Libya: Col Gaddafi 'has spent £2.1m ($3.5m) on mercenaries' [View All]

Source: Telegraph

Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime has spent $3.5 million (£2.1m) hiring hundreds of mercenaries from north Africa to help defeat anti-government rebels, according to senior Nato officials.
By Con Coughlin 7:10PM BST 20 Apr 2011

Details of a deal to recruit 450 fighters from the disputed Western Sahara region have been passed to Nato officials by a former Gaddafi loyalist who was involved in the negotiations before defecting to the rebels.

According to the defector, who has not been named, the mercenaries are being paid $10,000 each to fight for Col Gaddafi for two months. The deal with the mercenaries was arranged last month after serious anti-government protests threatened to overthrow the regime.

The majority of the fighters are reported to be members of the Sahrawi tribe who are based in the Western Sahara, and have been fighting a war of independence against Morocco as members of the Polisario Front.

Col Gaddafi's officials have also recruited scores of fighters from rebel movements in Niger and Mali that have close links with the Gaddafi regime.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8464254/Libya-Col-Gaddafi-has-spent-2.1m-on-mercenaries.html