Mystery of British woman linked to Gaddafi’s doomed getaway as it emerges son Saif ‘is hiding in Sahara’

Posted on November 6, 2011 by robbyball

#Saif hiding

@antloewensteinAntony Loewenstein

Mercenaries, #Gaddafi and #Libya; the toxic mix rarely examineddailymail.co.uk/news/article-2…

Mystery of British woman linked to Gaddafi’s doomed getaway as it emerges son Saif ‘is hiding in Sahara’

Nairobi-based Briton works for multinational oil firm
She was asked to recruit mercenaries for Libya mission
Claims she has never had contact with Gaddafi family
and didn’t know why South African troops were needed

By GRAHAM SMITH

Last updated at 5:49 PM on 3rd November 2011

A British woman working for a multinational oil company has revealed she was asked to recruit mercenaries to take part in an operation to rescue Muammar Gaddafi, it emerged today.

Sarah Penfold, who is of Kenyan descent and works in security, claimed her brief was to round up a team of South African ‘soldiers of fortune’ as revolutionary forces closed in on the now-deceased Libyan tyrant, the Independent reported.

When Gaddafi was captured and killed last month as he tried to escape the city of Sirte he was accompanied by South African mercenaries.

Meanwhile, the dictator’s son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is thought to have disappeared into the Sahara Desert accompanied by mercenaries recruited at the same time.

Revolutionary fighters inspect a storm drain where Muammar Gaddafi was found last month. A British woman working for a multinational oil company claims she was asked to recruit mercenaries to join an operation to rescue the Libyan tyrant

When Gaddafi was captured and killed last month as he tried to escape the city of Sirte he was accompanied by South African mercenaries

It is feared he could remain hidden for months as the International Criminal Court and Libya’s new rulers argue about who should try him.

Based in Nairobi, Ms Penfold – an ‘executive protection and security specialist’ – has frequently been associated with private forces working in Africa.

She denies ever having had any contact with the Gaddafi family.

According to the Independent, she told an acquaintance in South Africa: ‘I was asked by a friend to get some guys together to do private security detail and training in Libya for a well known oil company to protect their assets and personnel.

‘I sent an email round asking guys to go for an interview and forward it to others. That’s all.’

But it is thought that some of these mercenaries went on to take part in assisting Gaddafi in his unsuccessful attempt to flee Libya.

At least two were killed, and several injured, when Gaddafi’s convoy was attacked by a Nato air strike, before the dicatator was pursued by rebel forces on the ground.

Meanwhile, the hunt continues for Saif Gaddafi, who is thought to be hiding out in the border region of Chad, Niger and Algeria.

More…

Nothing has been heard of Saif since sources said almost a week ago that Tuareg nomads were escorting him and that he was close to the Mali border.

Mali legislator Ibrahim Ag Mohamed indicated Saif is not in Mali or Niger.

He could be feeding disinformation as he considers his options out in the desert that is impossible to police and favoured by other outlaws like drug dealers and Al-Qaeda fighters.

Various sources indicate he could be plotting a counter-revolution, scheming about a getaway to a friendly country, or negotiating his surrender.

Exact whereabouts unknown: Saif Gaddafi is thought to have disappeared into the Sahara Desert accompanied by mercenaries recruited by the British woman

Saif and his late father’s former chief of military intelligence, Abdullah al-Senoussi, have reportedly been travelling in separate convoys escorted by Tuaregs, who understand best how to survive in the desert.

Loyalty to the ethnic group trumps nationality, and the Tuareg’s traditional stomping grounds stretch across North Africa, from Morocco and Algeria to Libya and south-west to Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad.

Saif and al-Senoussi are both wanted by the ICC for allegedly organising and ordering attacks in Libya that killed civilians during the revolt.

More than a dozen countries in Africa do not recognise the international court, but even some that do ignore its arrest warrants amid criticism that the Hague-based court goes after a disproportionate number of Africans.

Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, wanted for genocide and war crimes committed in Darfur, attended a conference in Malawi last month with no problem, though Malawi is a member of the ICC.

In the area where Saif is believed hiding, only Algeria is not a signatory.
Algeria was a staunch supporter of Muammar Gaddafi and has given refuge to his wife, a daughter and two other sons, but now is trying to establish ties with Libya’s new leaders.

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@aliwahida Ali Wahida #Turkey will undertake the restoration of the Murat Aga Mosque which was built in 1552 during Ottoman period #LIBYA

Posted on November 6, 2011 by robbyball

@aliwahidaAli Wahida

#Turkey will undertake the restoration of the Murat Aga Mosque which was built in 1552 during Ottoman period #LIBYAworldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&A…

Libyan PM performs Eid al-Adha prayer in Ottoman mosque

Turkey will undertake the restoration of the Murat Aga Mosque which was built in 1552 during Ottoman period.

Libya’s Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib performed his Eid al-Adha religious holiday prayer in Murat Aga Mosque remaining from Ottoman period.

Al-Kib also gathered with people and celebrated their Eid in the mosque in Tajura city.Turkey will undertake the restoration of the Murat Aga Mosque which was built in 1552 during Ottoman period. In his recent visit to Libya, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had addressed Libyan people in that mosque. Meanwhile, International Cooperation & Development Agency of Turkey (TIKA) distributed meat to Libyan people in Subrata city.

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The Search for Libya’s Identity “That government is best which governs least” is a line in Henry David Thorea

Posted on November 6, 2011 by robbyball

@qwmagazineMohammed Ismail

Post: The Search for Libya’s Identity j.mp/vOfhCh #libya #gaddafi #arabspring #revolution #gadhafi

The Search for Libya’s Identity

by NADA ELFEITURI on Nov 6, 2011 • 3:48 am0 Comments and 0 Reactions

“That government is best which governs least” is a line in Henry David Thoreau’s famous essay ‘Civil Disobedience’. He then goes on to say that the best government is that which governs not at all.

Perhaps Thoreau might have changed some of his world-views if he saw what Libya under Gadhafi was like. It certainly wasn’t governed by any discernable administration. Gadhafi had suspended the laws and the constitution, announcing that Libya would be “ruled by the people”. But he didn’t mean all the people. And he was by no means out of the political picture. The country slowly regressed into a backwards police state, or more accurately, a ‘leejan thoria’ (Revolutionary Committee) state. Corruption was present at every social level. The population was exploited to a degree they were unaware of, and any dissent was met with immediate suppression.

It was this totalitarianism that ultimately brought about Gadhafi’s demise, and proved that you can’t completely suppress a nation’s humanity.

But with Libya starting over, there is a sort of latent, pressing need to fit Libyans collectively under one identity, perhaps to keep together the unity which helped propagate the revolution. Libya is 100% Sunni Muslim, they say, so we must all want the same thing, right?

Some things are of course unanimously agreed up. Freedom of speech, the right to a proper education and healthcare system, we all want the basic necessities which are taken for granted in developed countries and which had long been abandoned as lost causes under the dictatorship. But what about politics? The role of women? It’s here that things aren’t as obvious, and which fuels the desire to find a niche into which all Libyans can fit.

And it’s not just a longing to be on the same wavelength, but also apprehension and even fear of different opinions and beliefs. This can largely be blamed on the Gadhafi regime, where your decisions were made for you and no one was ever given an opportunity to voice their thoughts. Concepts like diversity, or individualism, were alien, and it’s necessary to reintroduce them.

This is an issue that Libyans must tackle head-on. The drafting of the constitution will help establish the direction Libya will be headed, which is why it needs to be a top priority for the NTC. Once we know and agree upon what future we want for the country, we can start working towards it. Whether you’re religious or secular, we all want a better Libya. Keeping an open mind will go a long way towards making this a reality.

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Dusting off the old Myspace site

Posted on September 7, 2009 by robbyball

If you have a myspace
site…. please add me as friend

http://www.myspace.com/robbyball

Well I thought i had put the old Myspace site to bed, gone and forever. For me it was never really anything that was too interesting, kinda like Twitter, ok I get it, but then again, hmm.. not really. So I was letting it just fade away, didn’t use it anymore, but the other day I checked and they have a new format 2.0, a new editor, new formating, and lots of pretty decent video players, and found that it would put together a pretty good Charely Magruders page, and was more felixible than this site… Well, nothings better than facebook, but myspace with an overhaul, seems pretty good, and I am very pleased with what I have been able to put together over there. Please check it out if you have a chance. Hope to see you over there….. Robby..