The images depicting the demise of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi on October 20th 2011 suggest he was killed by a lynch mob. But could he have been executed by members of France's special forces after being stoned by the crowd? That is the startling claim of a former rebel intelligence chief in Libya who says that the attack on Gaddafi's convoy at Sirte that led to his death was coordinated by the French foreign intelligence agency the DGSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure) on the orders of the Elysée.
In an interview with Mediapart the agent making the claims, Rami el-Obeidi, ex-head of intelligence for Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), stated bluntly that: “French agents directly executed Gaddafi.” According to him Gaddafi's execution followed his threats to reveal, just before the outbreak of the war, the hidden financing that Libya had provided to Nicolas Sarkozy for his election campaign in 2007.
Mediapart has produced a string of revelations about how Sarkozy's election campaign was funded illegally with up to 50 million euros from the regime of the Libyan dictator.
“The threat of a revelation about the financing of Sarkozy in 2006-2007 was taken sufficiently seriously for whoever at the Elysée to want the rapid death of Gaddafi,” he said, mentioning somewhat mysteriously in the context of the payments the “visits made by Cécilia Sarkozy” [editor's note, Cécilia Sarkozy, then the president's wife, visited Libya in 2007 to help secure the release of five Bulgarian nurses held captive there.]. When contacted Cécilia Attias, as she now is, said: “This man can say what he wants. I have absolutely no knowledge of this kind of thing.”
El-Obeidi, who was close to General Abdul Fatah Younes, a senior rebel commander who was assassinated in July 2011, was one of the key intermediaries for Western secret services in Libya. Last Saturday he told journalists at the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and Briton's The Daily Telegraph how NATO forces had obtained the coordinates of Gaddafi's location by keeping watch on his Libyan contacts in Damascus.
“The Syrian president [Bashar al-Assad] himself gave Gaddafi's satellite phone number to French agents,” he told Corriere della Sera. And el-Obeidi told The Daily Telegraph that the capture and death of Gaddafi was “an exclusively French operation”.
The former head of Libyan rebel intelligence also insists that a report was written on the circumstances of Gaddafi's death but that it was “censored”. So far these allegations about the possible French involvement in the Libyan dictator's death have produced no political reaction in France.
Two senior Libyan figures have discussed this explosive issue over the past week following the death of Omran Ben Chaaban, aged 22, one of the main people involved in the capture of Gaddafi. Chaaban died in Paris on September 24th of gun wounds he had received in Libya. In an interview with Le Point magazine the current Libyan head of state Mohamed Yousef El-Magariaf said it was “not impossible” that Gaddafi had financed Nicolas Sarkozy knowing “the way he operated”. The former head of the Transition Council, meanwhile, Mahmoud Jibril, told Egyptian television that “many Arab [secret] services as well as Western had an interest in [ensuring that Gaddafi] never spoke”.
Contacted by Mediapart, a spokesman for the DGSE refused to comment.
Below is Mediapart's interview with Rami el-Obeidi.
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Mediapart: Do you know if agents from French special forces were present at Sirte when Muammar Gaddafi was captured?
Rami el-Obeidi: Yes, French special forces and field agents from the DGSE were on the ground in Sirte, like other field agents from other countries.
'Gaddafi had humiliated Sarkozy'
Mediapart: Was Gaddafi killed where he was captured or in another place?
R.O.: Perhaps on the road to Misrata [north along the coast from Sirte] but absolutely not at the precise spot where he was discovered after the attack on his convoy.
Mediapart: Do you know, yes or no, if a French agent directly killed Muammar Gaddafi?
R.O.: Yes, French agents directly killed Gaddafi.
Enlargement : Illustration 2
Mediapart: Have you any details on the French agent or agents involved?
R.O.: None. It's just about impossible to have any.
Mediapart: Did the Libyan foreign intelligence service that you headed at the time write a report on French involvement in Muammar Gaddafi's death?
R.O.: Yes, but it was censored because M. Sarkozy controlled the policy of the NTC [National Transitional Council] alongside the Emir of Qatar. I don't know if this report still exists.
Mediapart: Do you remember on which date the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad gave Gaddafi's telephone number so he could be located?
R.O.: It was in the first week of October 2011. Gaddafi was killed on October 20th.
Mediapart: Can you confirm the intervention of two French aircraft in stopping Gaddafi's convoy?
R.O.: I can't confirm that. The aerial attack could have been carried out by any NATO member country, but the operation was commanded and directed by the DGSE and people in charge at the Elysée.
Mediapart: Which French service was involved?
R.O.: The Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure [the French foreign intelligence agency].
Mediapart: Do you think that the murder of Gaddafi might be linked to his threats to reveal Sarkozy's corruption?
R.O.: Absolutely. That was one of many reasons. The threat to reveal financing of the Sarkozy campaign in 2006/2007 could have been the straw that broke the camel's back, and was taken sufficiently seriously for whoever at the Elysée to want the rapid death of Gaddafi. Don't forget that Gaddafi had humiliated Sarkozy in not honouring the majority of the weapons and energy contracts signed in the famous 10 billion euro protocol agreement during [Gaddafi's] well-known visit to Paris [Editor's note, in December 2007].
Enlargement : Illustration 3
Sarkozy had accorded Gaddafi a visit of unusual protocol, worthy of a king. There were also several issues that dated from the time of the war in Chad, in the era of Mitterrand [President François Mitterrand, in office from 1981 to 1995] and which were very embarrassing for France. But also joint intelligence operations in Africa, in Darfur [in Sudan] for example.
Mediapart: Do you have any information concerning the sums of money paid by the Libyan regime to Nicolas Sarkozy?
R.O.: You should look in a little more detail at the frequent visits made by Cécilia Sarkozy to Libya. According to my information the payments did not take place in one go, but in parts, particularly through Nouri Mesmari, the former head of protocol in the Gaddafi regime.
Mediapart: Mediapart has published information concerning the payment of 50 million euros in 2007/2007 at the time of Sarkozy's presidential campaign. Do you have any information on this subject.
R.O.: I have heard the same thing. Moussa Koussa [former head of the intelligence agency under Gaddafi], Bashir Saleh [the dictator's former chief-of-staff] and Nouri Mesmari are best-placed to know.
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For more about the issues raised in this article, click on the links to Mediapart's investigations below:
Mediapart lawyers call for key Sarkozy-Gaddafi election payment witness to be heard by French judge
French government stalls Interpol call for arrest of Gaddafi funding chief
Sarkozy attacks Mediapart over Gaddafi funding revelations
Gaddafi funding of Sarkozy election campaign: the proof
Exclusive: secret report describes Gaddafi funding of Sarkozy's 2007 election campaig
French IT group Bull horned by Libyan internet espionage deal
French judge finds key evidence in illegal funding probe
Net closes in on French presidency after funding 'scam' arrests
Arms dealer probe brings illegal funding scandal closer to Sarkozy
The secret financier who brings danger to the Sarkozy clan
Sarkozy, the arms dealer, and a secret 350 million-euro commission
Exclusive: how Sarkozy's team sought grace for Gaddafi's murderous henchman
Exlusive: how President Sarkozy's team dealt with Gaddafi
When Total paid the bill for the Elysée's secret emissary
The French-built stealth offroader that may be hiding Gaddafi
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English version: Michael Streeter