[WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT: NOT FOR SENSITIVE VIEWERS]
By Their Friends, Shall Ye Know Them
21 February 2011
ILuvSA
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Gaddafi Gives Anc Millions: Report
[30 May 1999, Sapa] Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi has donated millions of pounds to a "secret election campaign fund" run by President Nelson Mandela to allow the African National Congress to win the June 2 election, the British Sunday Telegraph reported on Sunday.
According to SABC radio news reports, figures compiled by Greg Mills of the South African Institute for International Affairs revealed that the ANC had received more than 112 million pounds in overseas funding from what Mills said was "questionable sources".
ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama dismissed the Telegraph report as a "smear campaign" against the ANC and "whoever is making the claims... has got a sinister motive".
The ANC could not say whether it had received money from Gaddafi or not, but there was nothing wrong if it had. "Like all other political parties, the ANC receives donations," Ngonyama said.
Parties such as the Democratic Party and the United Democratic Movement received funds from "countries such as the United States, but no-one has ever queried this", he said.
The Sunday Telegraph report was a "continuation of the British media trying to choose friends for the ANC", Smuts said.
Excerpt from a Mandela speech.
 Libya: Benghazi Protestors shot by Gaddafi's Snipers & Mercenaries |
“It was pure expediency to call on democratic South Africa to turn its back on Libya and Qaddafi, who had assisted us in obtaining democracy at a time when those who now made that call were the friends of the enemies of democracy in South Africa.
Had we heeded those demands, we would have betrayed the very values and attitudes that allowed us as a nation to have adversaries sitting down and negotiating in a spirit of compromise. It would have meant denying that the South African experience could be a model and example for international behaviour.
In many ways, our modest contribution to resolving the Lockerbie issue will remain a highlight of the international aspects of our Presidency. No one can deny that the friendship and trust between South Africa and Libya played a significant part in arriving at this solution. If that be so, it vindicates our view that talking to one another and searching for peaceful solutions remain the surest way to resolve differences and advance peace and progress in the world.
We look forward with joy and anticipation to the full re-entry of Libya into the affairs of our continent and the world.
We have already seen Libya take up its role as an important actor on the African continent to help advance the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
South Africa is proud to acknowledge the coincidence between its own position and SADC's, on the one hand, and that of Libya on the other. We share the view that peace in the DRC can only be achieved through the withdrawal of all foreign forces and an inclusive political process of Congolese groups.
We appreciate very much Libya's indication that its own efforts will be co-ordinated with those of our regional organisation, SADC. This approach confounds those who suggest that Libya is less than fully committed to multilateralism. My Brother Leader is involved in the Congolese process as a facilitator of the SADC process, just as we were involved in the Lockerbie issue as facilitators for the United Nations. In such ways we advance the ideals of multilateral co-operation and discipline. And for that we thank our Brother Leader and the Libyan people.
WARNING: GRAPHIC: RAW, LIBYA, peaceful protester murdered by Sniper, Libya Protests 22.02.2011[ [01/01] |
It was with much appreciation that I received reports from my Minister of Trade and Industry about our recent trade delegation to Libya. The friendly political relations between our two countries are now being consolidated and deepened through trade. We look forward to South African companies and Libyan entities bridging our continent from North to South in concrete expressions of African unity.
My Brother Leader, I know that in the abstemious conditions of the North African desert it is not the custom to propose a toast. We are, however, overwhelmed by at last having here on this southern tip of Africa one of the revolutionary icons of our times.
I shall therefore take the liberty to invite our guests to rise and raise their glasses with me in salute to Muamar Qaddafi, our Brother Leader of the Revolution of the Libyan Jamahariya, and to growing friendship between the people of our two countries.”
» » » » [Excerpts: Politicsweb & ANC, via ILuvSA]
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Gaddafi, Mandela and the African Mercenaries
Woyingi
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Mandela shrugged off criticisms within South Africa and internationally, particularly from the United States, when he reached out to Gaddafi. He had this to say to his critics: “Those who say I should not be here are without morals. This man helped us at a time when we were all alone, when those who say we should not come here were helping the enemy.” Clearly, Mandela’s support of Gaddafi is linked to Gaddafi’s support for the ANC during the Apartheid era.
Mandela was the first award winner of the Al Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights in 1989, an annual prize founded by Gaddafi himself (Other recipients include Lous Farrakhan, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, and Turkey’s Erdogan). Mandela returned the gesture by bestowing one of South Africa’s highest honours, the Order of Good Hope, on Gaddafi in 1997.
Gaddafi turned away from Pan-Arabism (mainly because most Arab Nations couldn’t be bothered with his nonsense nor could they be manipulated by him because they had their own oil money) to Pan-Africanism (African countries are much poorer and lacked as much oil money and therefore were ripe for manipulation) He proposed the idea of the United States of Africa. The extent to which Gaddafi has been involved in financing conflicts in Africa is truly horrifying (Chad, Niger, Uganda, Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo)
David Maynier of the Democratic Alliance, the official opposition to South Africa’s ruling Part the African National Congress (ANC) has accused the South African government of having sold sniper rifles to Libya, although South Africa’s Minister of Defense and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisulu denies this.
» » » » [Excerpts: Woyingi] [Excerpts: Daily Beast]
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Will tactics that saved Gadhafi before be enough for him to survive now?
Geoffrey York, Globe and Mail
Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011 3:11AM EST
Updated Feb. 23, 2011 10:51AM EST
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It was one of the world’s oddest relationships: Moammar Gadhafi and Nelson Mandela, best friends forever. Yet it typified the Libyan dictator’s uncanny ability to use his personal charisma – and his vast oil wealth – to acquire allies and survive for 42 years on the world stage.
Colonel Gadhafi had supported the African National Congress in exile during the years of apartheid, and Mr. Mandela never forgot it. The liberation hero remained staunchly loyal to Col. Gadhafi for the rest of his life, calling him “my brother leader” and praising him as “one of the revolutionary icons of our times.” He even presented the dictator with South Africa’s highest award, the Order of Good Hope.
But just like Col. Gadhafi’s cynical friendships in the rest of the world, much of his influence in South Africa was bought blatantly with money. He helped pay for Winnie Mandela’s legal defence in her kidnapping trial. He gave lavishly to the ANC’s election campaigns. And he reportedly gave $2-million to Jacob Zuma, today the South African President, to help pay the legal bills for his 2006 rape trial.
Derna Libya Soldiers Killed for Not Killing Their Own [01/01] |
It was this combination of shrewdness and ruthlessness that allowed Col. Gadhafi to keep his grip on Libya for four decades, exploiting his oil wealth and his brutal security apparatus to win friends and crush enemies, until he finally became Africa’s longest-serving leader. He was never far from violent tactics. He rose to power through a military coup in 1969, unleashed his troops against rival governments from Chad to Uganda, and never hesitated to use bloodshed to quell dissent and to advance his eccentric ambitions across Africa and the Middle East.
Equally important has been his shape-shifting personality, bending to the needs of the moment. Though linked to political assassinations and terrorism, he later gave up his nuclear program and rebuilt relations with the United States and Britain. He could also diverted attention with bizarre outbursts and strange whims that led many observers to underestimate him. In every incarnation and every personality, he has managed to survive – until, perhaps, now.
THE TERRORIST
 1500 young men buried alive in an Underground room in Benghazi: An audio report from a witness reporting the discovery of 1,500 men kept in an underground prison in Benghazi. [Daily Beast] |
Col. Gadhafi, born in a tent in the Libyan desert in 1942, the son of an illiterate Bedouin camel herder, used the military as his vehicle to political power. As the leader of a group of young army officers, he led a coup against the monarchy in 1969 to seize command in Libya.
In the 1970s, he declared himself a socialist revolutionary, supporting dozens of radical groups and terrorist organizations, including the Irish Republican Army, the Black Panthers, the Shining Path, and various Palestinian extremist groups. He propped up the murderous Idi Amin in Uganda, and sent his army into neighbouring Chad. He was involved in a series of coup attempts and political assassinations across Africa.
He continued to dabble in offshore violence in the 1980s. His agents were linked to the bombing of a West Berlin disco, the shooting of a British police officer in London, and the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, in which 270 people died in an explosion over Lockerbie, Scotland. He was also secretly developing weapons of mass destruction. In 1986, American warplanes bombed Tripoli on the orders of president Ronald Reagan, who called Col. Gadhafi a “mad dog.”
THE MADMAN
 What Weapon Causes This? [The Daily Beast: Libya Protests: Shocking Photo's and Videos] |
Col. Gadhafi became as notorious for his bizarre eccentricities as he was for his sponsorship of terrorism. He preferred to receive visitors in a tent in the desert, with camels nearby. He insisted on pitching a Bedouin tent in foreign capitals to serve as his sleeping quarters wherever he travelled. He published a Mao-style Green Book of political philosophy, calling it the “Third Universal Theory,” which combined aspects of socialism and Islam.
His personal style was equally bizarre. He wore flamboyant army uniforms, sunglasses, and an endless wardrobe of tunics and robes, often with African symbols printed on them. He surrounded himself with gun-toting female bodyguards. He is said to travel everywhere with a Ukrainian nurse, described as a “voluptuous blonde.”
On his visits to Italy, he recruited hundreds of showgirls and models for meetings with him, paying them substantial sums of money to listen to his lectures on the superiority of Islam. He then invited them on all-expenses-paid trips to Libya.
THE DESPOT
Nelson Mandela meets Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi. [01/01] |
Throughout the four decades of his flamboyant career on the world stage, throughout all of the twists and turns of his foreign adventures, one thing remained constant: his brutal control of the Libyan people.
Even when the West was embracing him after his political rehabilitation, he wielded an unyielding iron hand at home. He maintained an absolutist police state, with no opposition brooked. The media were tightly controlled, and dissenters were eliminated. By law, no ideology except his own was permitted.
Hundreds of Libyans were imprisoned for daring to question his rule, and many were executed, human-rights groups said. Torture and disappearances were also common.
These were the brutal tactics that brought him to power and kept him in power. Today, these are the blood-soaked tactics that he is wielding again, in a desperate attempt to survive. The question is whether those ruthless methods will be enough to defeat the mounting revolt against him.
» » » » [Excerpts: Globe and Mail] [Daily Beast]
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Mandela Gives Gadhafi Award
Wednesday, October 29, 1997; 7:16 p.m. EST
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ZUWARAH, Libya (AP) -- Returning to Libya for his second visit in a week, Nelson Mandela presented South Africa's highest award for a foreigner to Moammar Gadhafi on Wednesday, praising the Libyan ruler as ``my dear brother leader.''
The meeting, coming so quickly on the heels of the last one, prompted speculation that the South African president was trying to mediate an end to the 5-year-old U.N. sanctions against Libya.
Mandela was accompanied by foreign reporters, so his visit gave Gadhafi a platform to heap scorn upon the United States. As with his previous stop in Libya, and earlier visits to Cuba, the trip demonstrated Mandela's willingness to risk U.S. wrath in maintaining close relationships with old friends.
Libya and Cuba were among the countries that provided early backing to Mandela's African National Congress in its struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
At a brief welcome ceremony with bagpipes, a guard raised a red Scottish tartan-plaid umbrella over Mandela's head Wednesday to shield him from the sun. The two leaders linked hands as they walked toward a tent for a five-minute meeting.
Libya used the gathering to lash out at Washington.
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``Down, down U.S.A., the enemy of the peoples!'' said one banner, in English, at the sports center where the ceremony was held in the seaside town of Zuwarah, 60 miles west of the capital, Tripoli.
At Wednesday's ceremony, a crowd of some 3,000 burst into rhythmic applause as Mandela draped a sash across Gadhafi's chest and presented him with South Africa's Order of Good Hope, that country's highest honor for foreigners.
``Increase the struggle!'' the crowd chanted.
A 21-gun salute and military parade greeted Mandela and Gaddafi when they arrived at a sports stadium in a cavalcade of limousines. Three of Gaddafi's women bodyguards, their gold bracelets glinting in the sun, smiled for the cameras while clutching their guns.
Libyan tribesmen on camels mingled with dancing, ululating women whose patriotic songs were punctuated by police sirens and the shouts of officers prodding people into line with machineguns.
"Welcome Mandela, the tough rebel and the stubborn resister who was not threatened by challenges and threats," the TV announcer said as Mandela greeted guests. At times, the crowd chanted in English, "Long live Mandela!"
Mandela, however, made no direct references to Lockerbie in his brief remarks and said he was only in Libya to present the award.
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For his part, Gadhafi remained defiant. ``Asking Libya to hand over its citizens to America or Britain is a silly matter that makes us laugh, especially after the price we have had to pay,'' he told a news conference after the awards ceremony.
In Washington, U.S. officials said the Clinton administration position on Pan Am flight 103 and on maintaining sanctions against Libya remain firm. They also said they were unaware of any initiative led by Mandela to mediate the issue.
At one point, Mandela referred to Gadhafi as ``my dear brother leader.''
Gadhafi said the United States and its allies were ``punishing the whole world'' with sanctions against Libya.
He said. ``America enjoys seeing him come by road.''
The 79-year-old Mandela arrived by car from neighboring Tunisia so as not to violate the U.N. sanctions.
Pictures of the South African leader were plastered on shops and houses lining the 40-mile road from the Tunisian-Libyan border to Zuwarah. South African and Libyan flags adorned the sides of buildings.
» » » » [Excerpts: Plane Truth] [Daily Beast]
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Meanwhile in 'Evil Apartheid Israel'; Arabs Enjoy a Day at the Beach
While Muslim protesters are shot on the street by Muslim governments in Libya, Morocco, Yemen, Albania, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Gaza, Bahrain, Iran and elsewhere, Arabs in Israel enjoy a day at the beach (ROP)
» » » » [News.AU & Sheikyermami]
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