A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Qadhafi Claims Saudi Roots

"Gadhafi Says He Is of Saudi Origin." Hmm. That's an Emirati English report citing a Saudi local news website where I couldn't locate the story, but here's another Saudi local news website that has it if you want an Arabic original.

Given the bad blood between Qadhafi and Saudi King ‘Abdullah, as seen here in 2009, I'm not sure the Saudis will be pleased with this supposed news. The details:
The tribal chiefs went to Libya to meet its leader at the request of Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Salim Al Sahab, who disclosed to them that Gadhafi’s ancestors had lived in Najd and that his distant cousins belong to Anza tribe.

The seven chiefs from the Dahamisha and Anza tribes met Gadhafi and told him they were asked by the Kuwaiti Emir to come to Libya and talk about the relationship between him and those tribes in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

“The Libyan leader told them that his ancestors belonged to the Dahamisha and Anza tribes but they left the Peninsula to escape revenge…he said nearly 20 families of his ancestors left Najd to Egypt before heading for Tunisia and finally settling in Libya,” the paper said, quoting a tribal chief, Mohammed Al Qahs.

“The Libyan leader confirmed to them what the Kuwaiti Emir had told them about his relationship to those tribes who now live in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait…he made clear tribal vendetta at that time forced his ancestors to emigrate.”

Okay, if Brother Leader says so. It is probably more likely to be true than when he told American Indian visitors that they were of Libyan descent.

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