Africa News
BACKGROUND: The Gaddafi family
Mar 21, 2011, 12:19 GMT
(FILE) File picture dated 09 September 2010 of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi attending the opening session of the 2nd Conference of the Forum of Kings, Sultans, Princes, Sheikhs and Mayors of Africa in Tripoli, Libya. Reports out of Libya estimate that several dozen more people were killed 19 February 2010 during the fourth day of protests against the regime of leader Muammar Gaddafi. Protests centered on the north-eastern city of Benghazi, Libya‘s second largest city after the capital Tripoli. The northern coastal city of Misurata was also the scene of demonstrations, the National Conference of the Libyan Opposition (NCLO) said. EPA/SABRI ELMHEDWI epa02592944 (FILE) File picture dated 09 September 2010 of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi attending the opening session of the 2nd Conference of the Forum of Kings, Sultans, Princes, Sheikhs and Mayors of Africa in Tripoli, Libya. Reports out of Libya estimate that several dozen more people were killed 19 February 2010 during the fourth day of protests against the regime of leader Muammar Gaddafi. Protests centered on the north-eastern city of Benghazi, Libya‘s second largest city after the capital Tripoli. The northern coastal city of Misurata was also the scene of demonstrations, the National Conference of the Libyan Opposition (NCLO) said. EPA/SABRI ELMHEDWI *** Local Caption *** 00000402324834
Berlin - Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi has placed several of his children in key positions in the country's political, security and economic arenas.
One of them, Khamis Gaddafi, was reported on Monday to have become the victim of a kamikaze pilot, succumbing to the burn wounds he allegedly sustained during the attack on the Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli.
Gaddafi has been married since 1970 to Safiah Farkash, a nurse and his second wife. The couple has seven children. Gaddafi has a son from a previous short-lived marriage.
The Gaddafi clan includes:
MOHAMMED GADDAFI (born in 1970): A computer scientist, he leads the state-controlled General Post and Telecommunications Company and the National Olympic Committee. He additionally owns two Libyan mobile phone providers. He is the only child of Moamer Gaddafi and the wealthy officer's daughter and teacher Fatiha. The couple divorced in 1969 after half-a-year of marriage.
SAIF AL-ISLAM GADDAFI (born 1972): His first name means 'sword of Islam.' After studying architecture and economics in Tripoli, Vienna and London, he founded in 1999 the formally independent Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation. He owns several commercial enterprises. He temporarily left Libya in 2006 after criticizing his father's leadership style. He since has been considered in the Western world as a possible progressive successor.
AL-SAADI GADDAFI (born 1973): He attended the Libyan military academy and, like his father, has the rank of colonel. After fighting Islamists in Libya as commander of an elite unit, he went to Italy in 2003 as a professional football player. He was signed by several first-division teams, but hardly got to play before he had to take his leave amid doping allegations. He now presides over the Libyan Football Federation.
MUTASSIM BILLAH GADDAFI (born 1975): He completed military training in Libya and Egypt. After a quarrel with his father, he temporarily fled to Egypt. He was later allowed to return to Libya and now commands the influential presidential guard. Over the past few years, his father has repeatedly entrusted him with important political and diplomatic tasks.
AISHA GADDAFI (born 1976): The lawyer is the only daughter of the Libyan ruler. She studied in Tripoli and Paris. Aisha was part of a group of attorneys who defended the toppled and later executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Since 2006, she has been married to a cousin of her father. She leads a Libyan welfare organization.
HANNIBAL GADDAFI (born 1977): A graduate of the Libyan military academy, he has several times made headlines for a luxurious lifestyle and acts of violence. In 2005, he was accused of hitting his girlfriend in a Paris hotel. Two years later, he was arrested in Switzerland on charges of abusing domestic servants in Geneva.
SAIF AL-ARAB GADDAFI (birth year unclear): Little is known about this son. Differing reports have his birth year ranging from 1979 to 1988. He reportedly studied in Munich, Germany, where he attracted police attention on several occasions for his exceedingly loud Ferrari and brawls in high-end nightclubs.
KHAMIS GADDAFI (born 1980): The son who media reports said was killed in the kamikaze attack also largely stayed out of the public eye. After military training in Russia, he reportedly had held an important post in the Libyan security apparatus.
MILAD ABUZTAIA GADDAFI (birth year unclear): Gaddafi's nephew, he was adopted by the Libyan leader. According to local lore, he saved the ruler's life during a US bombing raid on Tripoli in 1986. A 15- month-old adopted daughter, Hana, was killed in the attack.
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