- Title: NIGER: Former Gaddafi fighter Mohamed Wanigli returns home
- Date: 9th September 2011
- Summary: AGADEZ, NIGER (SEPTEMBER 8, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EX-COMBATANT MOHAMED WANIGLI WHO CAME BACK FROM THE LIBYAN FRONT 10 DAYS AGO, WALKING IN FRONT OF MOSQUE VARIOUS OF WANIGLI SITTING (SOUNDBITE) (Tamashek) MOHAMED WANIGLI, EX-COMBATANT IN LIBYA, SAYING: "I went to Libya to help our Guide Muammar Gaddafi. It's our duty to help him at this difficult moment when several Western countries, helped by some of Gaddafi's brothers, got united to throw him out of power. I am convinced that Gaddafi is a great pan-African thinker, who helped our country a lot, and that's what white people don't like in him. We went to help crush these white people who descended on our Guide to destroy Libya." WANIGLI'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Tamashek) MOHAMED WANIGLI, EX-COMBATANT IN LIBYA, SAYING: "It was two of us coming back from Libya after Tripoli fell, when we saw that the loyalist army was confused. We took a vehicle and as we know the ground well, we left for Niger. We didn't bring anything with us, not even cigarettes." (Reporter asks: "Did you come back with your weapons?") "No, no, We knew it was finished for Gaddafi, so we came back to live here in peace." WANIGLI'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Tamashek) MOHAMED WANIGLI, EX-COMBATANT IN LIBYA, SAYING: "We had weapons in Libya but we thought it better not to come with them, and so we left them for our Niger brothers who stayed back there to defend themselves." WANIGLI SITTING WITH JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (Tamashek) MOHAMED WANIGLI, EX-COMBATANT IN LIBYA, SAYING: "We'll always be loyal to our Guide Gaddafi. As long as he lives, as long as he will fight, we will be at his side. We are ready to sacrifice ourselves for him." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN THE STREETS
- Embargoed: 24th September 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Niger, Niger
- Country: Niger
- Topics: Conflict,International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA3DEE0QP2Z8D7T07FZTA6WQ0CG
- Story Text: It is less than two weeks since Mohamed Wanigli returned to Niger from the Libyan front where he fought on Gaddafi's side until Tripoli fell into the hands of the NTC.
Already awash with bandits, ex-rebel nomads and a growing number of al Qaeda-linked gunmen, Niger's desert north is now the main escape route south from the war in Libya -- and could yet emerge as Muammar Gaddafi's bolt-hole.
Many there, like Wanigli, still harbour a huge admiration for Gaddafi, who they call their 'Guide', a leader who for decades lavished gifts on his neighbours and was a major voice of the anti-colonial movement.
"I went to Libya to help our Guide Muammar Gaddafi. It's our duty to help him at this difficult moment when several Western countries, helped by some of Gaddafi's brothers, got united to throw him out of power. I am convinced that Gaddafi is a great pan-African thinker, who helped our country a lot, and that's what white people don't like in him. We went to help crush these white people who descended on our Guide to destroy Libya," Wanigli said.
At least 80,000 African migrants employed in Gaddafi's Libya have flooded back through northern Niger since the start of the conflict, putting even greater strain on local resources.
Only in July, regional governor Garba Maikido celebrated the latest disarmament of former Tuareg rebels and was declaring a zero-tolerance policy against local gunmen, linked to al Qaeda or otherwise.
Now local authorities' biggest fear is a return to northern Niger of thousands more locals who found work as regulars in Gaddafi's army -- and who since the change of leadership are branded mercenaries and run the daily risk of reprisals.
At 39, Wanigli has seen quite a few wars. As a Tuareg himself, he took part in the rebellions in 1990 and 2007, helping defend the Tuareg community, and now he fought to defend Gaddafi.
When Tripoli fell, he knew it was time to come home.
"It was two of us coming back from Libya after Tripoli fell, when we saw that the loyalist army was confused. We took a vehicle and as we know the ground well, we left for Niger. We didn't bring anything with us, not even cigarettes," Wanigli said.
When asked if he had brought his weapons back with him, he denied it. "No, no, We knew it was finished for Gaddafi, so we came back to live here in peace," he said.
"We had weapons in Libya but we thought it better not to come with them, and so we left them for our Niger brothers who stayed back there to defend themselves," Wanigli added.
Wanigli was unemployed when he left Niger and he says he received no money for the four months he fought for Gaddafi in Brega and Tripoli.
He has not been able to find any job since fleeing Libya and says he would turn back in a heartbeat if he thought Gaddafi had a chance.
"We'll always be loyal to our Guide Gaddafi. As long as he lives, as long as he will fight, we will be at his side. We are ready to sacrifice ourselves for him," Wanigli said.
Gaddafi is no stranger to the vast region, itself the size of France, having used his oil wealth to fund both ambitious development projects and dabble in politics by both backing and seeking to mediate an end to various rebellions.
If Gaddafi were to consider flight, northern Niger would unlikely be anything more than a brief transit point in the search for permanent exile.
One possible candidate is Burkina Faso next door, but the government there has played down any such outcome. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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