Keeping up with the Gaddafis... or Gadhafis... or Qadhafis (take your pick out of 32 spelling options!)

Africa's 'King of Kings' Muammar Gaddafi with a virgin from the Amazonian Guards protecting him behind

The next to go? The Middle East has seen a wave of people's revolutions which has forced out two Western-supported dictators with a taste for black hair dye and outlandish, 'caring' wives with subliminal political ambitions and sticky fingers when it comes to their fiefdom's wealth - Tunisia and Egypt, while other Arab countries, in particular Bahrain, have been rocked by huge protests whose outcome only should result in a well-needed change to their country's political environment. The latest country to gain the most media coverage for its public protests against the ruling clique is Libya.

Since 1969 Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has ruled Libya with an iron fist and a varied wardrobe, though curiously he holds no posts (neither did China's Deng Xiaoping in the later years of his life, but he was the one pulling the strings). Nevertheless, in Libya you are left with no doubt who is in charge as Gaddafi has an all-pervasive cult of personality, with his face peering down from billboards, posters and other tacky merchandise throughout the country. Much has been written about his often eccentric rule of this large north African country of 6 million people, ranging from 'the Green Book' (the Gaddafi-penned ideology that 'guides' Libyan politics, providing a 'third way' between capitalism and communism), his bevvy of female bodyguards and his bizarre behaviour on overseas trips, such as the lecture he held for a group of Italian models (who were all tested for HIV prior to attending) urging them to convert to Islam. Gaddafi has been to Americans their caricature of a goofball dictator. So much so was he the pariah de jeur of the 1980s that even in the 1985 film 'Back To The Future' there is reference to 'Libyan terrorists', something that sounds a bit out-of-tune these days.

Gaddafi, in a daring outfit, with the gals from the guard

Here on this blog, we like to focus on the more juicy, gossipy and, ultimately, more 'human' side to these dictators. 'Human' here is not referring to the initial, positive images most people have for the term. Oh no, these dictators are human in that they are delusional, wanting attention and crave to be loved - all very human traits. They also use their positions of power to their own and family's gain, much like any human would in such circumstances. What brings them down though is that they hypocritically portray themselves at one with the masses that in practice they show such disdain for.

Mama! Sadiya, matriach to a bunch of misfits

So what are the Gaddafis like? Well, Muammar does have an extensive family and its pretty hard keeping up with his mini-mes. In all, he acknowledges to have fathered eight children - seven sons and a daughter. And if you are familiar with any of the other desperate dictators featured in this blog, then it will come as no heart-breaking shock that the kids have done remarkably well for themselves, to varying degrees. Naturally, it's this sense of over-entitlement which forms the basis for some resentment towards them from the Libyan masses and wider. As one US State Department official stated in a cable, "[Gaddafi's offspring's] repeated falls from grace highlight the broad gulf between average Libyans, who view the al-Qadhafi family as unsophisticated upstarts from a historically inconsequential part of the country (Sirte - southern Libya) who routinely embarrass Libya, and senior regime officials, who view the state as an extension of the al-Qadhafi family empire". So let's go through the kid list and their 'achievements'.

The eldest son, Muhammad, was born to a wife of Muammar's who is no longer in favour. That rules him out of taking over the mantle any time. In any case, he has been given a cushy alternative job - head of the Libyan Olympic Committee (hmmm... just like Mubarak's brother-in-law in Egypt). And we all know how above the board those IOC members are... Anyway, he has his hands in some murky businesses too.

Muhammed Gaddafi (left) with the wacko prez of Kalmykia, chess nut Ilyumzhinov

The next in line (literally) is Saif al-Islam, a 39 year old architect by trade, but very much a public political figure in Libya. He has recently shot to even greater prominence with his defiant but rambling speech he gave against the Libyan anti-government demonstrators, where he blamed the disturbances on everyone from foreign infiltrators (well, the US have used that line with Iraq and Afghanistan for ages, so why not?) to Israel (of course, perhaps the sharks were sent there too) to 'drunkards' (alcohol being strictly forbidden in Libya) and warned of impending civil war. Saif al-Islam has in the past voiced his criticisms of the shortcomings of the Libyan system. As a US State Department cable published by WikiLeaks shows, in 2008 Saif made a big song and dance about how he was frustrated with his father's system, called for reforms much in line with those now demanded by demonstrators throughout the country, and that he was considering withdrawing from public office. A very public (and a little too well organised) response to this threat came from the masses appealing Saif al-Islam to reconsider. Alas, he reluctantly, probably weepingly, returned to continue his revolutionary work - oh, isn't he so selfless and humble!

Like father, like son. Saif Al-Islam is one to shine in traditional couture

But Saif al-Islam has a weakness - hunting, and travelling to far-flung places to take a shot at game. He saw in 2010 in a small town in rural New Zealand, only for a couple of weeks later to be in western Algeria, on both occasions for hunting trips. However, his public image up to now has been quite staid and boring compared to the behaviour of his younger siblings. Some, including US diplomats, have concluded that this could be a way of presenting the heir-apparent as more educated and cultured... by comparison.

Saif Al-Islam: Let me put you to sleep with one of my speeches

And so who are the wild kids... you know the type - the ones likely to drive off cliffs in their pink Lamborghinis. Well, known to those into football (soccer) is third eldest son Saadi. He is a tiptop soccer star no less, married to the daughter of a military commander, was once captain of the Libyan national team, runs the Libyan Football Federation (yes, neither is FIFA corrupt... hehe) and has been signed for various professional teams including Italian Serie A team U.C. Sampdoria, although without appearing in first team games. Rumour has it that Saadi was only signed up to curry up Gaddafi senior in providing generous concessions to Italian companies to invest in Libya and the like (extensive arms sales, in particular). He has been caught for doping and last year was ordered by an Italian court to pay 392,000 euros to a luxurious hotel for doing a runner after a month long stay in summer 2007. Saadi also had ambitious but rather crazy plans to create Libya's very own Hong Kong on the country's border with Tunisia, and has his hands in the Libya's oil wealth. All this and he's not even 40 years old!

Any guesses which one is Saadi?

Next in line for disgrace is Gaddafi's fourth son and 'National Security Advisor' (the same role Lukashenka in Belarus has for his son) - Mutassim. He spent a few years in Egypt following an internal leadership dispute, where he cultivated close links with the ruling elite there, including Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's intelligence chief and current prime minister. Mutassim is not shy of making the bold fashion statement and is one for a big booze up. While older bro was in NZ on the hunt, Mutassim held a 'quiet soiree' on St Bart's in the Caribbean to bring the new year, as he customarily does every year as of late. At the 2009 bash, no less than Beyoncé and Usher were called in to provide the music, and copious amounts of alcohol was on hand. La Beyoncé went home that night 1.2 million dollars richer. Mere pocket change! Mutassim was surprised that his festivities garnered the attention it did, with photos of the event splashed across tabloid papers worldwide, including the UK's Daily Mail which you can check out here. That placed yet another nail into his supposed rival bid for the throne from his elder, hunting brother. Actually, Mutassim's new year's bash at the Nikki Beach club on St Bart's is has been a hot ticket now for years! Enrique Iglesias performed in 2005 after his squeeze Anna Kournikova befriended the Gaddafi crew, so she convinced the Spanish heart throb to sing for a six-figure sum! Parteeee! I'm sure that Mutassim was thinking about Libya's security the whole time though...

Mutassim (with cigarette) partying like its... erm ... 2010 in St Bart's

But these guys are lightweights compared to son number 5 - Hannibal (yes, really!) He's the type of guy any parent has warned their daughter from. He is spoilt and lives life to the maxxtreme with a significant degree of impunity. According to one US State Department cable, one of his 'hobbies' (OK, more of the wife's hobby) is terrorising the hired help, so a pair up with Naomi Campbell would a match made in hell. Actually, just have a read through this cable and be sure to lift your jaw back into your mouth afterwards. Juicy details are given of his arrest in Switzerland in 2008. Hannibal's lurid past, and the consequence of his actions have caused him to supposedly be 'living in fear from his father' ever since include: assaulting Italian police officers in Rome 2001 with a fire extinguisher; attacking police in Paris after being stopped for speeding on the wrong side of the Champs-Élysées and going through a series of red lights while pissed as a newt in 2004; and receiving a four-year suspended prison sentence from a French court after beating his pregnant girlfriend, the model Aline Skaf, who refused to let him into their hotel room in 2005. Hannibal was banned from traveling to the European Schengen zone between 2005 and 2008, however he successfully obtained a visa from the Swiss Embassy in Tripoli in February 2008. Of course, after being arrested by the Swiss authorities after two of his staff complained of being physically beaten, Hannibal complained of having been treated terribly; though as a chain smoker, he was allowed to smoke in his secured room when Swiss law explicitly bans any smoking inside public buildings. Hannibal's arrest provoked a giant diplomatic spat between the land of cuckoo clocks and the land of the cuckoo leader. Gaddafi senior even called for Switzerland to be conquered and carved up by its neighbours! Eventually, Libya's oil spoke louder and Hannibal and wife were freed and all restored to normal.

Hannibal lists his interests as beating his wife, smoking and reckless driving

Not that Hannibal learnt much from the experience except that he gets it his way. His fetish for terrorising again was focused on his wife, according to another US state department cable. Hannibal had physically abused his wife, Aline, in a London hotel room over Christmas 2009. The US Embassy in Tripoli was told that Aline had threatened to leave Hannibal a few weeks before the incident and had fled to London. When Safiya, Hannibal's mother, heard the news, she pleaded with Aline by phone to return to Tripoli, promising to give her "whatever she desired," in exchange. Hannibal pursued Aline in London, and the encounter ended in assault. When mama Safiya and Hannibal's sister, Ayesha al-Qadhafi (at that time many months' pregnant - more to come about her), heard the news, Ayesha traveled to London to intervene. Both Qadhafi women - Safiya by phone and Ayesha in person - advised Aline to report to the police that she had been hurt in an "accident," and not to mention anything about abuse. London press reported that Hannibal was allowed to leave the UK discreetly, on diplomatic immunity. So are you wondering what Aline looks like? Well, look no further...

Those eyebrows are trés naturelle

Something to wear when meeting the parents

There are two more, younger Gaddafi sons (yes, Muammar's cylinders are really firing), Saif al-Arab and Khamis, the latter being a police officer. Now, anyone can tell you that being a police officer in such a society is a pretty good job to have, especially when daddy is running the joint. Khamis is being reported to have led the forces cracking down on opposition rallies in eastern Libya. Not much is known about Saif al-Arab though the diplomatic gossip in Tripoli has it that he lives in Munich, Germany, is involved in murky business and loves to party like his brothers.

Khamis (middle). But check out the Russian guy in the white leather jacket on the right!

The only (known) daughter of Gaddafi is Ayesha, who happens to be a lawyer no less, which comes in handy for Hannibal in particular as she always seems to be called in to smooth over the cracks for his shenanigans. She was also on Saddam Hussein's defence team for his trial - well, he ended up in the gallows, so that can't be added as one of her brighter elements of her career. In true Bedouin style, she married a cousin of her father's in 2006. Now, for yet another shock of Ricky Martin proportions (we knew you were gay), Ayesha has her own .... charity, just like the desperate dictator housewives! As this US State Department cable details, she and her brothers are extensively involved in the most profitable sectors of the Libyan economy, and serve on the boards of these companies. Also in true desperate dictator housewife/daughter style, Ayesha is quite glamorous. Check out the pics...

But all is not well between the siblings. There is plenty of rivalry - so much that it could have been lifted from the script of Falcon Crest or a Mexican telenovela. As US diplomats noted: controversy over the Coca Cola plant in Tripoli also highlighted Qadhafi family involvement in commercial enterprise. While three different sons Saadi, Mohammed and Mutassim, were all rumored to be fighting at different points over who had the right to the representative licence, the dispute was supposedly argued before the courts and resolved through mediation. The very twisted tale of the Coke franchise, continues to confound the local business and diplomatic community attempts to ascertain exactly what interests are in play. Mutassim was involved in setting-up the Coca-Cola franchise held by the Egyptian Ka'ur group during the late 1990s. Mutassim lost control of many of his personal Libyan business interests during the period of 2001 to 2005 when his brothers took advantage of his absence to put in place their own partnerships. Mutassim was then spotted arriving on a British Airways flight at Tripoli International Airport, greeted by a small group of well wishers and protocol assistants with bouquets of flowers (how nice!), then whisked off to the VIP arrivals lounge and into his vehicles without passing through customs or immigration. Mohammed, the head of the Libyan Olympic Committee, now owns 40% of the Libyan Beverage Company, currently the Libyan joint venture Coca-Cola franchisee. The British Ambassador to Libya reported his sources attributed the resolution to a deal whereby Mohammed Al-Qadhafi was prevailed upon to relinquish his Libyan Olympic Committee's share of the joint venture and sign it over to the Libyan Pensions Fund. Another Ambassador chimed in that he heard it was sister Aisha Al-Qadhafi who mediated the dispute between the two brothers and got Mohammed out of the soda business. If Libyan government officials are asked about the Coca Cola case, the standard response is that the government was making sure that all the proper licences and registrations were in place. Phew!
So are the Gaddafis now facing the axe with the scripts for their final episode being written by the Libyan people, especially those of the country's eastern region of Cyrenaica? Well, the reports broadcast by Western media sources are based on widespread speculation and rumour. What the media is doing is falling yet again into the trap oft repeated when passions are high on revolution. People involved in the heat of these emotional events tend to exaggerate everything, whether it be death tolls, numbers at demonstrations or levels of brutality. Have people died in Benghazi and are there demonstrators in Tripoli - probably yes. Have over 300 died in Benghazi and the numbers at the Tripoli demo reach over a hundred thousand? Probably not. Let's remember how events were reported when Romania's Ceauşescu was toppled in 1989. When he was tried by kangaroo court on Christmas day 1989, he was accused of genocide, of having killed 64,000 Romanians in the period from the 17th to 25th December 1989. During that period, the numbers of the people dead that were being mentioned had consistently grew as the Chinese whispers spread. With no better source to verify such information, these huge death tolls were taken to be fact. Once all was settled and better sense could be made of what had happened in that period, the final death toll only came to 108! So how did 108 become 64,000 then?

There is also another parallel between the Romanian 1989 revolution and current events in Libya - the rumour of 'foreign mercenary' participation. When the Hungarian nationalist pastor Laszló Tökes and his parishoners openly protested against Ceauşescu's system in Timişoara on 17 December 1989, the death toll from the subsequent massacre began to grow and grow (thousands rumoured to be dead when the toll actually was no more than 20). Word also had it that North Korean and not Romanian soldiers were responsible for mauling the unarmed demonstrators. Fast forward 20 years and now in Libya we hear of 'news' that those firing on the demonstrators are 'mercenaries' from a variety of countries (usually sub-Saharan African), while the Libyan government is too laying blame on 'foreign insurgents' for instigating the demonstrations. Blaming foreigners for atrocities is a simple way of getting people to believe the worst possible scenario, and no one in a country would want to believe that an armed force would fire on its own people.

Ceausescu and Gaddafi sharing a couch in 1974. Will they share the same fate?

Both of these cases show that in media-poor societies like Ceauşescu's Romania or Gaddafi's Libya, rumours take on a greater sense, at the cost of reliability and accuracy. What we need to do is be aware of this. Some news sites such as the BBC have provide some excellent background information though it's often buried amid loads of print (much like this post). Points made include that eastern Libya has never been a stronghold for Gaddafi rule, that violent demonstrations have happened in the past and that they have likewise been violently put down. The difference this time is that word is getting out and getting top billing. The cynic in me is noticing that the hearsay from Libya, a country of staunch anti-Western rhetoric (though Gaddafi now has been quite willing to engage with the evil West) is diverting attention from the unrest in pro-Western Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet. Could this be because a change of government in Bahrain that would accurately reflect the will of its majority Shia population (added with the Western misconception that this Shiite element automatically means a win for Iran and the mullahs) would be more detrimental to Western interests? Despite Bahrain's small size, change has the potential to galvanise the peoples of Saudi Arabia, especially the adjacent Shia populated areas on the Arabian/Persian Gulf coast (where Saudi Arabia's extensive oil supplies are located) to topple their hypocritical and corrupt sheikhs. Now that would upset the world's apple cart, especially the price of oil.

Don't forget that protests are also happening in Bahrain, and the villains are just as bad

Back to Gaddafis. As much as Gaddafi senior tried to promote himself with a self-believeing but self-delusional altruistic aim of fighting for the liberation of oppressed peoples worldwide and to improve the lot for his own people, it is time for him to realise that he failed miserably and it's time to step down. Time for Libya to be a true country of its people rather than the façade portrayed of such Gaddafi's jamahiriya (state of the masses). The behaviour displayed by his family is proof enough of a failed system. Out of all the Arab revolutions of the past 2 months, Libya is following in Romania's footsteps the closest. I just hope though that the same patterns from the so-called Romanian 'revolution' in 1989 (which saw most of the old ruling clique and structure remain in place, just sans the Ceauşescus) are not repeated.