The private force of South Africans are said to have undertaken the task of getting Gaddafi out of the country via the convoy in the belief it had the backing of the Western powers. The men were recruited, it is claimed, by a woman of British background – whose name cannot currently be published for legal reasons – living in Kenya and working on behalf of a company in London.
However, the extraction of Gaddafi ended in ferocious violence and confusion when the convoy carrying him out of Sirte, his birthplace where he made his final stand, drove into an ambush with sustained air strikes from French warplanes and ground attacks from rebel fighters. The venture came to a bloody end, with Gaddafi tortured and killed, and some of the South Africans with him reported killed, injured and captured. This has led to recriminations and accusations of betrayal. At least some of those taking part believe that the hidden aim of those who had hired them was not to save the former Libyan leader but to deliver him into the hands of his enemies.
