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Gaddafi Courts an African Queen
I swear that I have not changed one word in this story.What lies behind the Libyan strongman's strange but abiding interest in the attractive young mother of a 10-year-old Ugandan king? LIBYA'S Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has developed a mysterious obsession with an ancient Ugandan kingdom whose 10-year-old monarch is the youngest in the world. According to long-standing rumours, there are two reasons for Gaddafi's interest in Toro, one of five historic kingdoms that make up present-day Uganda. One is oil. There have long been suggestions that oil will soon be discovered in the tiny kingdom in the west of the country and that this bonanza will make Toro the dominant force in the Ugandan economy. The other reason is said to be little king Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV's mother - the peachy 35-year-old widow, Best Kemigisa, who has been entertained and courted with considerable gusto by the Libyan leader in recent months. Last week, Toro's prime minister, Stephen Nyabongo, was moved to state publicly that there was, in fact, no substance to suggestions of a romantic relationship between Gaddafi and Kemigisa. But, as the London Sunday Times reported, Gaddafi's behaviour towards Toro is something out of the ordinary as far as the Libyan strongman, known for bankrolling Africa's more controversial causes, is concerned. According to the newspaper, Gaddafi: Spent almost R38-million rebuilding Toro's palace and has bought luxury homes for the king and his mother in Kampala and London; Entertained both Kemigisa and Oyo in Tripoli several times - on one occasion the queen mother spent two months there; Sponsors the education of Princess Komuntale, Oyo's teenage sister, at an international school in Tripoli; and Visits the tiny kingdom at the foot of Uganda's fabled Mountains of the Moon whenever he can. In return for the Libyan's attentions, Oyo has appointed Gaddafi as his adviser, and has sought his help to develop education, health and tourism in Toro. Libya being such a tourist hotspot In diplomatic circles, speculation continues that Gaddafi is infatuated with Oyo's mother. She was widowed in 1995 when King Patrick Olimini Kaboyo II died suddenly from hypertension. Did they do a autopsy? Talk of the relationship - and the time the queen mother has spent in Tripoli - has troubled Toro's one million people, the London Sunday Times said. "The people are very upset," the newspaper quoted an official as saying. "It is as if she has been taken over by Gaddafi." Oyo first met Gaddafi in May 2001, when the Libyan flew to Uganda for the installation of President Yoweri Museveni following his re-election as head of state. The kingdoms were abolished by former President Milton Obote in 1966 but re-established in 1994 by Museveni for ceremonial purposes. Following Museveni's installation, Gaddafi flew Oyo and his mother, along with their tribal guardians, back to Tripoli. Gaddafi has in the past demonstrated considerable generosity towards the women who catch his eye. He has a hand-picked elite personal bodyguard made up entirely of beautiful women whose loyalty to their leader was demonstrated in June 1998 when, during a reported assassination attempt , one of them sacrificed her life for him. Their sultry style is somewhat over-emphasised by their chic shoulder holsters and by Gaddafi's insistence that they wear lipstick, nail varnish and perfume and style their hair - apparently to counter the "loss of femininity" suffered in doing "men's work". I've seen pictures, they're hot! Gaddafi made headlines in July 2001 when he dispatched armed soldiers at night to bring South African bad girl of pop Brenda Fassie from her hotel to the house he keeps in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, after she performed at a concert there. On that occasion, Fassie threw her arms around Gaddafi. The Libyan strongman then took off his ruby-and-diamond gold ring and slipped it onto Fassie's finger. More recently, Gaddafi' s roving eye fell on a 19-year-old American model, Tecca Zendik, who arrived in Tripoli in November last year as a contestant in the Miss Net World show, the first ever international beauty pageant held in Libya. Last month, Zendik was given a Libyan passport and appointed the country's honorary consul in the US. Chicks dig a guy with his own country. Posted by: Steve 2003-02-07 |
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