RSS 2.0 FeedAugust 2011 - Vol 36, Featured Articles, North Africa
Colonel Gaddafi: Virgin bodyguards, a rocket car and abolishing Switzerland – the Libyan dictator’s Top 10 craziest moments
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has ruled Libya since 1 September 1969, but his grip on the country is slipping and the rebel alliance has reached the heart of the capital Tripoli.
Here are Colonel Gaddafi's top 10 weird moments...
1. In 2009, while in Rome for a food summit, Gaddafi ordered 500 girls from an escort agency, specifying they should be at least 5ft 7in and aged between 18 and 35. Gaddafi rolled up in his white limo – then urged the girls to convert to Islam before packing them off with a Koran and a signed copy of his famous Green Book.
2. Travelling abroad, he has been known to take a 300 person entourage – including 40 female bodyguards who he insists must be virgins.
3. He takes his Bedouin tent on his travels, and in 2007 pitched it in the grounds of a Paris five-star hotel, where he allowed his camel to roam.
4. Gaddafi’s first meeting with Tony Blair saw the Libyan leader insult the British Prime Minister by showing him the sole of his shoe – a serious show of contempt in Arab culture.
5. His first - and only - address to the UN saw him launch into a rant, demanding answers over JFK and insisting George W Bush and Tony Blair be tried for war crimes.
6. He once filed a motion with the UN to abolish Switzerland. He had already closed down all Swiss firms in Libya and banned imports, cancelled flights and seized Swiss businessmen in Tripoli. All because his 33-year-old son Motassim, known as Hannibal, was arrested in Geneva accused of assaulting a hotel chambermaid.
7. Gaddafi made more friends on a trip to Italy though, when he apparently “adopted” the small town of Antrodoco. The Libyan leader had only visited by accident, when he directed his entourage on mountain back-routes rather than risk tunnels weakened by the earthquake at L’Aquila. The town was previously best known for a stand of pine trees which spells out DUX – Latin for Il Duce.
8. As a dictator it is fairly simple to order the release of prisoners – but Gaddafi decided to make things a bit more exciting in 1988, driving a bulldozer into prison gates in Tripoli, releasing 400 inmates.
9. As well as running a country, Gaddafi apparently has time for car design. In 2009 the Saroukh el-Jamahiriya was unveiled – the Libyan Rocket. Libya claimed it was the world’s safest car, and it can also run for hundreds of miles with a flat tyre.
Muammar Gaddafi's rocket car
10. Trying to rid his country of Western influence, Gaddafi looked to replace all English words with Arabic equivalents - even brands. Johnny Walker became Hanah Mashi and 7 Up was renamed Saba'a Fauq.
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