BodyguardsGaddafi's choice of bodyguards has been the subject of much media attention. His 40-member bodyguard contingent, known as the
Amazonian Guard*, is entirely female. All women who qualify for duty supposedly must be virgins, and are hand-picked by Gaddafi himself. They are trained in the use of firearms and martial arts at a special academy before entering service.
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الراهبات الثوريات - The Amazonian Guard (also "the Amazons") is an unofficial name given by western journalists to an all-female an elite cadre of bodyguards officially known as الراهبات الثوريات al-rahibat al-thawriyyat "The Revolutionary Nuns", tasked with protecting the leader of Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi.
It was formed in the early 1980s, after Gaddafi's official resignation as Libyan head of state in favour of the title of "Brotherly Leader and Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya". This came as a surprise, as Gaddafi was known for his misogynistic outbursts during the 1970s, and in his Green Book he had made clear that he saw the role of women confined to housekeepeing and motherhood.
Gaddafi reportedly employed a cadre of female bodyguards because he believed that an Arab gunman would have difficulty firing at women. But it has also been submitted that Gaddafi's female bodyguards are in reality just an aspect of the dictator's well-known eccentric showmanship and his fondness of surrounding himself with young women.
Candidates for the Amazonian Guard undergo extensive firearms and martial arts training at a special academy, must take an oath of chastity, and must be hand-picked by Gaddafi himself. Members of this bodyguard are allowed privileges not deemed acceptable in the Muslim world, such as dressing in Western-style fatigues and wearing makeup, or displaying Western hair styles and high heels.
Libyan sources claimed that in June 1998, one of Gaddafi's female bodyguards was killed and seven other wounded when Islamic fundamentalists in Libya ambushed the Colonel's motorcade. It was claimed that the dead girl, Aisha, was Gaddafi's favourite and threw herself across Gaddafi's body to stop the bullets.
In November 2006, as Gaddafi arrived at Abuja airport, Nigeria, with a 200-strong troop of heavily armed bodyguards, a diplomatic incident was caused as security officials tried to disarm them. Gaddafi was furious walked away, gesturing that he intended to cover the 40 km to the capital on foot, and could only be persuaded to yield after intervention by Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo who happened to be at the airport by chance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazonian_Guard