President Bashir of Sudan Offers to Help Libya Form a National Army

Sudanese President Bahshir, wanted for War Crimes in the Hague has actuall offered to Help Libya create a national Army....He says he has experience "integerating rebels" into the army....

-Shimron Issachar


(Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court on genocide charges, said on Saturday he has offered to help Libya integrate its dozens of militias into the country's armed forces.

"We have an experience in integrating rebels in a national army," said Bashir, whose visit to Libya drew criticism from human rights groups.

"We have offered to help our brothers in Libya in building a national army that includes the components of the Libyan revolution. Our experts are available and our officers are available," he said.

Bashir also said he had offered the new Libyan government help from Sudanese troops in protecting Libya's southern borders during the war that ended Muammar Gaddafi's rule but that his offer was declined.

Libya's new rulers are struggling to include thousands of former rebels who helped oust Gaddafi in a military and police force or in civilian jobs.

Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council, warned this week that Libya risks sliding into civil war unless it cracks down on rival militias which filled the vacuum left by Gaddafi's downfall.

The militias are vying with each other for influence, and believe that to ensure they receive their due share of political power they need to keep an armed presence in the capital.

Abdul Jalil, who visited Khartoum in November, has said Sudanese weapons and ammunition helped Libya's former rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi last year and take control of the North African country.

Relations between Khartoum and Tripoli were strained during Gaddafi's rule because of his support for rebels in Sudan's western Darfur region and in South Sudan, which gained independence in July under a 2005 peace deal.

Bashir said that the ousting of Gaddafi was "the best piece of news in Sudan's modern history."

"We came here to thank the Libyan people for the gift they offered to the Sudanese people by removing Gaddafi," he said.

RIGHTS GROUPS' CRITICISM

Bashir's visit was criticised by rights groups.

"Welcoming Bashir ... raises questions about the NTC's stated commitment to human rights and the rule of law," Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

"Following the end of decades of brutal rule in Libya, it is disturbing if Tripoli hosts a head of state on the run from international arrest warrants for grave human rights violations."

Mohammed al-Keelani, who heads a group of 50 Libyan civil society organizations, said Bashir was not welcome in Libya.

"For us, Omar al-Bashir is the Gaddafi of Sudan," he said. "We have reservations against this visit because he's a tyrant who oppresses his people and his policy contradicts our principles."

Bashir is under increasing pressure at home after his country lost much of its oil production to the south.

The Rest @ Reuters

Tuaregs Fighting for Gaddafi

Niger Rebels have been given asylum and support by Gadaffi in Libya for half a century; so it is natural that he would call on the Tuareg in Northern Nigeria to help him start an insurgency.

Shimron Issachar ( see article below)

***************

The Libyan leader has turned for additional firepower to the Tuareg berber people, who have a history of relations with Tripoli -- and their own longstanding conflict with the Niger government.

Doctors in Brega, Libya show identity card of a slain pro-Gaddafi fighter they say was a Tuareg from Niger

AGADEZ - “We’re here, and everything’s fine. They gave us weapons in Tripoli, and for now we have to stick to Sabaha (in southern Libya). But we’ll be on the frontlines soon….Long live Gaddafi!”

Reached from Agadez, in northern Niger, Suleiman’s laughter is lost in the static of the cell phone. Communication is cut off somewhere in the Sahara desert, a thousand kilometers away from the Aïr mountains of Niger where Suleiman was born.

The northern mountain range remains the stronghold of the rebellion of the Tuareg, a nomadic Berber people, who have fought on and off against the authorities in the capital of Niamey.
That Tuaregs from Niger have been recruited as mercenaries for the Libyan regime is Agadez’s worst kept secret. But it is hard to meet a volunteer who’ll speak openly about it -- and impossible to know just how many have taken Muammar Gaddafi’s side since the beginning of the Libyan crisis.

“There are hundreds of them,” estimates a former rebel leader in Agadez. “They leave in caravans. The ride is long but easy. We avoid Nigerien army checkpoints, and once in Libya, we’re at home. We’ve always been welcome there.”

The desert is unconquerable. North of a line going from the Malian border to Libya, passing through Tahoua, Agadez and Dirkou, the Tuaregs know the dirt roads that lead up into Algeria and Libya better than anyone else.

These roads see all sorts of traffic: arms and drugs, goods and African migrants heading to Europe. For years, these roads have been leading them to Libya, a land of asylum and a sanctuary for generations of Tuareg rebels since the 1960s.

It is a land of financial and personal integration for the luckiest, of thankless seasonal labor for others. For a Tuareg community that doesn’t feel welcome in its own country, one of the poorest in the world, Libya is a gold mine.

“Unemployment, idleness, destitution and political frustration, added to the feeling that they are in debt to Gaddafi… All the ingredients are there to make the Tuaregs fight by his side.

Gaddafi doesn’t need equipment or money, he needs menNigerien Patriotic Front (NPF) rebel group.,” says Issuf Maha, 46, a former official of the

• Nigerien Tuaregs in Libya, with full access to Gaddafi’s inner circle, have activated networks.
• “Rhissa Boula and Aghali Alambo (two former rebel leaders) contacted a number of people,” Maha adds.
• One young man, Houcene, hasn’t made up his mind about going to Tripoli. “A friend called me,” he says. “They promised up to $100 a day. It’s tempting, but I don’t really want to fight for a foreign country, even if it’s Libya.” One of his friends went. “He left with about 60 others from the Tahoua region.
• Once in Tripoli, thanks to the old commanders’ connections, Libya gave them weapons. They formed small units and now they’re in Benghazi (the opposition stronghold) to take the city.”

Gaddafi has often used battalions of Tuaregs, picking these rugged warriors from tribes living in Southern Libya but mostly in the Tuareg communities of Mali and Niger, the largest, “about 1.5 million people for a population 11 million,” according to a Nigerien general.

Integrated in the ranks of the Islamic Legion, these men fought in Lebanon, despite not speaking Arabic, and in Chad in the 1980’s. Many then stayed in Libya. Some worked their way up to the top of the Libyan military ranks, unheard of in their native Niger, where Tuaregs are under-represented in government bodies. One of Gaddafi’s closest advisors is a Tuareg and two Southern shabiyats (districts), Ghat and Wadi al Hayaa are run by Tuaregs.

In Agadez, many dream of such promotions. “If we want security in the North of the country, we have to integrate Tuaregs in the army. They know the region better than anyone else. But the army sees us as thugs,” regrets Mohamed Anako.

Still, Agadez has been precariously calm since a verbal peace agreement quickly put together in the Libyan port city of Syrte in April 2009, under Gaddafi’s supervision, which put an end to a two-year Tuareg uprising in Niger.

“It was just a tacit agreement to start the peace process,” says Aklou Sidi Sidi. Niamey only partly recognized the protocol. “Gaddafi paid for everything but as usual, he just gave suitcases full of dollars to rebel leaders,” says Maha.

With the Libyan money, the 3,000 or so identified rebels were demobilized and disarmed. In exchange, Niamey called a general amnesty, freed prisoners and lifted the state of exception installed in Agadez and the surrounding region. But no economic or social measures were taken.

“They should have integrated former rebels, given young people jobs, but they never followed up,” says the region’s governor, Colonel Yaye Garba, a Zarma appointed in Agadez by the military junta.

The makeshift peace agreement has frustrated 35-year-old Houcene. He’s among those low-ranking rebels who only got a little money for their demobilization after two years of guerilla in the bush. “Former leaders took the lion’s share.

They drive around Niamey in fancy SUVs, live in big villas,” he says. Some haven’t even been back to Agadez, afraid to face their former brothers in arms. Especially since the money paid was less then what Libya had promised. “Gaddafi promised $20 million and only paid four million,” says Issouf Maha. Houcene, who’s been unemployed since he gave up his weapons, says there’s no place left to turn.

“We were betrayed by everyone: Niamey, Tripoli and our own leaders.”
Read the original article in French

By Christophe Chatelot

The Rest @ WorldCrunch-LeMonde

Reports of Gaddafi Mercenaries

I fought for Gathafi and I came back injured and without a penny," says Silimane Albaka, one of hundreds of Niger's Tuaregs recruited by the Libyan regime to fight the rebels.

Albaka, a veteran of the Tuareg rebellions in 1990 and 2009, battled the anti-regime forces for four months before fleeing back to Niger three weeks ago.

The 56-year-old father of seven returned to the northern city of Agadez with a chest wound from the battle for Misrata and scarcely able to feed his family.

He says he was contacted in April by Agaly Alambo, a key player in the second Tuareg revolt who settled in Tripoli.

• Thousands of Tuaregs took refuge in Libya following the rebellions which shook Mali and Niger over the past two decades.
• "There were 229 of us ex-fighters who left. They promised each of us an advance of 3.2 million CFA francs (about 5,000 euros), but I haven't seen a penny," said Albaka."They said that after the victory, Gathafi was going to shower us with gifts but all I saw was the hail of NATO aircraft fire," said the heavy weapons expert.

"Since the end of July, about 200 Tuareg mercenaries fled Libya for Agadez, about 500 are in Sirte, but I think all the others are dead," said Albaka.

A Tuareg source said that about 1,500 ex-rebels from Niger fought for Gathafi, most of whom were living in Libya after laying down arms in 2009.

The source said members of the strongman's regime came to Agadez in April with briefcases stuffed with cash and recruited "hundreds" of young people.

"We handed two million CFA francs (3,000 euros) to each recruit and took them on a short training session in the Libyan desert," said a Tuareg intermediary in Agadez who did not want to be named.

Almoudene Moha, another Tuareg ex-rebel who returned two weeks ago, said the intense NATO bombardments and heavy killings panicked the fighters.

"We organised an escape in our patrol vehicle," said the ex-mechanic "enrolled by force" by Gathafi loyalists.

Former Tuareg fighter Lamine Souleymane, 39, said he and three comrades ran more than 80 kilometres (50 miles) after deserting a Tripoli garrison.

"We pretended to hold prayers far away from the camp one time and we stole a vehicle which we had sold in Agadez," said Souleymane, who arrived back two days ago.

"Gathafi's soldiers came into our apartments and recruited 110 of us. They dangled about one million CFA francs (1,500 euros) in front of us, a house and Libyan nationality," said Abdoulaye Ahmadou, 36, who was unemployed when recruited by pro-Gathafi forces in April.

"It was hellish. One evening I hid in a supply truck. Once in town, I rejoined the immigrants who were returning home," he said, adding that many weapons were abandoned in the desert.

The "Mourtazak" (Arabic for mercenaries) are currently coming back unarmed but their return is causing concern in Niger where about 211,000 people have fled from the violence in Libya since February.

In Mali locals have warned that the Tuaregs' return with Libyan heavy weaponry might benefit Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which originated in Algeria and operates in several countries.

By Boureima Hama - AGADEZ (Niger)

The Rest @ Middle East Online

Condaleez Rice to Vsist Gaddafi, Libya

By Viola Gienger

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to travel to North Africa tomorrow to welcome an unlikely ally to the U.S. fight against terrorism: Libya’s Colonel Muammar Qaddafi.

For most of Qaddafi’s 39 years in power, the U.S. listed Libya as a state sponsor of terrorism, including the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and banned American companies from doing business there.

• Now the country is sharing intelligence with the U.S. about the North African activities of al-Qaeda, the Islamic militants behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
• And U.S. energy, telecommunications and construction companies are vying for billions of dollars in contracts tied to expanded oil production in Libya, which has 3.4 percent of the world’s proven reserves.
• Qaddafi’s help on intelligence matters has been “exemplary,” said Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, whose negotiations with Libya paved the way for Rice’s visit. “One of the benefits of working with Libya in this area over the last several years is that we’ve been able to expand this kind of cooperation,” he added in an interview.
  
  
• The U.S. is negotiating a military cooperation accord with Libya and says the country is helping stem the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq.
• Al-Qaeda consolidated Islamist fighters in Algeria and Libya in the past two years under the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb group, or AQIM.
• In November, al-Qaeda deputy chief Ayman al-Zawahiri urged his fighters to topple Qaddafi, excoriating his decisions to renounce terrorism and shun nuclear and chemical weapons.
  
• Libyans may want to buy aircraft and related equipment to help patrol their borders.
  

As U.S. officials court Qaddafi, they’ve said little about the regime’s suppression of its own people beyond annual government reports citing its “authoritarian” rule and “poor” record on human rights.

Libya holds political prisoners, torture is widespread and the government allows almost no free press or assembly, said Fred Abrahams, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch in New York.

The Rest @ Aftermath News

Goukouni Oueddei's Interactions with Chad

Goukouni Oueddei (born 1944) is a Chadian political figure, son of Oueddei Kichidemi, derde of the Teda.

Goukouni, from the northern half of the country, entered politics in the late 1960s as a militant in the National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT) led by Abba Siddick.

FROLINAT resented the political dominance enjoyed by southerners under the presidency of François Tombalbaye and advocated the participation of central and northern peoples. After Tombalbaye's assassination in 1975, tensions between the two geographical halves escalated into a convoluted civil war that involved several Chadian political groups, Libya, the United States, and France.

The conflict was to last through the 1980s. Goukouni viewed the dictatorial Tombalbaye regime as an instrument of continued French hegemony in Chad.

Goukouni was installed as interim Chadian head of state on 23 March 1979. He was acclaimed President of the Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT), which sought reconciliation between warring factions, on 10 November 1979....

...The GUNT was, however, overthrown by Habré loyalists on 7 June 1982. Goukouni fled into Algerian exile, Acyl died in an unrelated accident, and Kamougué lost much of his base as Habré consolidated his power into a centralized military dictatorship.

By 1983, Goukouni returned to Chad with substantial Libyan assistance to fight the Habré régime through guerrilla warfare. He was the most recognized Chadian oppositionist, whose views carried significant weight, though Habré granted only limited concessions in an attempt to reconcile with Goukouni. The former president reportedly demanded a new constitution and liberalization of political party activity, which Habré did not accede to.

Goukouni met with current Chadian president Idriss Déby on April 17, 2007, in Libreville, Gabon, to discuss ways to end the current civil war. Saying that Chad was in grave danger, Goukouni expressed a hope that he could use his "moral authority" to save it. He said that in turn he wanted to be allowed to return to Chad from exile in the future, and he said that Déby had agreed to that.[1][2] On April 19, the leaders of two rebel groups rejected Goukouni's offer to mediate.[3]

Goukouni returned to Chad on July 30, 2007, along with about twenty other exiled opponents of the regime, for a discussion with Déby regarding the rebellion and how to resolve the situation. Goukouni and the others left Chad and returned to Libreville later on the same day.[4]

The Rest @ from Wikipedia

Oxy Oil & Libya National Oil Company

from the Libya natinal Oil Company Web site, this is almost a year old, but of recent interest as the bidding for the Libyan oil leases approach their fourth round...

-Shimron

Dr. Shokri M. Ghanem, Chairman of the National Oil Corporation met Mr. Casey Olson, President, Oxy Oil and Gas Eastern Hemisphere on 29/10/2006. Engineer Ahmed H. Aoun, Member of the Management Committee for Planning, Studies and Projects, NOC and Mr. Paul MacInnes, President and General Manager of OXY Libya, LLC were present.

The meeting was arranged to present views and discuss proposals on the company's activities in Libya. The discussion ranged over various topics, such as

• the progress on the EPSA IV
• the increase in production and the impact of the fluctuating oil price on investment

Mr. Olson revealed that OXY Libya achieved a 40% increase in the seismic survey and a 50% increase in drilling operations, he also emphasized that his company has participated in the Third Bidding round for Exploration and Production which will be announced this coming December .

Furthermore, he announced that two thirds of next year company exploration budget will be allocated to operating and investing in Libya.

Dr. Ghanem suggested the establishment of a joint social fund, to be sponsored by the oil companies operating in Libya for the benefit of some Libyan institutions and Mr. Olson expressed his approval of this proposal.

Here is the rest

-Keep this in mind as the next round of bidding proceeds...

-Shimron

Reprint from a 1998 Ghanaweb: The only srouce fo this information, so I cannot verify it

-Shimron

The Crusading Guide says a cross-section of the workers of the Ghana- Libya Arab Holding Company (GLAHCO) have expressed grave misgivings about the operations of the company and have consequently called on Parliament to probe it.

The paper says the workers, who looked visibly depressed, stormed the newsroom of the Crusading Guide to register their protest against the "shady" deals being perpetrated by the management of the company under the stewardship of Mr. Salem Serkik, a Libyan.

Apart from calling for a probe, the workers are also said to have urged the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service to endeavour to collect income tax due it from the company.

According to the Crusading Guide, GLAHCO, which is a Ghanaian registered company with the government of Ghana holding 40 per cent shares, is actually treated as a subsidiary of Libyan Arab Investment Company.

The paper quotes a source as disclosing that exchange rates are manipulated in favour of Libyan Arab Investment Company "for so called loans and interest payments owed by GLAHCO and this is having an adverse effect on the 40 per cent Ghana's share holdings".

From July 2004,

from Ghana plus the latest Ghanaian movies.The government has agreed to an out of court settlement with Ace Hotels and Resorts limited (AHRL) towards the resolution of the legal suit on the City Hotel in Kumasi.

The Minister of Information, Nana Akomea who disclosed this in an interview said the Ghana Libyan Arab Holding Company (GLAHCO), has consented to offset the cost of settlement with part of the dividends from the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra.

He did not disclose the settlement cost to be paid but said between 1999 and 2002, the total amount of dividends earned by the government from Golden Tulip was $2,254,980.Nana

Akomea said the government was responsible for paying the settlement cost because the City Hotel property was used as part of government of Ghana equity in GLAHCO at a value of $3million.

He explained that Cabinet, at a recent meeting agree to accept the terms of the settlement in order to end the litigation on the City Hotel property to enable theDivestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) to finalise the transfer of the property to GLAHCO.

Nana Akomea said the government planned to remove all the bottlenecks as soon as soon as possible to enable the rehabilitation of the hotel by GLAHCO to begin this year.

The Rest @Ghanaweb

Ghana Libya Arab Holding Company

June, 2007

The Ghana-Libya Arab Holding Company (GLAHCO) and the China State Hualong Construction (Gh) limited, on Sunday signed a 14.7 million-dollar agreement to rehabilitate the City Hotel in Kumasi into a four-star hotel.

Work is expected to begin from June 05 and end in October 2007. The hotel would be refurbished and provided with 112 rooms, apartments and executive suits.

Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, signed for Ghana and Mr Su Yue-Hua, President Ghana Chinese Chamber of Commerce, signed for the Chinese company.

• Mr Baah Wiredu said Libya was providing 60 per cent of the amount while Ghana would provide 40 per cent.
• He said the project was the final of several projects GLAHCO is undertaking in the country.
• The other projects are the Golden Tulip Hotel that is to be expanded, Airport City project, some estates at Adjirigano at East Legon, Aluworks warehouse at Tema and the development of an 8,000-acre farm at Kodji near Sogakope in the Volta Region.
• He said 500 acres out of the 8000 acres had been developed with 475 used for the cultivation of mango and 25 acres for lime.
• Mr Ernest Asamoah, Executive Director of GLAHCO, said it has taken a long time to reach the agreement because of the quality of work expected.
• Mr Su Yue-Hua said the firm had carried out a lot of projects for the education sector and the presidential office and was confident that it would be able to carry out this assignment well and on time. He gave the assurance that from next week the team of workers would move to Kumasi to start the project.

Other GLAHCO Projects (from 2000)

The Rest @ the Golden Tulip