Gaddafi’s refugee army

There is one particular question swirling around when it comes to Libya: how brittle is the regime and its military arm? An answer is now slowly emerging, and one that looks like good news for the rebels – if also yet more proof of Gaddafi’s depravity.

Reuters is running a story about refugees inside Libya, predominantly from sub-Sahara, being detained, beaten and robbed of their identity papers by Libyan soldiers only to be offered money to take up arms against the rebels.

Fergo Fevomoye, a 23-year-old refugee who crossed the Libyan-Tunisian border, told Reuters:

“They will give you a gun and train you like a soldier. Then you fight the war of Libya. As I am talking to you now there is many blacks in training who say they are going to fight this war. They have prized (paid) them with lots of money.”

If true, the story suggests not only that the Libyan dictator is worried he does not have enough soldiers for the fight, but also that many of his supposedly superior troops will be ill-qualified and poorly motivated refugees.