TRIPOLI: Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, had long been seen as the successor to his father before the wave of protests that has shaken the north African country.
The 38-year-old, who occupies no formal political office but wields vast influence, warned on Monday of a civil war as he condemned the unprecedented uprising against his father's 41-year rule as a foreign plot.
“Libya is at a crossroads. If we do not agree today on reforms, we will not be mourning 84 people, but thousands of deaths, and rivers of blood will run through Libya,” he said, giving a lower death toll than Human Rights Watch which said at least 233 have been killed since Thursday.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has distinguished himself as one of the most dependable of the regime's envoys, presenting himself as a determined reformist working to normalise relations with the West.
In August 2007, he announced wide-ranging reforms, inevitably sparking speculation on the question of succession, even if he insisted “Libya will not become a dynasty or a monarchy nor a dictatorship.” He announced his withdrawal from politics in August 2008.
“I have decided no longer to intervene in state affairs,” he told thousands of young supporters at the time.
Presenting himself as a humanitarian ambassador, both within Libya and outside the country through the charitable body he set up in 1997, the young Ghaddafi was at the heart of the complex mediation over the Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor freed by Libya in July 2007.
The six had been in prison for eight years – much of the time under sentence of death – after being convicted of infecting hundreds of children with the HIV virus that can lead to AIDS.
Saif al-Islam, whose name means the sword of Islam in Arabic, has also intervened several times in international negotiations through his Ghaddafi Foundation for Development.
Born on June 25, 1972 in Tripoli, Saif is the eldest son of the Libyan leader's second wife and the second of his six sons and two daughters, one of whom was killed in a US bombing raid.
In 1995, he received his degree in architecture and engineering at Tripoli's Al-Fateh University, resulting in his popularly used nickname “Engineer Saif.” His father then charged him with drawing up an extensive building complex with hotels, mosque and accommodation.
Five years later, the tall shaven-headed young man who has the air of a playboy, pursued his studies in Vienna where he obtained a management degree from the International Business School.
It was at that time that he became friends with Joerg Haider, the late leader of Austria's populist right wing.
Saif al-Islam finished his university studies by gaining a doctorate at Britain's London School of Economics.
A well-known personality in Tripoli where he went into business, he made his appearance on the international scene in 2000 when his foundation negotiated the release of Western hostages held by a group of Islamist extremists in the Philippines.
Speaking English and German and a little French, he expresses himself calmly and deliberately, and is pictured in the press as the new, respectable, face of a regime that was for years accused of supporting terrorism and still draws accusations of authoritarianism.
Saif al-Islam also negotiated the financial compensation paid by Libya to the families of victims killed in the Lockerbie plane bombing in 1988 and the 1989 bombing of a French airliner.
A trendy bachelor, keeping lions as pets, and enjoying sea fishing, hunting with falcons and horse-riding, Saif al-Islam also paints as a hobby.
“Libya is not Egypt, it is not Tunisia,” he said in his fiery but rambling speech on Monday, adding that attempts at another “Facebook revolution” would be resisted.
But Saif al-Islam's threats betrayed a note of desperation, and he suggested that Benghazi, the opposition hotbed where the protests erupted, was now out of government control.
“At this moment there are tanks being driven by civilians in Benghazi,” he said, insisting the uprising was aimed at installing Islamist rule and that it would be ruthlessly crushed. – AFP
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