{"id":1123,"date":"2015-09-30T19:17:22","date_gmt":"2015-10-01T00:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/?p=1123"},"modified":"2016-07-26T09:08:36","modified_gmt":"2016-07-26T14:08:36","slug":"ahmad-qadhaf-al-dam-and-the-qaddafist-shadow-over-libya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/?p=1123","title":{"rendered":"Ahmad Qadhaf al-Dam and the Qaddafist Shadow over Libya"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew McGregor\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Militant Leadership Monitor, September 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Given that many might think Qaddafism as a political ideology died along with Mu\u2019ammar Qaddafi in his hometown of Sirte at the hands of Libyan revolutionaries in October 2011, the announcement of a neo-Qaddafist Nidal (\u201cStruggle\u201d) Front by pro-Qaddafist exiles in Cairo on September 20 was not as surprising as it might seem, given the strong financial basis and apparent political protection that this group currently enjoys in al-Sisi\u2019s Egypt. Though nominally led by former Libyan ambassador to Saudi Arabia Muhammad Sayyid al-Qasbat, the new movement\u2019s driving force is Ahmad Qadhaf al-Dam, a cousin of the late Libyan leader who serves officially only as a member of the Front\u2019s central committee despite being the leader of the pro-Qaddafist community in exile (Libya Herald<\/a>, September 20, 2015).<\/p>\n

\"Qadhaf<\/a>Qadhaf al-Dam with strategically placed portrait of Libyan anti-colonial hero Omar al-Mukhtar <\/em><\/strong>(Reuters)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Qadhaf al-Dam has summed up the revised approach of the neo-Qaddafists (though they do not refer to themselves as such): \u201cWe do not desire a Libya governed by Islamists\u2026 but we reject also the idea of a return to the past\u201d (L\u2019Express<\/em>,<\/a> September 25, 2014).<\/p>\n

Though other factions now dominate Libya\u2019s internal agenda, the deposed Qaddafists have demonstrated they still have some bite, as seen in the September 9 car-bombing of Tripoli\u2019s Hadba prison where eight condemned Qaddafists (including Qaddafi\u2019s son Sa\u2019adi and former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah Sanusi)) are being held. News of the death sentences issued against the men on July 28 were met by protests by pro-Qaddafists in Cairo (Libya Herald,<\/a> July 29, 2015). The prison is run by Islamist militant Khalid Sharif and the bombing followed the release of videos showing a blindfolded Sa\u2019adi being beaten by prison staff as well as other Qaddafist prisoners being tortured (Libya Herald<\/em>, September 9, 2015<\/a>; September 10, 2015<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Early Career<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ahmad Qadhaf al-Dam was born in the Mediterranean coast town of Mersa Matruh inWestern Egypt in 1952 to a family of Libyan Bedouin who, like most of their formerly nomadic neighbors, had roamed on the Egyptian side of the Libyan\/Egyptian border for hundreds of years. Ahmad and his brother Sayyid began long and powerful careers in Libya after their cousin Mu\u2019ammar Qaddafi seized power in 1969, with Ahmad serving at times as Qaddafi\u2019s personal envoy, chief bodyguard and international fixer. Qadhaf al-Dam resembles the late Libyan leader so much that he was frequently mistaken for his cousin at international gatherings (RFI<\/a>, February 25, 2011).<\/p>\n

During the 1973 Ramadan War with Israel, Qadhaf al-Dam was a senior officer alongside Khalifa Haftar in a Libyan contingent that failed to arrive in Egypt in time to take part in the main campaign, mostly due to Egypt\u2019s decision not to inform Qaddafi in advance of the Egyptian plan to cross the Suez Canal and retake Sinai from Israeli occupation (Middle East Monitor,<\/a> May 21, 2014).<\/p>\n

Following a series of attempts on his life by Libyan Army officers, Qaddafi began in 1978 to place important military commands in the hands of his extended family and fellow members of the Qaddadfa tribe. Among those benefitting from the new arrangements were his cousins, the brothers Ahmad and Sayyid Qadhaf al-Dam, by now prominent members of Libyan military intelligence. [1]<\/p>\n

By the mid-1970s Qaddafi had become obsessed with eliminating opposition to his rule within the Libyan exile community. Pledging to pursue these \u201cstray dogs\u201d to the North Pole if necessary, Qaddafi launched his intelligence services and revolutionary committees on an often inept but frequently deadly campaign of murder abroad. The campaign intensified in 1983 as Qadhaf al-Dam and four other senior intelligence figures were entrusted with eliminating Libyan dissidents abroad under the oversight of intelligence chief Younis Bilgasim. [2]<\/p>\n

As a Brigadier Qadhaf al-Dam was appointed commander of the Tobruq military region, then commander in Cyrenaica, and later as Qadhafi\u2019s special representative for relations with Egypt, a role that brought with it control of vast sums of Libyan oil cash being invested in Egypt, making Qadhaf al-Dam an influential player in Egypt as well as Libya. [3] For a time after 1995, Qadhaf al-Dam was also commander of a battalion of troops detailed to provide security for Qaddafi while still playing an important role in the direction of external operations of the Jamahiriya Security Organization (Hai\u2019atamn al-Jamahiriya). [4]<\/p>\n

The Sarkozy Controversy \u2013 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the lasting controversies of the NATO intervention in Libya revolves around the personal relationship between Mu\u2019ammar Qaddafi and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012), who was responsible for rallying NATO to help overthrow Qaddafi. As one of Libya\u2019s leading diplomats, Qadhaf al-Dam met Sarkozy in person in Tripoli in 2005 (\u201che came to sell us arms and surveillance equipment\u201d) and again during Qaddafi\u2019s visit to Paris in 2007 (Le Monde<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> March 15).<\/p>\n

According to Qadhaf al-Dam, Qaddafi believed the creation of a \u201cUnited States of Africa\u201d could never be completed without French cooperation and thought that Sarkozy was \u201ca friend at the Elys\u00e9e\u201d who could help the project, telling Qadhaf al-Dam that \u201cWe must help Sarkozy become president\u201d (Le Monde<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> March 15). Qadhaf al-Dam claims that Qaddafi provided Sarkozy\u2019s successful presidential campaign with \u201ctens of millions of Euros,\u201d a charge vehemently denied by Sarkozy\u2019s camp (L\u2019Express<\/em>,<\/a> September 25, 2014).<\/p>\n

A story that persists in Libya concerns allegations that Qaddafi sexually harassed Sarkozy\u2019s ex-wife C\u00e9cilia (a former fitting model for a French fashion house) when she went to Libya to appeal on behalf of the one Palestinian and five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for allegedly infecting Libyan babies with the HIV virus. When questioned during a television interview, about the possibility of a personal motive for Sarkozy\u2019s military intervention in Libya, Qadhaf al-Dam described the allegation as an obvious \u201cfabrication\u201d: \u201cThis C\u00e9cilia\u2026 she looks like a ghoul\u2026 This is not even a woman, so how could anyone desire her?\u201d (Dream2 TV<\/a> [Cairo], January 17, 2015). Qadhaf al-Dam did not comment on his late cousin\u2019s well-established propensity for sexual harassment and worse.<\/p>\n

The Revolution: Playing Both Sides<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only days after the start of the Libyan Revolution Qadhaf al-Dam made a stunning resignation from all functions within the Libyan regime on February 24, 2011 that took many observers by surprise, though the ambivalent statement from his office announcing the resignation (merely calling it a protest \u201cagainst the handling of the crisis\u201d) led some to question whether this was simply a tactic to assist the establishment of a Qaddafist support group outside Libya (RFI<\/a>, February 25, 2011). It was reported that Qadhaf al-Dam\u2019s defection was spurred by news that he was to be included in a travel ban associated with an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into possible war crimes. After the \u201cdefection,\u201d Qadhaf al-Dam\u2019s name was dropped from the list of those named for a travel ban (The Guardian<\/em><\/a>, March 3, 2011).<\/p>\n

\"Qadhaf<\/a><\/p>\n

Sunny Days: Qadhaf al-Dam with Cousin Mu\u2019ammar<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

There were numerous reports that Qadhaf al-Dam had initially gone to the Egyptian\/Libyan borderland that was his family home to recruit members of the cross-border Awlad Ali tribe to help repress the Libyan revolutionaries. Qadhaf al-Dam was reported to have gained influence within the tribe through his involvement in local real estate and tourism investments (al-Masry al-Youm<\/em><\/a> [Cairo], February 25, 2011). The Awlad Ali were regarded with suspicion by successive Egyptian governments as possible Qaddafists, being essentially Libyan Arab tribesmen living in the Libyan Desert region of Egypt (known better to Cairo as the \u201cWestern Desert,\u201d a region only effectively occupied by Egypt in the 19th<\/sup> century). Qaddafi\u2019s promotion of a small-scale revolutionary movement amongst the border Bedouin tribes in the 1970s did nothing to alleviate government suspicions.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Qadhaf al-Dam, the leaders of the Awlad Ali and other cross-border Libyan tribes quickly declared in favor of the revolution despite reported offers of millions of dollars and called for the Qadhaf al-Dam\u2019s expulsion from Egypt (al-Arabiya,<\/a> February 24, 2011). With a disapproving Egyptian intelligence establishment fully aware of his activities in the Western Desert, Qadhaf al-Dam headed for more favorable surroundings in Cairo, the center of the Qaddafist financial empire in Egypt.<\/p>\n

Qadhaf al-Dam claims to have urged Qaddafi to enter a dialogue with the Libyan rebels, but the latter refused until French fighter jets began to hit Tripoli on March 19, 2011. Qadhaf al-Dam says he called Qaddafi from Egypt and now received a green light to negotiate with Qaddafi promising to withdraw from power if the bombing was stopped (L\u2019Express<\/em>,<\/a> September 25, 2014). The account remains unconfirmed.<\/p>\n

Qadhaf al-Dam\u2019s financial establishment in Egypt allowed the alleged defector to live comfortably and surrounded by bodyguards under the name of Ahmad Muhammad al-Kazim on Hassan Sabry Street near the Marriot Hotel in Cairo\u2019s fashionable Zamalek district, an island in the Nile that is home to many embassies, Egyptian officers\u2019 clubs and some of Cairo\u2019s wealthiest residents (Egypt Independent<\/a> [Cairo], September 6, 2012). In August 2011, Qadhaf al-Dam emerged to deny speculation that he had not actually defected but was working as an agent of the Qaddafi regime in Egypt. Qadhaf al-Dam maintained his ambiguous \u201cneutral\u201d stance on the revolution, claiming that he had defected as a protest against both sides in the civil war (al-Arabiya TV<\/a>, August 25, 2011).<\/p>\n

While insisting that Qaddafist Libya was stable, safe and prosperous, Qadhaf al-Dam has suggested that Libyans had a right to rebel against the regime if they did not share the dreams and vision of Mu\u2019ammar Qaddafi, \u201cBut what happened in Libya \u2013 and this is a shameful thing in our history \u2013 is that treachery became a legitimate point of view. All of a sudden, we sought help from foreigners. We befriended the Jews and the Christians \u2013 like Bernard-Henri Levy [a French and Jewish philosopher who played an important role in convincing his friend Nicolas Sarkozy to intervene in the Libyan Revolution], France and Italy\u2026” (Dream2 TV<\/a> [Cairo], January 17, 2015).<\/p>\n

Post-Revolution Political Activism in Egypt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following his \u201cdefection,\u201d Qadhaf al-Dam\u2019s Cairo home became a hub for Qaddafists in exile and various tribal leaders disenchanted with the results of Libya\u2019s Revolution. Many of the exile community were major figures in the police, intelligence groups and the powerful Revolutionary Committees, numbering about 200 persons in all.<\/p>\n

A significant scandal broke out in Tripoli in June 2012 when members of Libya\u2019s ruling Transitional National Council (TNC) learned that TNC chairman Mustafa Abd al-Jalil had sent an envoy to Cairo to explore reconciliation efforts with the exiled Qaddafist community, most notably Qadhaf al-Dam, whom several sources identified as the initiator of the talks (AFP<\/a>, June 7, 2012).<\/p>\n

Qadhaf al-Dam\u2019s Zamalek residence was raided by Egyptian police in March 2013. The police were fired on from within the residence, leading to the wounding of one officer before Qadhaf al-Dam and his entourage were disarmed (Daily News Egypt<\/em>,<\/a> December 9, 2013).<\/p>\n

The raid, part of a Qaddafist round-up by the Islamist government of Egyptian president Muhammad Mursi, led to Qadhaf al-Dam being charged with attempted murder of police officers, resisting arrest and possessing unlicensed weapons, as well as being faced with a Libyan request for extradition.<\/p>\n

In March 2013, Libyan authorities decided to essentially purchase the extradition of the detained Qaddafist leaders, depositing $2 billion in Egypt\u2019s central bank as a kind of open loan during a foreign currency reserves crisis affecting Muhammad Mursi\u2019s government. Libyan officials apparently understood that a reciprocal decision had been reached to extradite Qadhaf al-Dam, but they were to be sorely disappointed (al-Arabiya<\/a>, March 25, 2013; AFP<\/a>, March 23, 2013).<\/p>\n

Cairo\u2019s Administrative Court brought an end to Qadhaf al-Dam\u2019s extradition proceedings on April 3, 2013, partly through his lawyer\u2019s claim that Qadhaf al-Dam had Egyptian citizenship through his Egyptian birth, though former ambassador to Egypt Ali Marya and pro-Qaddafist Libyan businessman Muhammad Ibrahim Mansour were less fortunate, being returned to face Libyan corruption charges on March 19 and 26 respectively (al-Masry al-Youm<\/em><\/a> [Cairo], April 3, 2013). In the meantime, Qadhaf al-Dam remained in the notorious Tora prison just south of Cairo to face charges related to the raid on his apartment.<\/p>\n

Despite the apparent seriousness of the charges, Qadhaf al-Dam was acquitted on all counts on December 9, 2013 to the applause of relatives and supporters after the prosecution\u2019s main witness (the police officer wounded in the raid) testified he was unable to identify the shooters (al-Masry al-Youm<\/a>, December 9, 2013). Qadhaf al-Dam\u2019s lawyer claimed that his client had been the victim of a deal between Libya and Egypt\u2019s Muslim Brotherhood organization during the rule of deposed Egyptian president Muhammad Mursi (June 30 2012 to July 3, 2013) (Youm 7<\/em><\/a> [Cairo], December 10, 2013). The decision shocked Libyan political leaders and a major political spat followed.<\/p>\n

Qadhaf al-Dam\u2019s extensive media activities in Egypt were also condemned by Libya\u2019s GNC government in December 2013. The GNC described Qadhaf al-Dam\u2019s frequent television appearances as \u201cunacceptable behavior\u201d and a \u201cprovocation\u201d that threatened relations between Libya and Egypt (PANA<\/a>, December 17, 2013).<\/p>\n

The European Union\u2019s General Court lifted the sanctions against Qadhaf al-Dam in September 2014 on the grounds that the regime which had led to the imposition of the sanctions no longer existed and that even though the EU maintained that Qadhaf al-Dam continued to \u201crepresent a threat to restoring civil peace\u201d it had provided no proof for the claim (AFP<\/a>, September 24, 2014). The next day a statement from the Libyan Embassy in Paris asserted that Qadhaf al-Dam had \u201ccontinued to destabilize Libya since the period of the Revolution,\u201d adding that he had also participated in inciting murder and the misuse of public funds (L\u2019Express<\/em>,<\/a> September 25, 2014).<\/p>\n

Qadhaf al-Dam and the Islamic State<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a January 2015 television interview, Qadhaf al-Dam expressed support for the Islamic State organization despite the protests of an astonished interviewer who expressed his surprise at Qadhaf al-Dam\u2019s support for a \u201cSatanic terrorist organization\u201d and offered his interviewee numerous opportunities to retreat from his position: \u201cI support Daesh (the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State organization). I support its establishment\u2026. This enterprise should have been carried out 50 years ago\u2026 [young men] had nowhere to go, so they fled to Allah\u2026 I am blaming our governments, not the boys. We did not offer another way of confronting the West\u201d (Dream2 TV<\/a> [Cairo], January 17, 2015).<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Qadhaf al-Dam has claimed that the West and NATO created the Islamic State organization, adding: \u201cThere was no extremism in Iraq, Syria or Libya before the NATO intervention in these countries\u2026 [The extremists] came from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and several other countries and foreign states provided them air support\u2026 Their main objective was to kill Muammar Qaddafi, because he wanted to unify the continent\u201d (Sputnik News<\/a>, June 18, 2015). In yet another interview, Qadhaf al-Dam insisted that the Islamic State organization was a conspiracy against the Libyan nation and Islam itself (Assarih<\/em><\/a> [Tunis], June 3, 2015).<\/p>\n

Though General Khalifa Haftar, Qadhaf al-Dam\u2019s former military colleague and now the leader of the internationally recognized Tobruk government\u2019s \u201cOperation Dignity,\u201d is generally viewed by the Qaddafi clan as a traitor turned CIA asset, Qadhaf al-Dam has expressed support for Haftar\u2019s campaign against Islamist factions and the rival General National Congress (GNC) government in Tripoli:\u00a0 “Thanks to these heroes, we shall soon crush the NATO revolution and all those claiming to be Islamists” (Middle East Monitor,<\/a> May 21, 2014).<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

A savvy and experienced political operator with a great instinct for self-preservation and a Qaddafi-like ability to catch his opponents off-guard, Ahmad Qadhaf al-Dam is at the center of a neo-Qaddafist movement poised to exploit any available opening in the political chaos that has enveloped Libya. There remain pockets of Qaddafi loyalists in many parts of Libya, though in the current environment they have typically kept their heads down. An exception is the city of Sabha in the Fezzan, where Qaddafists have made repeated and often provocative demonstrations that occasionally deteriorate into violence, most recently in August (Libya Herald<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> August 7, 2015).<\/p>\n

The Nidal Front calls for a truth-and-reconciliation program (perhaps conveniently, given the record of human rights abuses by its proponents), the reformation of the security establishment, including the army and a rejection of violence, terrorism and religious extremism (Libya Herald<\/a>, September 20, 2015). What is implied by their founding statement is that ruling Libya would be best left to the experienced hands of the Qaddafists, who, with a little democratic polish, might one day be acceptable to Libya\u2019s war-weary populace. Having survived a number of critical legal challenges, Ahmad Qadhaf al-Dam now appears secure in his Egyptian base where he will continue to attempt to insert himself back into Libyan divided political structure in the name of Libyan reconciliation.<\/p>\n

While Qadhaf al-Dam now serves up counter-extremism rhetoric he hopes will find resonance in both Libya and the West (where he remains relatively unknown), his ambivalent and at times self-contradicting views on the desirability of the Islamic State organization and his record of eliminating Qaddafi-era dissidents will prove a hard sell within Libya. However, as Libya\u2019s economy and security enter a phase of near-total collapse, Qadhaf al-Dam may find that both time and the substantial funds under his control are on his side as he attempts to restore Cairo\u2019s exiled Qaddafist community to power in a politically volatile Libya.<\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. David Blundy and Andrew Lycett: Qaddafi and the Libyan Revolution<\/em>, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1987, p.127.<\/li>\n
  2. Ibid, p.163.<\/li>\n
  3. M. Cherif Bassiouni, Libya: From Repression to Revolution: A Record of Armed Conflict and International Law Violations, 2011-2013<\/em>, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2013, p.69.<\/li>\n
  4. Official Journal of the European Union, \u201cJudgment of the General Court 24 September 2014 \u2013 Kadhaf Al Dam vs Council,\u201d http:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/PDF\/?uri=CELEX:62013TA0348&rid=2<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This article first appeared in the September 2015 issue of the Jamestown Foundation\u2019s Militant Leadership Monitor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Andrew McGregor\u00a0\u00a0 Militant Leadership Monitor, September 2015 Given that many might think Qaddafism as a political ideology died along with Mu\u2019ammar Qaddafi in his hometown of Sirte at the hands of Libyan revolutionaries in October 2011, the announcement of a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[171],"class_list":["post-1123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egypt","category-libya","tag-qadhaf-al-dam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1126,"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123\/revisions\/1126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}