Libya unveils its latest weapon against Nato: women at arms

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/26/libya-weapon-nato-women

Libya unveils its latest weapon against Nato: women at arms

More than 500 females of various ages armed to the teeth and swearing loyalty

are paraded in front of international media

in Tripoli guardian.co.uk, Sunday 26 June 2011 18.05 BST

Screaming and chanting his name, the 500 women and girls vowed their undying

love for one man. Not a pop star or Hollywood actor, but Libya's Colonel Muammar

Gaddafi.

" Kill all the people in Libya first, then come for Muammar Gaddafi, " said

14-year-old Fatima Hassan. " I will kill myself if Muammar Gaddafi is killed. I

know our people will kill themselves if he dies. "

The event in Tripoli on Sunday was billed as a graduation ceremony for women who

had been given weapons training in defence of the regime. Around 50

international journalists, invited and escorted by government minders, arrived

to find them clapping, singing, ululating, punching the air and waving green

flags in a tented hall set up with chandeliers and two colossal flatscreen TVs.

There were elderly women and little girls in the hall, and every age in between.

Some held aloft pictures of a luminous Gaddafi, one framed in green Christmas

tinsel. A woman waved a green flag and wore a sparkly green cape, green scarf

and green bandana with badges showing Gaddafi's face. Next to her was a woman

wearing a watch that displayed his image.

Reporters pondered whether the event had been stage managed entirely for their

benefit. The Gaddafi groupies painted the first dozen rows green, but behind

them were hundreds of empty seats. Outside was a rattle of gunfire as some

enthusiastic graduates fired their new weapons into the air with little regard

for where the ammunition might land.

There was also much idolatry, most of all from the teenager Fatima, who said her

father is an engineer and she attended an international school near Edgware Road

in London. " We love Muammar Gaddafi and we want to save our country, " she said.

" He made us happy. He makes us eat and makes the country free to do what we

want. Before, we weren't free. My grandparents tell us that before Gaddafi, it

was bad, there was no bread. He saved us. "

Pledging to fight for the man depicted on her necklace, she explained: " There

are no women and children now. "

Fatima claimed her five brothers have gone to fight for the regime against

rebels in Benghazi and Misrata. Asked how she would feel if they were killed,

she replied: " It doesn't matter. I don't care. It's for the leader. "

With government minders hovering nearby, there was similar fervour from Habib

Abdul Qasem, 39, a nanny dressed in military fatigues. " Of course I will defend

myself and my country, " she said. " We are an armed nation; everyone in this

country has weapons. I keep a gun in my house. I've never used it but if the

conditions change I will use it against the Crusasders. "

Nadia Ali, 30, an unemployed interior designer, added: " We want a Libya that's

strong. Muammar Gaddafi is our father. There is some problem in the rebels'

head. Muammar Gaddafi is a good man who loves the Libyan people. He gave us

something. "

Gaddafi's detail of female bodyguards has become the stuff of legend during his

near 42-year rule. It is not yet clear what role the newly-trained women will

play militarily and whether they could be pressed into action if the Libyan army

is overstretched.

Moussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, said: " Libyan women are now joining the

armed forces against Nato. We are training them. Their main role is defending

homes. We have no plan to send them to the front line. They are not trained for

that, and our army is very effective. "

But he added with a rhetorical flourish: " We are going to make sure that every

mother, the symbol of love and creation, is a bomb, a killing machine. "

Ibrahim insisted that the regime is stronger than ever and there has been no

discussion of surrender. " We are prepared to give 1.2m weapons away and we have

been training many, many, many ordinary Libyans. "

The set piece over, journalists were shepherded back to their official bus, but

it remained stationary for long minutes as the celebratory gunfire came ever

closer. There was growing anxiety on board over the potential for stray bullets.

When this was expressed to a government minder, he replied tartly: " Your planes

are bombing the Libyan people and you are afraid of a bullet? "