http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/ 2011/06/03/feature-03
Serbian mercenaries in Libya? 03/06/2011 To fight his own people, Gaddafi has reportedly enlisted foreign soldiers - and mercenaries from European countries. (Various sources -- 23/02/11 - 26/05/11) photo Gaddafi's use of foreign fighters shows that he lacks support from Libyans, analysts say. [Reuters] Since the outbreak of the popular uprising against his more than 40-year-long rule began in mid-February, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has resorted to hiring foreign fighters, mostly from Africa, to quell the challenge to his rule. According to Michel Koutouzis, a leading criminologist whose French-registered consulting company does research for EU and UN institutions, as many as 500 European mercenaries have also joined the colonel's ranks. Although the bulk of them come from Belarus, Serbia and Ukraine, others are citizens of EU member states, the Greek analyst said. According to media reports and bloggers, he is paying mercenaries up to $2,500 per day. "In Libyan society, there is a taboo against killing people from your own tribal group," a report by Brussels-based EUobserver on April 26th quoted Koutouzis as explaining. "This is one reason why Gaddafi needs foreign fighters." Other experts have cited the Libyan leader's lack of trust in his own people. It is not surprising that Gaddafi is hiring fighters from the former Yugoslavia, given their experience in warfare, Fatima Mahmud, a Libyan journalist and member of the Transitional National Council in Benghazi told Croatian daily Vecernji List in early April. Aside from the Serbian mercenaries, who are believed to be involved mainly in the aerial assaults against Libyan rebels, nationals of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Croatia are believed to be fighting on the ground alongside the African recruits, she said. She linked the involvement of Serbian fighters in Libya to the warm ties between Tripoli and Belgrade during the Balkan wars in the 1990s. "After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Gaddafi sided with Slobodan Milosevic and helped him in every way -- mostly financially -- to stay in power," Mahmud said in her interview with Vecernji List, published on April 8th. Contradictory signals from the Serbian government have also been a factor, according to the Libyan journalist. Although Belgrade froze military and economic co-operation with Gaddafi's regime in March, critics say the government's stance remains ambiguous. Meanwhile, Serbian nationalists have voiced support for Gaddafi, while condemning NATO's efforts to protect Libyan civilians. The opposition Serbian Radical Party (SRS), whose leader Vojislav Seselj is being tried for war crimes at the UN tribunal in The Hague, staged a pro-Gaddafi rally in Belgrade on April 9th. "Gaddafi absolutely has our support and we absolutely think that non-meddling in one country's affairs has to be respected and that citizens of that country should choose the government that suits them," Dragan Todorovic, head of the SRS parliamentary caucus, said ahead of the protest. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, discuss-os...@yahoogroups.com. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor biso...@intellnet.org http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: osint-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: osint-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: osint-dig...@yahoogroups.com osint-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: osint-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
