Gaddafi's sub-Saharan mercenaries

[AdamG]

In sharp contrast to Egypt’s widely respected armed forces, the Libyan army, air force and navy, led by the self-styled Col. Moammar Gadhafi, is regarded as a grim, murderous joke, even compared to other African militaries.

Nothing suggests Libya’s military possesses either the professionalism, the discipline, or commands the popular respect to fill a power vacuum or serve as a transitional structure to civilian government. Ever since the mercurial and increasingly erratic Col. Gadhafi seized power 42 years ago, Libya’s military has been a pawn in his wide schemes and ill-fated international adventures.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1915393/

However, a single brigade of the Revolutionary Guards Corps – estimated at about 3,000 soldiers – is better trained, better paid and supposedly loyal to the aging Col. Gadhafi. Drawn from the Guards is perhaps the oddest force in the militaries of the Arab world, a clutch of female soldiers who serve as the colonel’s close personal protection. They are – facetiously – known as the “Green Nuns” after Col. Gadhafi’s penchant for using that colour to mark ideologically significant elements in the personality cult that he has fostered.