LIBYA: The Kaddadifa Oust The Migariha
[Intelligence
Newsletter- 2/9/1993]
Fearing the reinforcement of the current embargo against his country
on 1 October, Colonel Muammar Kadhafi began a vast shake up of his
security and intelligence services in early August. On one hand, this move
confirms the fall from grace of the regime's number two man, Commandant
Abdessalam Jallud and his tribe, the Migariha, whose influence was dominant
up until now in the security services. On the other hand, it confirmed
the preeminence of the Kaddadifa clan of which the chief of state is a
member. The diversity of different services is maintained, but the Guide's
Intelligence Bureau (Maktab Maaloumat al-Kaed) in reinforced and becomes
a major coordinating body. Located in the Bab al-Aziza barracks in the
center of Tripoli, the Bureau is headed by Ahmed Ramadan al-Asabia,
a Kaddadifa member and intelligence specialist very close to Colonel Kadhafi.
One of his principal advisors, Mohamed Amsied al-Majub al-Kaddafi,
is general coordinator of the Revolutionary Committees, replacing
Abdessalam Jallud who has withdrawn to his native town of Sebha.
Al-Asabia now exercises direct control over the four security and intelligence
agencies:
The Jamahiriya's Security Organization (Haiat amn al Jamahiriya)
whose boss is Lieutenant Colonel Abdallah Senussi, brother in
law of Colonel Kadhafi, wanted by French justice in the bombing
of a UTA DC-10. Although he is director of the most important intelligence
service, Senussi is the only senior intelligence official who is not a
member of the Kaddadifa clan. His loyalty to his brother in law makes him
a Migariha dissident. This service is divided into two branches: Internal
Security, directed by Omar Gueider (of the Orphelis clan) and
Foreign Security whose boss is the publicity-seeker Colonel Yussef
Dibri who is also director the Libyan radio. A native of the Kufra
oasis on the Egypt- Sudan border, married to a Lebanese and resident of
Suite 501 at Hotel El Kebir in Tripoli, Dibri has only limited power and
is especially active when contacts with foreigners are involved. Other
high officials of Foreign Security nonetheless play important roles. For
example, the operations bureau of Foreign Security is under the
orders of Captain Abdusalam Mohamed Zadma of the Ouled Souleymane
clan, traditional allies of the Kaddadifa. Formerly responsible for opposition
members abroad, he is now in charge of the fundamentalist file (see Who's
Who in I.N. n. 214). Foreign Security special operations are under
the orders of Nasser Ali Achur who has been given the IRA file to
handle by Colonel Kadhafi. In this capacity he is participating in the
current negotiations between Tripoli and MI5 concerning intelligence the
Libyans could provide the British on Irish revolutionaries. In this regard,
Achur was in Cairo two weeks ago with Ibrahim Bishari, former foreign
minister and former director of Foreign Security, to meet and talk with
representatives of the British government. The two men then flew to Paris
the following week.
The High Command of the Armed Forces (Al Kiada al Ulia Kuwait Mussallah),
new title for former Military Intelligence (Istikhbarat Askaria),
remains under the orders of Colonel Mustapha Kharrubi, inspector
general of the armed forces and one of the five historical leaders of the
Libyan revolution.
The Security Units (Kataeb al Amn),
under the orders of Colonel Massud Abdul Hafiz al-Kaddafi, are
responsible for the regime's security in the major cities (I.N. n. 197).
The Tobruk unit is commanded by a cousin of the Guide, Ahmed Kadhaf
Ed-Dam, a key person in Libyan-Egyptian relations. The new unit created
in Tarhuna is directed by Colonel Said Uaidate al-Kaddafi
who commanded the Republican Guard missile- launching unit from 1985 until
early this year. The Republican Guard is responsible for the security of
Colonel Kadhafi and his family.
The Revolutionary Guard (Al Haras Assauri)
is a new command created to control the Revolutionary Committees
whose numerous misdeeds have been openly criticized by the Libyan people.