The arms the dictator left behind have become commonplace objects in Libyan homes
When Moammar Gadhafi’s regime collapsed in 2011, Libya was left
leaderless. In the ensuing years, rebel militias have battled one
another for control of the country in a series of deadly bombings and
shootouts. With fighting unavoidable and no end in sight, Libyan
civilians are picking up AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) to
protect their families from the militias.
Of course, they don’t have to look far. Libya’s parliament estimates
that 15 million weapons—many left over from Gadhafi’s massive
caches—are circulating within the country. That’s two and a half weapons per person.
Times being what they are, many use social media to source their
household arms. Since the beginning of the year, Vocativ has been
monitoring Facebook and other online activity in Libya to track this
phenomenon. What we discovered was a virtual arms market, complete with
dealers claiming to live in Tripoli, advertised prices and hagglers in
the comment section.
In a video report from on the ground in Tripoli, Vocativ producer Lindsay Snell meets with an arms dealer who refers to himself as “Batsha.” Squatting over his collection of ammunition and firearms, Batsha selects a weapon and demonstrates how to load it. “This is a Kalashkinov. It is the most popular weapon in Libya. It costs $1,200,” he says as he cocks the rifle. After rattling off a list of the other guns and missiles up for sale (their prices range from $800 to $5,000), he says, “Everyone in Libya is armed. Everyone has a weapon.”
After speaking with a handful of civilians during our visit to
Tripoli, Batsha’s claim that virtually all of Libya packs heat checks
out. “Everyone has to be armed. We don’t trust the militias, we don’t
trust the government, we don’t trust anyone,” says university student
Ahmed Klisel, AK-47 in hand. “It’s really easy to obtain weapons in
Libya. An AK-47 is a necessity in every household. More households have
more than one. Or they have an AK-47 and a few pistols, handguns.”
And it’s not just men who carry weapons. Fidgeting with a small handgun, single mother Hind Ahmed Benghagab says, “We never thought we would see the day where Libyan women would need guns.”
With the massive surplus of military-grade weapons and the ease of purchase, deadly armaments often wind up in the wrong hands. According to a recent U.N. report, violent militant groups from Boko Haram in Nigeria to jihadis in Syria have obtained guns and other arms from Libya. While strife and chaos is Gadhafi’s endowment to the nation he ruled with an iron fist, it’s the second lives of the weapons he amassed and left behind that may be his lasting and violent global legacy.
In a video report from on the ground in Tripoli, Vocativ producer Lindsay Snell meets with an arms dealer who refers to himself as “Batsha.” Squatting over his collection of ammunition and firearms, Batsha selects a weapon and demonstrates how to load it. “This is a Kalashkinov. It is the most popular weapon in Libya. It costs $1,200,” he says as he cocks the rifle. After rattling off a list of the other guns and missiles up for sale (their prices range from $800 to $5,000), he says, “Everyone in Libya is armed. Everyone has a weapon.”
And it’s not just men who carry weapons. Fidgeting with a small handgun, single mother Hind Ahmed Benghagab says, “We never thought we would see the day where Libyan women would need guns.”
With the massive surplus of military-grade weapons and the ease of purchase, deadly armaments often wind up in the wrong hands. According to a recent U.N. report, violent militant groups from Boko Haram in Nigeria to jihadis in Syria have obtained guns and other arms from Libya. While strife and chaos is Gadhafi’s endowment to the nation he ruled with an iron fist, it’s the second lives of the weapons he amassed and left behind that may be his lasting and violent global legacy.
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