Libyan qualified women military

Libyan women train for military, hope for equality

Moammar Gadhafi famously surrounded himself with a personal coterie of female bodyguards during the decades he ruled Libya. But it was more a sign of his eccentricities than a real commitment to equality for women in this conservative Islamic society.

Now the revolutionary forces that swept the longtime leader from power last month are offering military training to scores of women, some of them housewives, others high school teachers. On Sunday at a military compound in the eastern city of Benghazi, dozens of women with machine guns slung over their shoulders listened attentively to instructions in shooting and martial arts. They are the latest group of trainees as Libya's new leaders work to build a national army.
Women were at the forefront of the protests that launched the anti-Gadhafi uprising in February, demanding democracy for the country and justice for loved ones who had been killed. Many women now hope the revolution will herald full equality.
"We should be equal and we're fighting for the same goal, so why should the men have to carry the burdens of this fight while we sit and watch?" said Amal al-Obeidi, 35, who teaches business management at a high school in Benghazi.
"The least we can do is learn to protect ourselves so the men can focus on fighting Gadhafi on the front lines knowing that we have their back," added al-Obeidi, who wore a headscarf and was brimming with enthusiasm.
She said Islam doesn't forbid women from fighting alongside the men.
"The men have died on the front lines as they had to fight with no weapons and they sacrificed their lives to protect us ... while we were at home doing nothing to help like a piece of a valuable antique furniture," she said as she struggled to hold a heavy machine gun with two hands at the school.

At least 200 women have graduated from the program since it began at Benghazi's Technical Military Compound in late March. They are given the choice of joining the National Security Force, which operates like the U.S. National Guard and allows them to operate in their own cities. There's currently no talk of sending women to the front lines. 

Abdul-Basit Haron, a military commander in Benghazi, said all revolutionary fighters, including the women, would get a one-time fee of $5,000.
Col. Mohammed Garaboli, the commander of the compound where the training takes place, said women's involvement in the military is important for morale.
"Women feel like they are neglected and they came here to prove that they are equal to men in this society," he said. "They want to show the world what the Libyans are made of and how open-minded they are as well."
Female soldiers — a rare sight in most Arab countries — were a trademark of Gadhafi's regime, patrolling roadside checkpoints in khaki uniforms and Muslim headscarves and often sporting sunglasses and heavy makeup. One group of women even reportedly ran their own interrogation center for suspected female anti-Gadhafi activists.

Col. Sabriya Mohammed al-Shraidi, a Benghazi native who graduated from the military school in the city in 1986 and specialized in military intelligence, said eight officers were training 36 volunteers in the current class, which she said would be the fourth group to graduate.
"Most of these women are housewives and working ladies. They have no experience in the military and they don't know how to use guns so they come here to get the training in case they have to defend themselves and their children," she said. "You never know when you need these skills."
She said they're given training in all types of light arms and self-defense. Those who join the force will help provide security for demonstrations, banks and other institutions.
"Women have contributed to this revolution in many ways," she said. "But they are still neglected and isolated and we are trying to show ... it is not a shame to be a part of the army and the society unlike during the Gadhafi era when military women had a very bad reputation."

Libyan fighters press into Gadhafi strongholds

Libyan fighters press into Gadhafi strongholds

Libyan revolutionary forces escalated offensives Friday into two key strongholds of Moammar Gadhafi's rule, battling fierce resistance from snipers and loyalist gunners in Gadhafi's hometown and a mountain enclave where a pro-regime radio station urged followers to fight to the end.
In Sirte, Gadhafi's birthplace on the Mediterranean coast, his backers rained gunfire down from mosque minarets and high-rise buildings on fighters pushing into the city from the west, while in the streets the two sides battered each other with high-caliber machine guns, rockets, and rocket-propelled grenades.
In the strategic mountain town of Bani Walid, revolutionary fighters and Gadhafi loyalists traded relentless mortar and rocket fire across a 500-yard-wide desert valley called Wadi Zeitoun that divides the town — and the two sides — between north and south. Fighters dashed through alleyways to set off volleys of fire, hitting a residence that Gadhafi was building on the remains of old fort overlooking the wadi.
"The Gadhafi loyalists have so many weapons. This battle is really crazy," said Maab Fatel, a 28-year-old fighter, his uniform splattered with bloodstains from carrying a wounded comrade.
Libya's new rulers appeared to be launching a coordinated assault to break the back of regime holdouts, who still hold a swath of territory along the central coast and into the southern deserts more than three weeks after revolutionary fighters swept into Tripoli and drove out Gadhafi. The whereabouts of the ousted leader and several of his sons remain unknown.
The new leadership has been gaining international support in their campaign to root out the rest of Gadhafi's regime and establish their authority, with high-profile visits this week by the French president and British prime minister, and on Friday by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

ICC warrant for Gaddafi

Libya hits back at ICC warrant for Gaddafi

     

     International Criminal Court arrest warrant for war crimes against the Libyan leader Gaddafi. Government has hit back on charging the tribunal tool of European powers.

          Rebel fighters on ground yesterday captured a large arms depot from pro-Gaddafi forces in the desert near their mountain of Tripoli in big boost to their resupply, an AFP correspondent said.

          Human rights bodies and the West, meanwhile, hailed the ICC's move on Nato bombing campaign.

          Libya rejected the warrants issued for Gaddafi, 69, his son Seif al-Islam, 39, and the head of Libyan intelligence, Abdullah al-Senussi, 62, for atrocities committed in a bloody uprising that began mid-February.

          The ruling is a "cover for Nato which is still trying to assassinate Gaddafi", said Libya's justice minister, Mohammed al-Gamudi.

          Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim said the ICC "functions as a European foreign policy vehicle.

          ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo sought the warrants as thousands died in fighting and an estimated 650,000 people fled the country 

          The submissions forces carried out a systematic campaign of arrest and detention of alleged dissidents.

          The Libyan strongman ordered the shooting of civilians leaving mosques after evening prayers.

This is a crime against humanity

NATO condemns fiery speech by Libyan leader

          "NATO will be defeated," Gadhafi yelled in a hoarse, agitated voice to the crowd. "They will pull out in defeat."

          NATO accused Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Saturday of using mosques and children's parks as shields, saying the longtime ruler who lashed out against alliance airstrikes is the one "brutally attacking the Libyan people."

          In Brussels on Saturday, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu dismissed Gadhafi's speech as "outrageous."

          "We are saving countless lives every day across the country," she said. "We are conducting operations with utmost care and precision to avoid civilian casualties. Civilian casualties figures mentioned by the Libyan regime are pure propaganda."

          NATO has been ramping up the pressure on Gadhafi's more than four-decade-old regime. Though most airstrikes happen under cover of darkness, daytime raids have grown more frequent.

          "It has become clear to us that NATO has moved on to deliberately hitting civilian buildings. ... This is a crime against humanity," he told reporters in the capital.

          NATO attacked the Libyan capital at midday Friday, pounding a target in the south of the city and sending a thick cloud of black smoke rising high into the air.

          A coalition including France, Britain and the United States launched the first strikes against Gadhafi's forces under a United Nations resolution to protect civilians on March 19.

Libyan rebels breakout toward Tripoli

Libyan rebels breakout toward Tripoli

 

This image taken from TV shows rebel forces fighting government troops on Sunday, June 12, 2011 in Dafniya, Libya. 

Libyan rebels Monday broke out toward Tripoli from the opposition-held port of Misrata 140 miles to the east, cracking a government siege as fighters across the country mounted a resurgence in their four-month-old revolt against Moammar Gadhafi.

The Libyan leader has been playing chess

The Libyan leader has been playing chess

     The Libyan leader has been playing chess with the visiting Russian head of the World Chess Federation.

             The federation is headed by the eccentric Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who until last year was the leader of Russia's predominantly Buddhist republic of Kalmykia. He once claimed to have visited an alien spaceship.

            Libyan state television showed Gadhafi, dressed all in black and wearing dark sunglasses, playing chess Sunday evening with his Russian guest. He seemed somewhat unsure of how the game is played.

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               "I offered to draw, because it's not polite to win when you're a guest, " Interfax quoted Ilyumzhinov as saying Monday.