How can you adequately describe Libyan revolutionary leader Col Muammar Gaddafi?
During his 42year rule, Gaddafi paraded on the world stage with a style so unique and unpredictable.
Gaddafi developed his own political philosophy, writing ‘the green book’, a book so influential.
He made countless show-stopping appearances at Arab and international gatherings, standing out not just with his outlandish clothing, but also his blunt speeches and unconventional behaviour.
Born to nomadic Bedouin parents in 1942, Muammar Gaddafi was certainly an intelligent, resourceful man, but he did not receive a thorough education, apart from learning to read the Koran and his military training.
Nevertheless, in the early 1970s he set out to prove himself a leading political philosopher, developing something called the third universal theory, outlined in his famous Green Book.
In the parallel world of the Green Book, the system is called a Jamahiriyya – a neologism that plays on the Arabic word for a republic, Jumhuriyya, implying “rule by the masses”.
So the long-suffering Libyan masses were dragooned into attending popular congresses vested with no power, authority or budgets, with the knowledge that anyone who spoke out of turn and criticised the regime could be carted off to prison.
A set of draconian laws was enacted in the name of upholding security, further undermining the colonel’s claim to a champion of freedom from oppression and dictatorship.
Legal penalties included collective punishment, death for anyone who spread theories aiming to change the constitution and life imprisonment for disseminating information that tarnished the country’s reputation.
Tales abounded of torture, lengthy jail terms without a fair trial, executions and disappearances. Many of Libya’s most educated and qualified citizens chose exile, rather than pay lip service to the lunacy.
Unchecked by any of the normal restraints of governance, Gaddafi was able to take his anti-imperialist campaign around the world, funding and supporting militant groups and resistance movements wherever he found them.
He also targeted Libyan exiles, dozens of whom were killed by assassins believed to belong to a global Libyan intelligence network.
Then came the fall of Tripoli and Gaddafi went into hiding, still claiming his people were behind him and promising success against the “occupiers” and “collaborators”. His dictatorial regime had finally crumbled, but many feared that he might remain at large to orchestrate an insurgency.
He met his ignominious and grisly end, when NTC forces found him hiding in a tunnel following a Nato air strike on his convoy as he tried to make a break from his last stronghold, the city of Sirte, where it had all begun.
The exact circumstances of his death remain in dispute, either “killed in crossfire”, summarily executed, or lynched and dragged through the streets by jubilant, battle-hardened fighters.
Though it meant the Libyan people – and other victims around the world – were robbed of proper justice, the news sparked wild celebrations across his former domain that nearly 42 years of rule and misrule had truly come to a close.
Here are some 30 facts about the life of Muammar Gadaffi:
1. Muammar Gaddafi died the richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of about 200 billion USD. He was richer than Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Carlos Slim combined.
2. The former dictator, apparently, had a crush on Condoleezza Rice, the former U.S. Sec. of State calling her his “darling black African woman”. In 2008, when she visited Tripoli, the dictator is reported to have given her $200,000 worth of gifts, including a ring and a lute. His obsession with Rice didn’t stop there. When, rebels stormed his Tripoli compound, among Gadhafi’s belongings was a carefully composed photo album made up of dozens of images of Rice.
3. A declassified email reveals that Libya was invaded due to fears that Muammar Gaddafi would establish a pan-African currency based on the country’s gold Dinar.
4. Osama Bin Laden was declared wanted man by Gaddafi three years before 9/11 attacks.
5. Gaddafi hired Beyonce for a party, she got called out on it so she donated all 1 million – to the Clinton Foundation.
6. Gaddafi had a 40-member bodyguard contingent, known as the Amazonian Guard, which consisted of only females. All women who qualify for duty supposedly must be virgins and were hand-picked by Gaddafi himself. This was because he believed females in his country were equal to men.
7. Muammar Gaddafi. was long time friends with Nelson Mandela.
8. He used to burn his soldiers in their barracks for refusing to shoot protesters.
9. It is believed that Gaddafi was actually murdered because he challenged the existing monetary system, by his bold plannings for the African Gold Dinar which would effectively free Africa as a continent from its dependence on the West.
10. Gaddafi once insisted on local anesthetic during plastic surgery and then ate a hamburger partway through the 4-hour procedure.
11. Gaddafi government built the Great Man-Made River without the financial support of major countries or loans from world banks. It is also the largest underground network of pipes and aqueducts in the world.
12. Gaddafi’s last words as he begged for mercy before he died were: “What did I do to you?”
13. Under Gaddafi, Libya grew to have one of the highest per capita income and life expectancies of all African nations.
14. Safia Farkash, Gaddafi’s wife owned some 20 tons of gold, which made her worth around $1 Billion.
15. There are 112 accepted spellings of the name of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
16. Ben Johnson, known for being stripped of his medals for a doping scandal, was hired by Libyan leader Gaddafi to act as a football coach for his son, Al-Saadi Gaddafi, who aspired to join an Italian club. Al-Saadi ultimately did join an Italian team but was sacked when he failed a drug test.
17. He was determined to challenge the old colonial powers and was convinced that Northern Ireland was very much like Libya. The Catholics, he believed, were fighting a revolutionary struggle against the yoke of British imperialism. So he offered to supply them with money and arms.
18. He used to visit schools in Libya where he was welcomed by selected school girls. When he sees one he likes, he would pat her on the head to signal to his bodyguards that he wants her for his harem.
19. In 2009, Donald Trump leased Gaddafi some land, then didn’t let him use it. He gave all of the money Gaddafi paid to the charity.
20. There is a five-star oval shaped hotel in Sudan known as “Gaddafi’s Egg” because it is funded by Libya. Its white walls and blue window rows and panels also resemble R2-D2 of Star Wars.
21. At his home in Tripoli, he lived in a well-fortified compound with a complex system of escape tunnels.
22.Gadhafi married twice. His first wife, Fatiha, was a school teacher. They separated after six months and have a son Muhammad. His second wife, Safia al-Gaddafi, is the mother of his seven other sons. Yet another woman in Gadhafi’s family circle was his Ukrainian nurse Galyna Kolotnytska, who recently deserted Gadhafi when a Ukrainian defense ministry aircraft flew 185 people out of the North African country in February.
23. His daughter, Aisha Gadhafi, is a lawyer, is married to Ahmed al-Gadhafi al-Qahsi, a cousin and army colonel, and is the mother of three children. She was also a part of the team of lawyers who defended former Iraq President Saddam Hussein in the war crimes trial.
24. Gadhafi had a “bulletproof” tent without which he would never travel. He always brought a bit of the desert with him, camping out in the world’s capitals. The tent was apparently so heavy that it needed to be flown on a separate plane, wherever he travelled. It didn’t stop with that; Gadhafi would often tether a camel or two outside the tent.
25. He Had Fear of Flying and Elevators
The main reason Gadhafi loved travelling with that tent of his was his fear of elevators. He didn’t like heights either. It is reported that he would only climb to a height of 35 steps. The dictator also refused to travel by air for more than eight hours at a time. Whenever he left for New York, he would spend a night in Portugal on the way to the U.S.
26. Bunga Bunga parties
According to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Gadhafi was his “bunga bunga” or the orgy party inspiration. This was exposed when a 17-year-old prostitute confessed details of Berlusconi’s parties to Italian prosecutors.
27. Ornate Wardrobe
His wardrobe was filled with ornate military uniforms, Miami Vice-style leisure suits and Bedouin robes. Gadhafi also had a fetish for decorating his outfits with garish pins or necklaces typical of Africa.
28. Gadaffi fought for a unifed African government- the United States of Africa, with same passport and same currency across Africa.
29. He was the head of ‘free officers’- a group of Arab nationalists that deposed king Idris I in 1969 in a bloodless coup.
30. He owned oil fields, worldclass aircrafts, luxury cars and mansions.
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