Libya is a long way from the Caribbean, but in the dying days of the Gadhafi regime, it is interesting to trace the links that the Libyan dictator had to Africa, south of the Sahara, and even Britain’s Caribbean community.

When Colonel Gadhafi erupted onto the world scene in 1979, it was as the leader of an army coup in Libya. At the beginning of his political career he was very much an Arab nationalist leader in the style of his hero, Egypt’s leader Nasser. Gadhafi’s original focus was on being the leader of the Arab world. He wanted to be the Arab world’s Che Guevara.

But, even then, Gadhafi also had a keen interest in black Africa. In 1972 he sent troops to support Idi Amin in Uganda. And in 1979, when Amin himself was deposed in a coup, Gadhafi offered him refuge in Libya. But from the 1980s onward, Gadhafi sent an increasing flow of money and support to black African politicians and regimes. Amongst the African politicians that Gadhafi supported were: the African National Congress in South Africa; Charles Taylor of Liberia; Foday Sankoh of Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe. He also funded relief and development in Cameroon; Ethiopia; Rwanda; Cote d’Ivoire; Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In 1998 Gadhafi publicly turned his back on Arab nationalism. He was quoted as saying: “I had been crying slogans of Arab unity and brandishing standard of Arab nationalism for 40 years, but it was not realised. That means that I was talking in the desert. I have no more time to lose talking with Arabs… I am returning back to realism… I now talk about Pan-Africanism and African unity. The Arab world is finished… Africa is a paradise… and it is full of natural resources like water, uranium, cobalt, iron, manganese.” Ten years later in 2008, Gadhafi had himself proclaimed “King of Kings” in Africa. And it all culminated with him being appointed chairman of the African Union in 2009.

His relationship with Britain’s black Caribbean population was more shadowy. But for years Gadhafi was willing to fund any political movement that was in opposition to Western Imperialism. For instance, he allegedly funded the IRA. There was also a period when one of Britain’s leading Caribbean newspapers at the time featured big fat supplements about Libyan revolution and Gadhafi’s propaganda document – the Green Book. The Green Book was supposed to set out Gadhafi’s system of permanent revolution which was supposed to replace both capitalism and socialism. The supplements were so wordy and full of propaganda I used to wonder who read them. I certainly didn’t. It was also rumoured at the time that the publisher visited Libya. Maybe it was coincidence. Or maybe there was some kind of business arrangement between Gadhafi and the publisher. But now no one will ever know.

Given his relationship with Africa it not surprising that, when the tide of democracy swept through the Middle East and Gadhafi feared for his grip on power, that he called on black Africa for support. Specifically he recruited African mercenaries to try to quell the Libyan popular uprising. From Gadhafi’s point of view it made sense. He had built strong ties in black Africa in any case. But he must have realised that one of the problems that fellow Arab dictators had encountered was when their own army officers refused to fire on the population. This was particularly the case in Egypt and led to the swift removal of President Mubarak. But Gadhafi would have realised that foreign mercenaries would have no such scruples. The first report of Gadhafi importing African mercenaries came earlier this year. It was alleged that four plane-loads had been flown in and ordered to fire live ammunition at demonstrators. It may be that some of the so-called “mercenaries” were Libyan citizens of African origin. But rumours abound that Gadhafi spent upwards of two million pounds bringing in foreign fighters to suppress his own population. In the end it did not help him. The insurgent rebels currently control most of the country. And Gadhafi is now on the run.