplomats have said the U.N. Security Council would hold a closed-door meeting on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in Libya.
"Libyans cannot do anything against the air fighters. We do not call for international troops, but we call on the international community to save the Libyans," Essawi said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Essawi told Reuters that he expected more diplomats at foreign missions to resign due to the ongoing violence in Libya. He said ambassadors in China, Poland, Tunisia, the Arab League, and the United States had also stepped down.
"Fighter aircraft were bombing civilians on the streets of Tripoli, this is unprecedented violence," Essawi said.
Last month, the mainstream Movement for Democratic Change warned the Libyan embassy in Zimbabwe against continued funding of Zanu (PF) and said it was also incensed that the party had embarked on a massive vote buying campaign using food handouts and farming inputs.
The Morgan Tsvangirai led MDC said in statements it had been dismayed to learn that the Libyan embassy had donated nine tractors and other farming implements at a function in the town of Chegutu.
Zimbabwe is expected to hold elections later this year after the completion of the constitutional process which has been marred by violence and intimidation by Zanu (PF) supporters. There are fears that Zanu (PF) is planning a war like campaign to retain to power and are said to be prepared to use violence reminiscent of the 2008 post March elections to force people to vote for them.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/7397.html
