Al Qaeda Reportedly Acquiring Weapons in Libya

[JBeukema]

Al Qaeda is exploiting the conflict in Libya to acquire weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, and smuggle them to a stronghold in northern Mali, a senior security official in neighboring Algeria told Reuters. Western governments have demanded that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi step down after his forces cracked down on a revolt against his rule, but some governments in the region are nervous that al Qaeda could step into a power vacuum.
Algeria, which has been fighting al Qaeda's north African wing for years and closely monitors insurgent activity across north Africa and the Sahara, says there are already signs that this is happening.

Al Qaeda Acquiring Weapons In Libya: Algerian Official

 

[waltky]

Heh-heh, Obama got him cryin' "Uncle"...

Gadhafi asks Obama to end NATO bombing
Apr 6, 2011* - As rebel and pro-government forces in Libya maneuvered on the battlefield Wednesday, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi urged U.S. President Barack Obama to end the NATO bombing of his war-torn country.

Gadhafi made the appeal in a letter to the American president, a senior administration official said. But the official said there was "nothing new" in the letter, the thrust of which was an appeal for an end to the alliance's air operations. It contained no offers to negotiate or step down, and the official said the administration isn't taking the note seriously.

Gadhafi asked Obama to stop the "unjust war against a small people of a developing country" and said those in the opposition are terrorists and members of al Qaeda, the official said. "We have been hurt more morally than physically because of what had happened against us in both deeds and words by you," Gadhafi wrote, according to the official. "Despite all this you will always remain our son."

The strongman expressed hope that Obama wins re-election next year, the official added. And he wrote that a democratic society cannot be built through missiles and aircraft. "You are a man who has enough courage to annul a wrong and mistaken action," the leader wrote to the president.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the NATO strikes will stop when Gadhafi steps down and leaves the country. "I don't think there is any mystery about what is expected from Mr. Gadhafi at this time," Clinton said.

MORE

See also:

UNICEF: Snipers Targeting Children in Libyan City
Apr 8, 2011 - Snipers are targeting children in the besieged rebel-held Libyan city of Misrata, the U.N.' s children agency said Friday.

Hundreds of residents have been killed and wounded in the assault by Gadhafi's forces on Libya's third-largest city, and residents are running short of water, food and medicine. "What we have are reliable and consistent reports of children being among the people targeted by snipers in Misrata," UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado told reporters in Geneva.

The information was based on local sources, Mercado said. She was unable to say how many children have been wounded or killed in this way. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it is sending a team to Misrata by boat Friday and would investigate the reports of snipers targeting children.

A spokesman for the Geneva-based aid group, Christian Cardon, told The Associated Press that children and other civilians not involved in hostilities are never a legitimate target in an armed conflict. "But without having any more information, we can't comment on what is happening there," he said.

Source

 

[waltky]

Breakin' `em in kinda young ain't he?...

Libya crisis: Gaddafi using schoolboy conscripts on front line
15 Apr 2011 - Col Muammar Gaddafi is using schoolboy conscripts as young as 15 in his battle to regain the besieged town of Misurata according to young government troops captured by rebels.

The teenagers are told they are going on training exercises until they reach the front lines, when they are given rifles and told by officers they will be shot if they retreat or desert. Two badly-wounded teenage fighters shown to The Daily Telegraph said they were told Misurata had been overrun by drug addicts, Islamic militants and Egyptian invaders. One said his own side had opened fire on his own teenage detachment when they later fled from the rebels.

In the past week, the conscripts have been thrust into fighting along the strategic "heavy road" connecting the Benghazi to Tripoli highway with the commercial port ten miles away at Ghasr Ahmad. A handful of fishing boats reaching the port from Libyan Benghazi are the rebels' only link with revolutionaries in the east and Gaddafi's forces are trying to cut the port from central Misurata.

Umran, a 17-year-old from near Tripoli, said he had spent two years at a military school only to leave and work in a shop in November. He was recalled to barracks "for more training" as soon as the February 17 uprising began and kept for 40 days without access to the radio or television. He said: "I was given a rifle and we were told we were going to shoot targets on an exercise. Then we found ourselves in Misurata. There were 90 of us, aged 15 to 19.

"We were told we had to cleanse Misurata. There were invaders from Egypt and we had to fight against them." "We said we didn't want any part in it and requested to leave. They refused and some tried to run off and officers fired on them." Those who stayed were reassured 500 reinforcements were on their way, though these never arrived. The conscripts spent several days living in abandoned houses near the heavy road when Mr Umran and four comrades tried to escape.

MORE