Muammar Gaddafi's response to the 2011 Libyan civil war
Encyclopedia
Muammar Gaddafi has attributed the protests against his rule to people who are "rats" and "cockroach
es", terms that have been cited by Hutu radicals of the Tutsi population before the Rwanda genocide began, thus causing unease in the global community. Gaddafi accuses his opponents as those who have been influenced by hallucinogenic drugs put in drinks and pills. He specifically refers to substances in milk, coffee and Nescafe. He claims that Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda
are distributing these hallucinogenic drugs. He also blames alcohol
.
Gaddafi also claimed that the protests against his rule are a "colonialist plot" by foreign countries to control oil and "enslave
" Libyan people. He has asserted that he will chase down the protesters and cleanse the country "house by house," and that his opponents will be executed. Gaddafi has also stated that "those who don't love me do not deserve to live".
Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has stated that family will "fight to the last man and woman and bullet”.
He denied wrongdoing by government forces. "We are not killing our fellow citizens. We are not dropping bombs on them. We and our loyal army have shown unprecedented tolerance towards our own people, who are already armed with tanks and heavy artillery. But even despite that we do not touch innocent civilians." He said that the largest demonstration the opposition had made was of a few thousand people in Bengazi, and that the opposition was made up of terrorists who publicly executed soldiers of the Libyan army on "dozens of videos" on the Internet. He said that "Libya does not use mercenaries, period", and that half of Libya's population
are blacks, some of whom were being falsely labeled as mercenaries. He accused opposition members, whom he called "armed bandits, who are sitting in the tanks", of being "eager to divide the country into two parts — the East and the West."
. Some of the planes have visited a military base in Baranovichi
, Belarus, which has a dedicated military base that only handles stockpiled weaponry and military equipment. Gaddafi's sons have attended Belarusian-Russia
n military exercises before.
During ongoing international military operations
in Libya to enforce a no-fly zone
, the National Transitional Council
claimed that Gaddafi was importing civilians to Misrata to use as human shields for pro-Gaddafi tanks and soldiers in an effort to deter airstrikes.
Soon after Gaddafi started to fight against civilians evidence surfaced that Libyan military units have refused to shoot protesters and Gaddafi had hired foreign mercenaries to do the job. Gaddafi's ambassador to India confirmed that defection of military units had indeed led to such a decision. Video footage of this started to leak out of the country.
Nigerians reported advertisements for mercenaries in Nigerian newspapers in the early days of the conflict.
One group of mercenaries from Niger, who had been recruited from the streets with promises of money, included a soldier of just 13 years of age. On 18 February, it was reported that armed forces with military members from Chad were operating in Benghazi, having been "paid with 5,000 (Dinars) and provided with the latest car models to 'get rid' of Libyan citizen-demonstrators." On 21 February, a lawyer working in Benghazi said that a local security committee formed by native civilians had taken control of the city and had arrested 36 mercenaries from Chad, Niger and Sudan
who were allegedly hired by Gaddafi's body guards to fight in the city. On 22 February, there were reports of mercenaries from Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo
, Niger, Mali
, Sudan, Tunisia
, Morocco
, and possibly even Asia and Eastern Europe, fighting in Bayda. Mercenaries allegedly killed 150 people in the city of Bayda. Various other reports told of Chadians operating in Southern Libya, Benghazi and Tripoli. Mercenaries from Chad, Mali and Niger were reportedly working in the rest of eastern Libya. On 23 February, Gaddafi reportedly deployed mercenaries from nearby countries such as Mali, Niger and Chad with some mercenaries from Chad and Niger reportedly in Bengazi and other eastern cities. On 24 February, the Aruba School in the coastal town of Shahhat
became the prison for almost 200 suspected pro-Gaddafi mercenaries. They are reportedly part of Libya's Khamis Brigade
, the well-equipped 32nd brigade led by Khamis Gaddafi. Rebel forces claimed that after the fall of Bin Jawad
to Gaddafi's forces, mercenaries publicly raped, mutilated, and executed captured fighters.
Gaddafi's former Chief of Protocol Nouri Al Misrahi stated in an interview with the Al Jazeera that Niger
ien, Malian, Chadian and Kenyan mercenaries are among foreign soldiers helping fight the uprising on behalf of Gaddafi. On 25 February, speculation that members of the Zimbabwe National Army
were covertly fighting in Libya grew as Zimbabwe’s Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa
avoided giving a straight answer to a question posed in Parliament about it. On the same day, the Foreign Ministry of Chad denied allegations that mercenaries were fighting for Gaddafi, although he admitted it was possible that individuals had joined such groups.
In some cases misidentifications have been reported. Peter Bouckaert reported one case of captured soldiers in Bayda who seemed to be from southern Libya. Libya has a significant black population that could be mistaken for mercenaries but are actually serving in the regular army. Also, many Chadian soldiers who fought for Gaddafi in past conflicts with Chad were given Libyan citizenship.
The Daily Telegraph studied the case of a sixteen-year-old captured Chadian child soldier in Bayda. The boy, who had previously been a shepherd in Chad, had gone to a border town to look for work. At a bus stop, a Libyan man had offered him a job and a free flight to Tripoli, but in the end he had been airlifted to shoot opposition members in Eastern Libya. Othman Fadil Othman, the Gaddafi official who had hired the boy in Chad, was captured along the boy in the airport and he claimed he did not know either that they were sent to shoot opposition members. However, according to the Telegraph, "It seemed more likely that Mr Othman was trying to save his skin than tell the truth. A beefy, confident man of 30, with three wives and several children back home – he told us with a smirk – he spent a career as a party organiser in Gaddafi's bizarre Soviet-style dictatorship, telling people what to do. He worked for the youth wing headed by the dictator's son Saeef. Mr Othman still couldn't quite bring himself to condemn the colonel. It was painfully obvious that he was hopelessly unsuited for Gaddafi's attempt to terrorise his own people into submission. Like nearly all the captives Mr Othman had no military training. Unleashing thugs and mercenaries like him had backfired disastrously."
Non-aligned Yugoslavia
and its successor Balkan countries have had long and friendly relations with Libya
since Josip Broz Tito
's era, with cooperation ranging from civil engineering to military trade. In particular, many Yugoslav planes including Soko G-2 Galeb were exported to Libya, and some were shot down during imposing of a no-fly zone. In response to unconfirmed allegations that Gaddafi hired Serbian pilots and training officers during the early stages of the Libyan uprising, the Serbian Ministry of Defence
denied that any of its active or retired personnel were participating in the events in Libya, calling the allegations "total stupidity". Serbia has suspended all military trade with Libya, in accordance with UN resolution 1973. The rumors of Serbian and Ukrainian military staff training and helping Gaddafi forces have also been heard in Libya at the beginning of the conflict, and were reported by Al Jazeera
from two Libyan colonels who defected to Malta
. However, when asked by Serbian TV Pink, Gaddafi said that opposition forces tried to bribe a Serbian officer to say that he was mercenary for Gaddafi, which he refused, quoting this incident as an example of a failed war propaganda. Miroslav Lazanski
, a military expert from ex-Yugoslavia, born in Slovenia
but now based in Belgrade
, claimed the allegations were nonsense, since Serbian pilots never flew the Sukhoi
aircraft that comprised the backbone of the Libyan Air Force
.
The population of some cities were loyal to Gaddafi, one example is his hometown of Sirte which has been well developed. Control over Tripoli came in large part from several elite security brigades, which were well-supplied with arms and training while the regular army was somewhat neglected in order to guard against potential coups. Southwestern Libya contains a large population of sub-Saharan Africans, primarily Chadian refugees who Gaddafi settled there in the 1970s–1980s. Gaddafi had also been recruiting soldiers from among the Tuareg people in southwestern Libya, although the tribe as a whole have announced their support for the protesters.
Internationally, several Latin American nations including Venezuela and Cuba released statements of supports for Gaddafi due to shared social revolutionary backgrounds and alliances. Gaddafi has also been hiring mercenaries from neighboring African states; he had spent decades cultivating influence to create a pan-African union. He had influence with rebel groups in neighboring Chad, where many of his mercenaries reportedly originate. However, it appears that many of the mercenaries were untrained peasants who were offered jobs, only to be flown into a war zone and asked to fight or else be killed.
Libyans studying in the US had received phone calls from the Libyan embassy urging them to take part in pro-Gaddafi demonstrations or lose government-funded scholarships. Gaddafi had a history of financing rallies in the US, including paying reportedly $2000 to every attendant in a pro-Gaddafi rally when he visited the United Nations in 2009.
, and security organisations arrested several prominent internet activists and bloggers. The novelist Idris al-Mesmari was arrested hours after giving an interview with Al Jazeera about the police reaction to protests in Benghazi on 15 February. Rolling Internet censorship
occurred mostly but not entirely at night; all Internet traffic was abruptly lost on 18 February. Furthermore, some satellite phone
s were jammed. By 8 March, the government had allowed a large number of foreign reporters into Tripoli, however the journalists complained of having their movements restricted and the government has complained of biased reporting.
A BBC News crew was beaten and then lined up against a wall by Gaddafi's soldiers, who then shot next to a journalist's ear and laughed at them.
Cockroach
Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...
es", terms that have been cited by Hutu radicals of the Tutsi population before the Rwanda genocide began, thus causing unease in the global community. Gaddafi accuses his opponents as those who have been influenced by hallucinogenic drugs put in drinks and pills. He specifically refers to substances in milk, coffee and Nescafe. He claims that Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
are distributing these hallucinogenic drugs. He also blames alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
.
Gaddafi also claimed that the protests against his rule are a "colonialist plot" by foreign countries to control oil and "enslave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
" Libyan people. He has asserted that he will chase down the protesters and cleanse the country "house by house," and that his opponents will be executed. Gaddafi has also stated that "those who don't love me do not deserve to live".
Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has stated that family will "fight to the last man and woman and bullet”.
He denied wrongdoing by government forces. "We are not killing our fellow citizens. We are not dropping bombs on them. We and our loyal army have shown unprecedented tolerance towards our own people, who are already armed with tanks and heavy artillery. But even despite that we do not touch innocent civilians." He said that the largest demonstration the opposition had made was of a few thousand people in Bengazi, and that the opposition was made up of terrorists who publicly executed soldiers of the Libyan army on "dozens of videos" on the Internet. He said that "Libya does not use mercenaries, period", and that half of Libya's population
Demographics of Libya
Demographics of Libya include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the Libyan population.No complete population or vital statistics registration exists in Libya...
are blacks, some of whom were being falsely labeled as mercenaries. He accused opposition members, whom he called "armed bandits, who are sitting in the tanks", of being "eager to divide the country into two parts — the East and the West."
Arms traffic to Gaddafi
Russia got billions of dollars worth of arms deals with Gaddafi and government officials were also late to condemn the massacres of civilians. The EU's arms trafficking watchdog organization has observed flights between Tripoli and BelarusBelarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. Some of the planes have visited a military base in Baranovichi
Baranovichi
Baranovichi , is a city in the Brest Province of western Belarus with a population of 173,000. It is a significant railway junction and home to a state university.-Overview:...
, Belarus, which has a dedicated military base that only handles stockpiled weaponry and military equipment. Gaddafi's sons have attended Belarusian-Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n military exercises before.
Treatment of civilians
Eyewitnesses have reported mercenaries taking over ambulances to kill injured protesters.During ongoing international military operations
2011 military intervention in Libya
On 19 March 2011, a multi-state coalition began a military intervention in Libya to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which was taken in response to events during the 2011 Libyan civil war...
in Libya to enforce a no-fly zone
No-fly zone
A no-fly zone is a territory or an area over which aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in a military context, somewhat like a demilitarized zone in the sky, and usually prohibit military aircraft of a belligerent nation from operating in the region.-Iraq,...
, the National Transitional Council
National Transitional Council
The National Transitional Council of Libya , sometimes known as the Transitional National Council, the Interim National Council, or the Libyan National Council,...
claimed that Gaddafi was importing civilians to Misrata to use as human shields for pro-Gaddafi tanks and soldiers in an effort to deter airstrikes.
Executions of unwilling soldiers
Soldiers who have refused to take part in killing those who oppose Gadhafi have reportedly been executed. Several incidents have been documented on videos leaking out of the country.Replacement of unwilling soldiers with mercenaries
Human Rights Watch said it had seen no evidence of mercenaries being used in eastern Libya. This contradicted widespread earlier reports in the international media that African soldiers had been flown in to fight rebels in the region as Gaddafi sought to keep control.Soon after Gaddafi started to fight against civilians evidence surfaced that Libyan military units have refused to shoot protesters and Gaddafi had hired foreign mercenaries to do the job. Gaddafi's ambassador to India confirmed that defection of military units had indeed led to such a decision. Video footage of this started to leak out of the country.
Nigerians reported advertisements for mercenaries in Nigerian newspapers in the early days of the conflict.
One group of mercenaries from Niger, who had been recruited from the streets with promises of money, included a soldier of just 13 years of age. On 18 February, it was reported that armed forces with military members from Chad were operating in Benghazi, having been "paid with 5,000 (Dinars) and provided with the latest car models to 'get rid' of Libyan citizen-demonstrators." On 21 February, a lawyer working in Benghazi said that a local security committee formed by native civilians had taken control of the city and had arrested 36 mercenaries from Chad, Niger and Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
who were allegedly hired by Gaddafi's body guards to fight in the city. On 22 February, there were reports of mercenaries from Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, Niger, Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, Sudan, Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, and possibly even Asia and Eastern Europe, fighting in Bayda. Mercenaries allegedly killed 150 people in the city of Bayda. Various other reports told of Chadians operating in Southern Libya, Benghazi and Tripoli. Mercenaries from Chad, Mali and Niger were reportedly working in the rest of eastern Libya. On 23 February, Gaddafi reportedly deployed mercenaries from nearby countries such as Mali, Niger and Chad with some mercenaries from Chad and Niger reportedly in Bengazi and other eastern cities. On 24 February, the Aruba School in the coastal town of Shahhat
Shahhat
Shahhat is a town in the District of Jabal al Akhdar in north-eastern Libya. Cyrene was located in the same area in ancient times. It is located east of Bayda....
became the prison for almost 200 suspected pro-Gaddafi mercenaries. They are reportedly part of Libya's Khamis Brigade
Khamis Brigade
The Khamis Brigade, formally the 32nd Reinforced Brigade of the Armed People, was a special forces brigade of the Libyan military loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the de-facto leader of Libya since 1969...
, the well-equipped 32nd brigade led by Khamis Gaddafi. Rebel forces claimed that after the fall of Bin Jawad
Bin Jawad
Bin Jawad , also known as Bin Jawwād, Bin Quwad is a town with estimated 8,488 inhabitants in the Sirte District in Libya. It is approximately half way between Benghazi and Misrata...
to Gaddafi's forces, mercenaries publicly raped, mutilated, and executed captured fighters.
Gaddafi's former Chief of Protocol Nouri Al Misrahi stated in an interview with the Al Jazeera that Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
ien, Malian, Chadian and Kenyan mercenaries are among foreign soldiers helping fight the uprising on behalf of Gaddafi. On 25 February, speculation that members of the Zimbabwe National Army
Zimbabwe National Army
The Zimbabwe National Army is the land warfare branch of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. The ZNA currently has an active duty strength of 30,000.-History:...
were covertly fighting in Libya grew as Zimbabwe’s Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa
Emmerson Mnangagwa
Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is a Zimbabwean politician who has been Minister of Defense since February 2009. He was previously Minister of State Security from 1982 to 1988, then Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs until 2000; he was Speaker of Parliament from July 2000 to 2005 and...
avoided giving a straight answer to a question posed in Parliament about it. On the same day, the Foreign Ministry of Chad denied allegations that mercenaries were fighting for Gaddafi, although he admitted it was possible that individuals had joined such groups.
In some cases misidentifications have been reported. Peter Bouckaert reported one case of captured soldiers in Bayda who seemed to be from southern Libya. Libya has a significant black population that could be mistaken for mercenaries but are actually serving in the regular army. Also, many Chadian soldiers who fought for Gaddafi in past conflicts with Chad were given Libyan citizenship.
The Daily Telegraph studied the case of a sixteen-year-old captured Chadian child soldier in Bayda. The boy, who had previously been a shepherd in Chad, had gone to a border town to look for work. At a bus stop, a Libyan man had offered him a job and a free flight to Tripoli, but in the end he had been airlifted to shoot opposition members in Eastern Libya. Othman Fadil Othman, the Gaddafi official who had hired the boy in Chad, was captured along the boy in the airport and he claimed he did not know either that they were sent to shoot opposition members. However, according to the Telegraph, "It seemed more likely that Mr Othman was trying to save his skin than tell the truth. A beefy, confident man of 30, with three wives and several children back home – he told us with a smirk – he spent a career as a party organiser in Gaddafi's bizarre Soviet-style dictatorship, telling people what to do. He worked for the youth wing headed by the dictator's son Saeef. Mr Othman still couldn't quite bring himself to condemn the colonel. It was painfully obvious that he was hopelessly unsuited for Gaddafi's attempt to terrorise his own people into submission. Like nearly all the captives Mr Othman had no military training. Unleashing thugs and mercenaries like him had backfired disastrously."
Non-aligned Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
and its successor Balkan countries have had long and friendly relations with Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
since Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
's era, with cooperation ranging from civil engineering to military trade. In particular, many Yugoslav planes including Soko G-2 Galeb were exported to Libya, and some were shot down during imposing of a no-fly zone. In response to unconfirmed allegations that Gaddafi hired Serbian pilots and training officers during the early stages of the Libyan uprising, the Serbian Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (Serbia)
The Ministry of Defence of Republic of Serbia is the governmental department responsible for defending the Republic of Serbia from internal and external military threats.-Officials and organisation:...
denied that any of its active or retired personnel were participating in the events in Libya, calling the allegations "total stupidity". Serbia has suspended all military trade with Libya, in accordance with UN resolution 1973. The rumors of Serbian and Ukrainian military staff training and helping Gaddafi forces have also been heard in Libya at the beginning of the conflict, and were reported by Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
from two Libyan colonels who defected to Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
. However, when asked by Serbian TV Pink, Gaddafi said that opposition forces tried to bribe a Serbian officer to say that he was mercenary for Gaddafi, which he refused, quoting this incident as an example of a failed war propaganda. Miroslav Lazanski
Miroslav Lazanski
Miroslav Lazanski is a politico-military commentator for the Belgrade daily Politika.-Biography:Born in Karlovac to a Slovenian father and Serbian mother, he graduated from the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Law...
, a military expert from ex-Yugoslavia, born in Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
but now based in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, claimed the allegations were nonsense, since Serbian pilots never flew the Sukhoi
Sukhoi
Sukhoi Company is a major Russian aircraft manufacturer, headquartered in Begovoy District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow, famous for its fighters...
aircraft that comprised the backbone of the Libyan Air Force
Libyan Air Force
The Libyan Air Force is the branch of the Libyan Armed Forces responsible for aerial warfare. In 2010, before the 2011 Libyan civil war, the Libyan Air Force personnel strength was estimated at 18,000, with an inventory of 374 combat capable aircraft operating from 13 military airbases in...
.
Other methods of suppressing protests
Gaddafi offered an automobile, money and weapons for gangs of three people who will be accompanied by one Gaddafi's officials to drive around Tripoli to deter opposition activities.The population of some cities were loyal to Gaddafi, one example is his hometown of Sirte which has been well developed. Control over Tripoli came in large part from several elite security brigades, which were well-supplied with arms and training while the regular army was somewhat neglected in order to guard against potential coups. Southwestern Libya contains a large population of sub-Saharan Africans, primarily Chadian refugees who Gaddafi settled there in the 1970s–1980s. Gaddafi had also been recruiting soldiers from among the Tuareg people in southwestern Libya, although the tribe as a whole have announced their support for the protesters.
Internationally, several Latin American nations including Venezuela and Cuba released statements of supports for Gaddafi due to shared social revolutionary backgrounds and alliances. Gaddafi has also been hiring mercenaries from neighboring African states; he had spent decades cultivating influence to create a pan-African union. He had influence with rebel groups in neighboring Chad, where many of his mercenaries reportedly originate. However, it appears that many of the mercenaries were untrained peasants who were offered jobs, only to be flown into a war zone and asked to fight or else be killed.
Libyans studying in the US had received phone calls from the Libyan embassy urging them to take part in pro-Gaddafi demonstrations or lose government-funded scholarships. Gaddafi had a history of financing rallies in the US, including paying reportedly $2000 to every attendant in a pro-Gaddafi rally when he visited the United Nations in 2009.
Censorship
International journalists were banned by the Libyan authorities from reporting from Libya except by invitation of the Gaddafi government. Additionally, reports suggest that the Internet was widely disrupted. On 13 February, Gaddafi warned against the use of FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, and security organisations arrested several prominent internet activists and bloggers. The novelist Idris al-Mesmari was arrested hours after giving an interview with Al Jazeera about the police reaction to protests in Benghazi on 15 February. Rolling Internet censorship
Internet censorship
Internet censorship is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations either at the behest of government or on their own initiative...
occurred mostly but not entirely at night; all Internet traffic was abruptly lost on 18 February. Furthermore, some satellite phone
Satellite phone
A satellite telephone, satellite phone, or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites...
s were jammed. By 8 March, the government had allowed a large number of foreign reporters into Tripoli, however the journalists complained of having their movements restricted and the government has complained of biased reporting.
A BBC News crew was beaten and then lined up against a wall by Gaddafi's soldiers, who then shot next to a journalist's ear and laughed at them.
Government media campaign
Throughout the uprising, Gaddafi had been able to use the state owned television channel, Al-Jamahiriya, to appear as if he and his forces were in control and to craft a pro-government message. For example, channels that appeal to Libyan youth had broadcast Libyans reciting Gaddafi's historical accomplishments and patriotic songs. On 8 March, the state television broadcast what appeared to be Gaddafi loyalists celebrating in Martyrs' Square in Zawiya; however, analysis determined that the footage was actually shot elsewhere, outside of Zawiya. Analysts speculate that this effort at propaganda may not have much of an effect with a population that is accustomed to such tactics. Gaddafi described the Western intervention as "crusader colonial aggression".See also
- Human rights in Libya under Gaddafi
- Human rights violations in the 2011 Libyan civil warHuman rights violations in the 2011 Libyan civil warThe outbreak of the 2011 Libyan civil war has been followed by accusations of human-rights violations by the rebel forces opposed to Muammar Gaddafi, the Armed Forces and NATO...