Gaddafi use of mercenaries in Libyan Conflict

Since the start of the Libyan uprising it has been clear that the Gaddafi regime is using mercenaries from other countries to help in keeping the lid on the uprising.

Important study on Merceneries and supply of weapons:

http://www.consultancyafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=726:guns-for-hire-examining-the-use-of-mercenaries-in-libya-&catid=82:african-industry-a-business&Itemid=266

Belarus

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8432996/Libya-Belarus-mercenary-paid-1900-a-month-to-help-Gaddafi-forces.html

East European Mercenaries

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359894/Libya-protests-Unarmed-showdown-Gaddafis-mercenaries.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/eric14/libya-protests-gadhafi-ho_n_827400_78504485.html

http://www.consultancyafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=726:guns-for-hire-examining-the-use-of-mercenaries-in-libya-&catid=82:african-industry-a-business&Itemid=266

Syrian 

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=211101

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1382802/pg1

Algerian

http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/15-Algerian-mercenaries-seized-in-Libya-20110410

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/t/armed-mercenaries-cross-b_40414112676585473.html

http://www.moroccoboard.com/news/34-news-release/5111-libya-gaddafi-accelerates-recruitment-of-saharan-mercenaries

http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/news/6215.html

http://www.dotspress.com/libya-has-recruited-hundreds-of-mercenaries-from-niger-mali-algeria-and-burkina-faso/771152/

http://freedomwar.org/libya-mercenaries-terrorize-people-in-tripoli-street/

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11033017/1/libyan-ex-minister-condemns-polisario-members-for-hypocrisy-of-joining-mercenary-army-to-suppress-protesters-in-libya-asks-algeria-to-block-transit.html

Appeal from Misrata Hospital March 30th, 2011

The Doctor managing the only medical facility in Misrata appeals to the world for help

"water has been cut off in Misrata for at least two weeks now.  We are having to being water in cars which is very difficult"

An old man being intreviewed says:

He (Gaddafi) is obliterating and destroying people.  He destroyed our homes.  We cannot sleep day or night.  What are these forces for, did they just bring them to show off their equipment

This video is in Arabic and was taken from the Libyan Freedom group web site.
See English translation below.




Translation:

Interviewer: What is happening in Misrata is common knowledge in the whole world these days.  And no where do we see the full extent of the suffering than in the Misrata General Hospital.

We are speaking with the Manager of Misrata General hospital.

We do not really have a hospital.  were in in a building with several medical clinics that was receiving and treating all the injured people in Misrata.  As for the Medicines they were at the main hospital that was ongoing maintenance and now is occupied (under Gaddafi forces control) and we heard the store rooms were destroyed.

In the clinics which are very modest we were doing many surgeries, but this was being shelled, so we moved to a private clinic that had less than fifty beds, so we had to resort to run the Emergency room out of a tent outside of the clinic.

We are experiencing severe shortages in specialists for Orthopedic, nerve, and blood vessel, and brain surgeries.  Many of the emergencies require quick response but we do not have the facilities, and we are running into huge shortages in medicines needed in performing surgeries and for intensive care especially antibiotics.  Also we severely need equipment for orthopedic surgeries.

Add to that that water has been cut off in Misrata for at least two weeks now.  We are having to being water in cars which is very difficult.

We need Artificial breathing equipment, defibrillators, special equipment for operating rooms.  We have a special monitor for orthopedic surgery that is falling apart and experiences breakdowns. 

We urgently request from Air organizations like the Red Cross and the Red crescent and Doctors without borders to provide us with doctors in the Orthopedic, nerve, brain, and blood vessel. 

We also have patients that need surgeries that we can not perform here and we are asking organizations and especially Libyan doctors that work outside to make efforts to move these patients and treat them at other locations.  These patients may be transported by ship through the "Qasser Ahmad" (Amad's Palace) port.  We also heard that we will be provided with a floating hospital, but this has been severely delayed.

There also severe shortages in baby food, diapers, and basic staples in Misrata.  The situation in Misrata is very dire at this time especially because of the size of the city and the inability to transport patients to the hospital.

Interviewer: Do you have statistics on deaths and injuries.

Dr:   Since the beginning of the events here, we do not receive all the cases.  We hear of many deaths and injuries around the city because of the snipers that do not make it to the hospital.  But  Since March 18^th over 140 martyrs, and over 1300 injured, some of which are very severely injured, lost limbs, spinal injuries, vessel trauma.  And because we are there has not been a hospital in Misrata in over two years, we have modest facilities that cannot handle these kinds of injuries.

Interviewer: Do you have a short statement you want to make to organizations that you want to appeal to?

Dr: We especially appeal to the International Red Cross, and the International Red Crescent, and the Arabic Red Crescent, and the Arabic Doctors and the Libyan doctors that work abroad, and the Doctors without Borders, to work to provide medical supplies and equipment and facilitate delivery to Misrata through the Misrata Port.  We also appeal for surgeons in Orthopedics, nerve, vessel, and to work to move the severly injured to the outside of Misrata through the Misrata Port.

Announcer: then we toured the hospital to see the injured and how and where they were injured:

Patient: My name is Mohammad Mustapha Alaraiby.  I am injured from shrapnel wounds.  When we heard that Gaddafi forces were coming into Misrata from the west (Azraig area) we went to the front.  There a Mortar round came at us and exploded.  I was injured in both legs and my arm.

The Doctors said that the injuries are manageable.  They operated on my stomach and a that they might operate on a tendon injury in my arm.

Int reviewer: What do you want to say to the international medical and humanitarian organizations?

Patient: First I would like to appeal for help for these patients and injured.  The Doctors and the people of Misrata here have performed with exceptional effort.  I appeal to the world to help the people of Misrata to avoid more massacres

Interviewer: I would like you to describe this child's condition.

Old Man: As to his injuries, one of his eyes is gone.  This hand is gone, and his other arm has two or three injuries and his leg is broken

Interviewer: Where did he get injured?

Old Man: in the "Mahjoub" entrance.  If I can be frank, may God help us.  All the world is watching.  The Arab World, and the International World, and the United Nations.  (Exasperated!) Where? Where is the Arab Nation? Where is the American Forces? Where are the British forces, their planes just circle around with no use.  They have done nothing for us.  What did they do for us?  He (Gaddafi) is obliterating and destroying people.  He destroyed our homes.  We cannot sleep day or night.  What are these forces for, did they just bring them to show off their equipment.  Maybe we should just move the dead and we can die in their place.  In all honesty, our lives have become very precarious.  Death is Death.  If they are not going to help with with their forces, then they should just take them away and we will just die here on our land.  They are just watch us as if it is a show.

(old man in rage, quoting Gaddafi) Zenga Zenga (alley alley), Bait Bait (house house), Sharei Sharei (street street) I will destroy you.  He said this in front of the world.  He was not hiding it.  We have no were to go.  Who ever dies dies, and whoever lives lives.   Even if only thousand or only a single million people are left in this country it will be worth it as long as we get rid of his (Gaddafi’s) face.  Even if only a million people are left, as long as is situation is changed.

Intreviewer: The Freedom Group from the inside of the Misrata Central Hospital on March 30^th, 2011

House reseloution recognizing the Libyan Transitional National Council

112th CONGRESS 1st Session

H. RES. 188

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the regime of Mu’ammar al-Qadhaffi.

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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESMarch 30, 2011

Mr. Rohrabacher submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

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RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the regime of Mu’ammar al-Qadhaffi.

Whereas the people of Libya have risen up in rebellion against the tyrannical rule of Mu’ammar al-Qadhaffi, a man who seized power by force and has ruled by force ever since;

Whereas Qadhaffi has oppressed the people of Libya and squandered their wealth;

Whereas, on March 3, 2011, President Barack Obama said about the situation in Libya, “The violence must stop; Mu’ammar Qadhaffi has lost the legitimacy to lead and he must leave”, a position he reaffirmed on March 21, 2011;

Whereas, on March 17, 2011, Qadhaffi threatened a civilian massacre by claiming in a radio address, “We are coming tonight … We will have no mercy and no pity with them”;

Whereas Qadhaffi has shown himself to be an enemy of the United States and a threat to international security, including—
(1) the April 5, 1986, bombing by Libyan agents of the La Belle discotheque in West Berlin, which killed 2 United States soldiers and wounded 50 others, among some 200 total victims of the blast;
(2) the December 21, 1988, destruction of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, by a bomb planted by a Libyan agent, killing 190 United States citizens out of the total loss of 243 passengers, 16 crew members, and 11 civilians on the ground; and
(3) a clandestine nuclear weapons program, which was only ended after the seizure by the United States Navy of a shipment of uranium-enrichment components bound for Libya in October 2003; and

Whereas the Libyan people have not asked for United States ground troops to do their fighting for them, and President Barack Obama has pledged not to deploy ground troops: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That—

(1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that—

(A) the regime of Mu’ammar al-Qadhaffi is no longer the legitimate government of Libya;

(B) the Transitional National Council, based in eastern Libya at Benghazi and headed by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, consisting of those Libyans who have declared their intentions to establish a constitutional, multi-party democracy, should be considered the legitimate representatives of the Libyan people and nation;

(C) the United States should encourage the post-Qadhaffi government to repay the expenses incurred by the United States Armed Forces during military operations undertaken to protect the Libyan people; and

(D) as Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner wrote in his letter to President Obama on March 23, 2011, “a UN Security Council resolution does not substitute for a U.S. political and military strategy”, the United States course in Libya must be determined in accord with United States interests and values and in consultation with allies; and

(2) the House of Representatives—

(A) supports President Barack Obama’s strategy of protecting the Libyan people in their struggle for freedom from the Qadhaffi tyranny without risking the direct intervention of United States ground forces in the Libyan civil war;

(B) supports the freezing of the assets of Qadhaffi and his regime wherever they can be found, with the understanding that these assets will be made available to the legitimate representatives of the Libyan people once they have been duly recognized by the United States Government; and

(C) calls for the United States in cooperation with its allies to provide the Libyan freedom fighters with the arms, supplies, and other materials needed to oust the Qadhaffi regime from power and liberate the entire country.

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Who is Musa Kousa

With the news that Musa Kousa Gaddafi's foreign minister has defected to England, his journey has come full circle back to London where he was the Libyan ambassador there and was subsequently expelled in June, 1980 for approving and masterminding the killing of Libyan exiles.

Malta today on March 30th, has an in-depth story on Musa Kousa and his defection.  Kousa was Gaddafi's right hand man and he was instrumental in negotiating the settlement for the Lockerbie bombings that brought Libya back from the cold.

"Mousa Kousa is the only member within the Gaddafi regime who has not been included in the UN sanctions list"

Libyans are generally happy that Kousa has defected as it will accelerate the fall of the Gaddafi regime, however many still wish to find a way to prosecute him for his crimes against Libyans.

Gaddafi Body Guard Talks about Killings of Students (Arabic)

This woman used to be one of Gaddafi's personal body guards, and she discusses the killing of his cousin Hassan Ishkal by another guard, and the hangings and executions of other students in Benghazi.

Operation Unified Protector (was Odyssey Dawn)

David Ceniciotti Details the operation

This is an aviation blog by  David Cenciotti in which he does an in-depth coverage and analysis of the operations in Libya

"he deciphers the military messages which are full of codes, and also gives his own military and strategic analysis of operations underway."

You can see David's blog here

New Revolution Libya TV on Nile Sat

Congratulations to all Libyans on the successful launch of Libya TV. Libya TV is the new channel for all Free Libyans. Libya TV can be watched on Nilesat 10930 Horizontal.
This channel is currently beaming from Doha-Qatar with Studios and correspondents across Libya

You can read more on the exciting process of creating this station here: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/03/28/the_revolution_will_soon_be_televised

A vision for a Democratic Libya. Released by the LTNC

من هو محمود جبريل Who is Mahmood Jebril

عينه المجلس الوطني الانتقالي الليبي في رئاسة لجنة الأزمة في 5 مارس - آذار 2011، لتسهيل صناعة القرار في ليبيا الجديدة بعدما يرحل معمر القذافي.

وظف جبريل -وهو خبير دولي مرموق في التخطيط الاقتصادي- جهوده خلال عدة سنوات لتطوير مشاريع ثقافية تهدف لتأسيس بنية لدولة ديمقراطية، قبل أن ينشق على نظام القذافي ويصبح عضوا في المجلس الوطني.

في 23 يوليو/تموز 2007 أسس المجلس الوطني للتطوير الاقتصادي بتمويل حكومي، وذلك لمواكبة المستجدات في المنطقة العربية والعالم من تطورات وتحولات اقتصادية واجتماعية، وخرج عام 2009 من رئاسة المجلس متعللا برغبته في التفرغ لأعماله الاستشارية.

حرص جبريل خلال عمله في ليبيا على ترك مسافة بينه وبين نظام معمر القذافي، واعتذر نهاية العام الماضي عن قبول "جائزة الفاتح التقديرية"، متعللا بأسباب شخصية.

وكان مجلس أمناء الجائزة -التي تأسست عام 1995 وتعتبر أعلى جائزة أكاديمية ليبية- قرر منحه الجائزة تقديرا لدراساته الاقتصادية والإستراتيجية.

ولد جبريل في ليبيا عام 1952 وحصل على بكالوريوس الاقتصاد والعلوم السياسية من جامعة القاهرة عام 1975، وتزوج هناك من زميلته الباحثة الأكاديمية في الجامعة سلوى شعراوي جمعة ابنة وزير داخلية مصر الأسبق.

أكمل دراساته العليا في الولايات المتحدة، فحصل على الماجستير في العلوم السياسية من جامعة بتسبيرغ بولاية بنسلفانيا عام 1980، وعلى الدكتوراه في التخطيط الإستراتيجي وصناعة القرار عام 1984 من نفس الجامعة، التي عمل فيها أستاذا للتخطيط الإستراتيجي لعدة سنوات.

صدرت له عشرة كتب في التخطيط الإستراتيجي وصناعة القرار، وقاد الفريق العربي الذي صمم وأعد دليل التدريب العربي الموحد، وقام بتنظيم وإدارة أول وثاني مؤتمر للتدريب في العالم العربي عام 1987 و1988.

وتولى الدكتور جبريل بعد ذلك تنظيم وإدارة العديد من برامج التدريب لقيادات الإدارة العليا في كثير من الدول العربية. منها مصر والسعودية وليبيا والإمارات والكويت والأردن والبحرين والمغرب وتونس وتركيا وبريطانيا

This article in BBC goes in more detail about other members of the council:  

Mr Mahmood Jibril:
Born in Libya n 1952, obtained a BSc in Economics and Political Science from Cairo University in 1975. Holds a masters’ degree in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1980. He also obtained a Doctorate in Strategic planning and decision-making from the same university in 1984 where he worked as a professor in the same subject field for several years. So far he has published 10 books in Strategic planning and decision making. He led the team who drafted and formed the Unified Arab Training manual. He was also responsible for organising and administering the first two Training conferences in the Arab world in the years 1987 and 1988. He later took over the management and administration of many of the leaders’ training programs for senior management in Arab countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Libya, UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey and Britain

We are not Alqaida. He is a liar

Excerpt from "Dying To Be Free". from Libyan Emergency Aid on Vimeo.
Scene at the Port of Benghazi, Sat. 12 MAR 2011.


Two clips from our forthcoming documentary that was shot in Cairo and Benghazi between the 8th and 15th of March 2011.

The Women fighting, organising, feeding and healing Libya's revolution

The National takes an in-depth look at the women's role in Benghazi since the start of the revolution on Feb 15.  Great insight and inspiring stories.

The Women women fighting, organising, feeding and healing Libya's revolution

Lists of Assasination targets in Benghazi

Aljazeera Sue Turton reporting from Benghazi about Gaddafi infiltrators within the city of Benghazi.

LTNC Founding Statement. Declaration 3

Founding Statement of the Interim Transitional National Council (TNC)

BENGHAZI, LIBYA – 5 March 2011 – The Transitional Interim National Council (The council) held its first meeting on Saturday, 5th of March, 2011, in the city of Benghazi, the temporary location, till the liberation of Tripoli the Capital City and the permanent location of The Council.
The Council derives its legitimacy from the city councils who run the liberated cities, and who had been formed by the revolution of the 17th February to fulfil the revolutionary gains in order to achieve their goals. The Council is headed by Mr Mustafa Abdeljeleel and the meeting is attended by:

1. Mr. Othman Suleiman El-Megyrahi (Batnan Area)
2. Mr. Ashour Hamed Bourashed (Darna City)
3. Dr. Abdelallah Moussa El-myehoub (Qouba Area)
4. Mr. Zubiar Ahmed El-Sharif (Representative of the political prisoners)
5. Mr. Ahmed Abduraba Al-Abaar (Benghazi City)
6. Mr.Dr. Fathi Mohamed Baja (Benghazi City)
7. Mr. Abdelhafed Abdelkader Ghoga (Benghazi City)
8. Mr Fathi Tirbil and Dr. Salwa Fawzi El-Deghali (Representative of youth and women)

The council concluded the following:

1. The Council emphasised that the most important role is the one played by the youth. They were the base of foundation of the revolution and the focal power for the Libyan to reach where they stand today to be able to demand the termination of the dictatorial regime.
2. The Council Declares that it is the sole representative of all Libya with its different social and political strata and all its geographical sections. Its membership is open to all Libyans and thus received the members of the following cities: Misurata, Zentan, Zawya, Zwara, ,Nalout, El-Jabel El-Gharbi (West Mountain) Gaat, and Kufra and their names will not be declared for safety reasons till the liberation of all Libya. The council is waiting for the delegations from Tripoli , the south Areas and Middle areas of Libya to join it.
3. The council declares Mr. Omer El-Hariri as its representative of the Military Affairs for Safety and Security of Libya.
4. The Council also declares the information of the Executive Team to administrate the crisis and to deal with currant situations. The function of the Executive Team is to run all foreign matters and to represent the foreign affairs of Libya. It is headed by Dr. Mohamed Jebril Ibrahim El-Werfali and Dr Aziz Al-Eisawi as the reprehensive of the Foreign affairs of Libya. The council declares that there will be more members to the Executive Team to run the main vital sectors of the country after further discussions between the head of the Executive Team and the Council.

The council delegates to Dr. Mohamed Jebril and Dr Ali El-Esawi the right to negotiate and communicate with all members of international communities to accomplish international recognition of all the Council, and both members have the right to take all the necessary measures to reach this goal.
The council affirms that all Libyan delegations to the UN, Arab League, International and regional organizations and members of all the Libyan embassies who joined the revolution are considered legitimate representatives of the Council. The other representatives of the fallen regime should take the above stance.
Finally, even though the balance of power is uneven between the defenceless protestors and the tyrant regime’s mercenaries and private battalions, we will relay on the will of our people for a free and dignified existence. Furthermore, we request from the international community to fulfil its obligations to protect the Libyan people from any further genocide and crimes against humanity without any direct military intervention on Libya soil.
Long live Libya, free and united.
The Transitional Interim National Council
5th of March 2011

Provisional Transitional National council Statement on March, 23rd 2011

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Page 2

Page 3

Text Version

The Provisional Transitional National Council of Libya, on behalf of all free Libyans, would like to express its thanks and gratitude to the international community as represented by the United Nations and the coalition countries for coming to the aid of the Libyan people and protecting innocent civilians from the massacres being perpetrated against them by the Gaddafi regime.

The military action undertaken by the coalition has prevented unimaginable atrocities from being committed against the population in the city of Benghazi last Saturday, on an even larger scale than what the Gaddafi militias are doing in other cities in Libya. The people in Benghazi continue to be ready to fight to defend their choice of liberty and democracy. The actions taken by the coalition forces, however, have averted widescale loss of life and destruction, judging from the size and types of military materiel of the Gaddafi militia's forces attacking the city.

At the same time that we express our relief of averting a catastrophe in Benghazi, we call on the international community to continue seeking to execute the mission spelled out in the UN resolution 1973 to protect the civilians all over Libya . At this very time, the Gaddafi militias continue to terrorize our people with constant, unrelenting and indiscriminate bombardment with tanks and other heavy weapons of civilian areas in cities in the west of Libya, especially in Misurata, Zentan, and Yefren, in an effort to break the will of the people and subject them to the terror to which the populations of Zawia and Zwara have been subjected in the past weeks.

The Gaddafi regime is depriving these cities from the most basic necessities. Misurata, a city of close to half a million people, has been under siege, without telecommunications for three weeks, and without electricity or water for ten days. Snipers have been positioned on rooftops to shoot at anyone who ventures outside and even at some people inside their own homes. A number of tanks that have gotten into the main street of the city are firing indiscriminately at residential buildings, resulting in the almost complete destruction of the center of the city.

These criminal acts are indefensible and can only be described as crimes against humanity, punishable under international law. We call on the international community, and especially the coalition countries, to take all possible measures including the destruction of Gaddafi’s heavy military equipment, military facilities, and command and control centers, to force him to stop this massive destruction. The utmost pressure needs to be exerted on this regime to restore all communications services, and water and electricity supplies to all Libyan towns and cities, and allow international humanitarian organizations to enter them and operate freely in assisting the wounded and to provide humanitarian aid.

The Gaddafi regime has over the past weeks murdered uncounted thousands of Libyans because they demonstrated peacefully to demand freedom and democracy. The Libyan pro-democracy forces have only borne arms to defend themselves after the regime responded to their peaceful demands with brutal military force, killing and maiming countless civilians and wrecking havoc and destruction in Libyan cities. The light arms of the pro-democracy fightersare no match to the Gaddafi's brutal war machine which is being unleashed against them. In Gaddafi’s Libya, peaceful protesters have always been subjected to arrest, torture and murder. The thousands of detentions carried out in Tripoli in the past weeks to preempt protests there only go to show how this regime operates in areas under its control.

The Gaddafi regime has lost all legitimacy in the eyes of Libyans as well as the world community. It cannot be permitted to continue slaughtering its people because they ask for change. We implore you to act now.

Long live Libya free and democratic.

Central Bank of Libya & Local Banks in Tripoli & Libyan Gold

On March 10^th the new Governor of Central Bank of Libya (CBL), Abdul Hafeez El Zleetni called a meeting for all Libyan Banks’ General Managers to inform them that the liquidity situation is worsening – the shortage included Libyan Dinars and foreign currencies in Central Bank of Libya safes in Tripoli.  Surely this was already apparent as local banks staff stood long hours at CBL’s doors to obtain cash for their branches.  The shortage was created when Qaddafi decided to withdraw all foreign currencies as well as large amounts of Libyan Dinars and transfer it to Bab Al Azizyia and Sabha. 

CBL had to revert to old currency bills which was scheduled to be decommissioned in January but was put on hold totaling 1.7 billion LYD.  This was introduced to the market two and half weeks ago and will start to run out by end of this week due to serious demand inside the country for liquidity by local banks. The seizure of two freshly printed Libyan Dinars shipments in Europe did not favor the Libyan government; these shipments were supposed to help CBL deal with the liquidity situation. UN Sanctions and US Treasury department has frozen most of Libyan banks including CBL worsen the situation.  Local banks have billions in obligations toward corresponding banks and beneficiaries – these obligations caused some serious exposures and implications for the local banks.

Several attacks have taken place on some of the local banks’ branches outside Tripoli by outraged customers demanding their deposits; however, local banks are not able to meet the demand.   Banks are being forced by CBL to remain open regardless of the situation or face serious penalties.

Another situation is the Libyan Gold which was being held by CBL in Tripoli – it also had been transferred to Sabha.  Gaddafi has about 145 tonnes of gold at a current market value of 6.5 billion US dollars.  Gaddafi is planning to transport the gold to Africa black market and liquidate it to obtain foreign currency.