Qaddaffi paying a fortune for soldiers of fortune
A recent piece in The Guardian reports that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has ferreted away billions in oil revenues. Some of which the writer argues has ended up in the hands of the mercenaries now fighting for Qaddaffi's survival in Libya. While on Twitter, Martin Chulov a correspondent also with The Guardian is reporting that an Air Force officer in eastern Libya has reported that 4,000 mercenaries have arrived into the country since February 14th. Additionally Qaddafi’s tribal allies in the south maybe bringing in additional mercenaries from Chad, The Bangkok Post quoted an unnamed analyst who said Qaddafi’s tribal allies in the south have been bringing in mercenaries as well. Additionally, the Facebook group “Dear Mr. President,” organized by anti-government activists alleges that Bangladeshi and Koreans are serving as mercenaries.
Reported rates vary one Twitter post which could not be verified suggested "mercs" were being paid $500 dollars a day and $12,000 per person killed. While Al-Jazeera has reported advertisements have appeared in Guinea and Nigeria calling for mercenaries who are being paid $2,000 U.S dollars a day. Taking the figure of 2,000 dollars we can calculate that perhaps the regime paying these mercenaries perhaps 10 million dollars a day. How long can the regime pay for these war criminals for hire? Another question is if the regime suddenly collapses, how will the successors of the regime deal with several thousand heavily armed and unpaid mercenaries in Libya’s major cities?