Libya: Embattled Gaddaffi Resorts to Mercenaries

By Eric Sande

TRIPOLI---Besieged Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi has since vowed to cling to power by using crooked formulas to stem down the stalemate rocking his country. He has turned to a special military unit controlled by his son and mercenaries allegedly from Zimbabwe to aid his battle against protesters seeking his resignation.

The counterattacks are aimed at defending Tripoli and western Libya against the popular uprising now consolidating its hold on the "liberated" east of the country and advancing into loyalist territory.

The combat-ready platoon fight with the protesters was reported from the important town of al-Zawiya, 35 miles west of the capital, on Wednesday while armoured units commanded by Gaddafi's son Khamis and other loyalist forces deployed eastwards along the coastal road towards Misurata, the country's third largest city and a major port, said to be in the hands of rebels equipped with heavy weapons.

U.S. and European national security and intelligence officials revealed via cables obtained by WikiLeaks that Libya’s 32nd Brigade, led by Gaddafi’s son Khamees Gaddafi, a relatively well-equipped Special Forces outfit that contains about 10,000 men are the only armed forces directly loyal to Gaddafi.

Quoted by Reuters, a U.S. official who is familiar with official government reporting from the region said, "The situation is way too fluid to know whether the regime will survive or not, but they’re certainly trying to hold things together with duct tape and Krazy Glue," a witness was also quoted saying: "On Thursday the unit had attacked anti-government militias controlling the town of Misrata, killing several people."

Conjectures are going around that members of the Zimbabwe National Army are in Libya to help prop up Gaddafi’s reign after units of Gaddafi’s military deserted the disillusioned leader. Reports claim that the mercenaries from Zimbabwe, Chad and other African countries are putting up a stand on behalf of Gaddafi, reportedly gunning down unarmed civilians at random, an Arab TV channel Al Jazeera revealed.

Gaddafi in another semi-coherent and abusive speech on Thursday,  gave no clear sign of relinquishing power , accusing protesters of being drugged and agents of al-Qaida. "Their ages are 17. They give them pills at night, they put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their milk, their coffee, their Nescafé," he said in a telephone interview with Libyan state TV – suggesting he may already have left his heavily guarded Tripoli compound.

It only boosted the growing impression that he is desperate and out of touch with reality. "This is the speech of a dead man," said Said el-Gareeny in the eastern city of Benghazi, which is now in opposition hands.

International efforts to respond to the Libyan crisis are gathering pace under US leadership. The White House said Barack Obama planned to call David Cameron and France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to discuss possible actions, including a no-fly zone or sanctions to force the Libyan leader to end the violence. Switzerland said it had frozen Gaddafi's assets.

Gaddafi, who has been in power for 42 years, has applied force using aircraft, tanks and foreign mercenaries in eight days of violence that has killed hundreds in the bloodiest of the uprisings to shake the Arab world.  According to senior French human rights official, it was claimed that up to 2,000 people may have died in the uprising.