By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 1 April 2014:
Saadi Qaddafi has said that he had been in . . .[restrict]contact with the de-facto head of the Cyrenaica federalists and oil terminal blockader Ibrahim Jadhran to sell Libyan oil on the international market and secure weapons and equipment for himself and his supporters.
In a second televised video statement aired last night, Saadi named a number of intermediaries between himself and Jadhran. He also admitted that he was behind the attempt to destabilise security in January when Qaddafi supporters took over the Tamenhint airbase in Sebha.
Today, Jadhran issued a statement on his Barqa TV vehemently denying any relationship with Saadi. He said he would not have wanted to be in touch with someone who had fled the country even “before his own sister did so”. He indicated that he would sue those responsible for the video broadcast.
In his statement from Hadba Prison where he and other top Qaddafi regime figures are being held, Saadi said he had had “extensive calls” while in Niger with Jadhran and that there had been meetings between him and his own intermediaries.
There had been a hiatus at one point when relations broke down but then the Skype calls continued again, he claimed.
He said there were also contacts with Tebu officials.
He said he had told Jadhran to take over Sirte which would then become “the front Line of Cyrenaica”, and that he himself would find companies to buy oil and “we share the profits”. Jadhran had agreed and had said that he would protect families in Sirte wanted for being Qaddafi loyalists. As a result, Saadi had contacted companies “in Turkey, Tunisia, Lebanon and Malta”. Some, however, had expressed fears about entering Libya’s territorial waters.
He also claimed that Jedhran had been put in touch with pro-Qaddafi contacts in Fezzan.
It is unclear whether Saadi was speaking freely or was prompted in his claims. [/restrict]
