Western arms firm’s Gaddafi links revealed

A MAJOR western defence firm was upgrading military equipment for an elite Libyan security brigade just before the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi began, documents show, revealing how the West tried to foster ties with Gaddafi during his final years in power.

Less than a month before the start of the revolt, the British arm of US-based General Dynamics was making arrangements to improve communications systems for tanks, artillery and armoured troop carriers for the Khamis Brigade, which played a lead role in cracking down on the revolt, according to documents found by Reuters, the news agency, at a brigade base.

General Dynamics said the upgrade was never completed. But the documents detail for the first time what weapons were involved and that the firm was doing business with Gaddafi’s forces on the eve of the uprising. It said the equipment might have been included in the British subsidiary’s May 2008 contract with Libya — an £85 million (€96.4m) deal to provide a tactical communications and data system as part of what it termed at the time “the United Kingdom’s initiatives to improve economic, educational and defense links with Libya”.

This was after Gaddafi, widely ostracised abroad for much of his 42-year rule, abandoned his programme of mass-destruction weapons in 2003, returning Libya to mainstream international politics.

The Khamis Brigade, led by and named after one of Gaddafi’s sons, was the best equipped of Libya’s security forces and was directly involved in putting down the uprising in cities such as Misrata and Tripoli, where thousands of people were killed.

Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director with Human Rights Watch, said the brigades commanded by Khamis and his brother Mutassim, were able to become so strong thanks in part to procurement from western countries.

“These elite brigades… had access to the most modern weapons. We’ve documented arms sales from not just the usual suspects but also western companies. I think the lesson is that if you’re going to sell weapons to dictators, at some point down the line you’re going to be deeply embarrassed.”

A letter from a General Dynamics British project manager, Simon Kirkham, to Libya’s defence ministry dated January 25 was found this week in the Khamis Brigade’s bullet-scarred compound near Tripoli.

That date marked the start of anti-government protests in Egypt, to Libya’s east. Libya’s neighbour to the west, Tunisia, had already toppled its president, and political analysts were predicting similar protests could erupt against Gaddafi.

The note, and an Arabic document accompanying it, listed 40 T-72 tanks, eight Palmaria artillery pieces, four BTR-60 armoured personnel carriers, 10 Shilka anti-aircraft systems and two M-113 armoured personnel carriers to be upgraded.

“These platforms are required to meet the proposed 1 April conversion deadline,” said the letter, which listed offices in England and Wales.

A spokesman for General Dynamics, Rob Doolittle, said he could not comment specifically on the documents without seeing them, but said the equipment might have been included in the British subsidiary’s May 2008 contract with Libya.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi was last tracked heading for Libya’s southern border, the man leading the hunt said, though Burkina Faso again denied any plan to offer the deposed leader refuge.

After the arrival in neighbouring Niger of dozens of Libyan vehicles, including some which may be carrying gold and cash, the US said the convoy included aides to Gaddafi, and urged authorities in Niger to hold any war crimes suspects.

Niger has denied Gaddafi is in the poor, landlocked former French colony. But a French military source has said he and his son Saif al-Islam may have planned to rendezvous with the convoy in the Sahara, possibly via Algeria, before heading for Burkina Faso, which in the past had offered refuge.