A team led by a Libyan-American telecoms executive helped rebels hijack Gaddafi's cellphone network and create their own system dubbed "Free Libyana"

How eastern Libya got its phone service back - Rebels hijacked Gaddafi's phone network

According to the following news report, filed here for my own future reference incase the link becomes broken, after the rebellion in Libya started, officials cut internet access and jammed cellphone networks and the signal for satellite phone operator Thuraya.

So a group of expatriate executives and engineers, led by a Libyan-American telecom executive, helped the rebels hijack Col. Gaddafi's cellphone network and re-establish their own communications.

The Libyan-American telecom executive, Ousama Abushagur, a 31-year-old raised in Huntsville, Alabama, USA, masterminded the operation from his home in Abu Dhabi. Mr. Abushagur and two childhood friends working as corporate managers in Dubai and Doha started fund-raising on Feb. 17 to support the political protests that were emerging in Libya. By Feb. 23, when fighting had erupted, his team delivered the first of multiple humanitarian aid convoys to eastern Libya.

Note that the March cutoff had rebels waving flags to communicate on the battlefield.

"We went to fight with flags: Yellow meant retreat, green meant advance," said Gen. Ahmed al-Ghatrani, a rebel commander in Benghazi. "Gaddafi forced us back to the stone age."

Now the new cellphone network, opened on April 2, has become the opposition's main tool for communicating from the front lines in the east and up the chain of command to rebel brass hundreds of miles away.

The new network, first plotted on an airplane napkin and assembled with the help of oil-rich Arab nations, is giving more than two million Libyans their first connections to each other and the outside world after Col. Gaddafi cut off their telephone and Internet service about a month ago.

An added bonus of the new network - dubbed "Free Libyana" - is free for domestic calls, at least until Free Libyana gets a billing system up and running.

While cellphones haven't given rebel fighters the military strength to decisively drive Col. Gaddafi from power, the network has enabled rebel leaders to more easily make the calls needed to rally international backing, source weapons and strategise with their envoys abroad.

The U.A.E. and Qatar provided diplomatic support and helped buy the several million dollars of telecommunications equipment needed in Benghazi, according to members of the Libyan transitional authority and people familiar with the situation.

The Libyan expats in the project asked that their corporate affiliations be kept confidential so that their political activities don't interfere with their work responsibilities.

Full details below. Click here to view original copy, photos, graphics and related reports online at wsj.com.

From: The Wall Street Journal
Publication date: Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Written by MARGARET COKER in Abu Dhabi
and CHARLES LEVINSON in Benghazi, Libya
—Loretta Chao, Shireen El-Gazzar and Sam Dagher contributed to this article.

Rebels Hijack Gadhafi's Phone Network
A Group of Expatriate Executives and Engineers Furtively Restore Telecommunications for the Libyan Opposition

PHOTO: WSJ's Margaret Coker reports on efforts by telecommunications executives to restore cell phone service to rebels in eastern Libya, allowing them to communicate without interference from government personnel loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

A team led by a Libyan-American telecom executive has helped rebels hijack Col. Moammar Gadhafi's cellphone network and re-establish their own communications.

The new network, first plotted on an airplane napkin and assembled with the help of oil-rich Arab nations, is giving more than two million Libyans their first connections to each other and the outside world after Col. Gadhafi cut off their telephone and Internet service about a month ago.

That March cutoff had rebels waving flags to communicate on the battlefield. The new cellphone network, opened on April 2, has become the opposition's main tool for communicating from the front lines in the east and up the chain of command to rebel brass hundreds of miles away.

PHOTO: (Reuters) A rebel fighter rested at the frontline at the western entrance of Ajdabiyah.

While cellphones haven't given rebel fighters the military strength to decisively drive Col. Gadhafi from power, the network has enabled rebel leaders to more easily make the calls needed to rally international backing, source weapons and strategize with their envoys abroad.

To make that possible, engineeers hived off part of the Libyana cellphone network—owned and operated by the Tripoli-based Libyan General Telecommunications Authority, which is run by Col. Gadhafi's eldest son—and rewired it to run independently of the regime's control. Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, asked about the rebel cellphone network, said he hadn't heard of it.

Ousama Abushagur, a 31-year-old Libyan telecom executive raised in Huntsville, Ala., masterminded the operation from his home in Abu Dhabi. Mr. Abushagur and two childhood friends working as corporate managers in Dubai and Doha started fund-raising on Feb. 17 to support the political protests that were emerging in Libya. By Feb. 23, when fighting had erupted, his team delivered the first of multiple humanitarian aid convoys to eastern Libya.

But while in Libya, they found their cellphones and Thuraya satellite phones jammed or out of commission, making planning and logistics challenging.

Security was also an issue. Col. Gadhafi had built his telecommunications infrastructure to fan out from Tripoli—routing all calls through the capital and giving him and his intelligence agents full control over phones and Internet.

On March 6, during a flight back to the United Arab Emirates after organizing a naval convoy to the embattled city of Misrata, Mr. Abushagur says he drew up a diagram on the back of a napkin for a plan to infiltrate Libyana, pirate the signal and carve out a network free of Tripoli's control.

What followed was a race against time to solve the technical, engineering and legal challenges before the nascent rebel-led governing authority was crushed under the weight of Col. Gadhafi's better-equipped forces. After a week of victories in which the rebels swept westward from Benghazi toward Col. Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, the rebel advance stalled and reversed on March 17, when the United Nations approved a no-fly zone and government forces kicked off a fierce counterattack.

In a sign of deepening ties between Arab governments and the Benghazi-based administration, the U.A.E. and Qatar provided diplomatic support and helped buy the several million dollars of telecommunications equipment needed in Benghazi, according to members of the Libyan transitional authority and people familiar with the situation.

Meanwhile, rebel military commanders were using flags to signal with their troops, a throw-back that proved disastrous to their attempts at holding their front lines.

"We went to fight with flags: Yellow meant retreat, green meant advance," said Gen. Ahmed al-Ghatrani, a rebel commander in Benghazi. "Gadhafi forced us back to the stone age."

Renewed signal jamming also meant that rebel leaders and residents in Benghazi had little warning of the government forces' offensive across east Libya and the March 19 attempted invasion of Benghazi, which sparked panicked civilian evacuations of the city.

Mr. Abushagur watched the government advances with alarm. His secret cellphone operation had also run into steep problems.

The Chinese company Huawei Technologies Ltd., one of the original contractors for Libyana's cellular network backbone, refused to sell equipment for the rebel project, causing Mr. Abushagur and his engineer buddies to scramble to find a hybrid technical solution to match other companies' hardware with the existing Libyan network. Huawei declined to comment on its customers or work in Libya. The Libyan expats in the project asked that their corporate affiliations be kept confidential so that their political activities don't interfere with their work responsibilities.

Without Huawei, the backing from the Persian Gulf nations became essential—otherwise it is unlikely that international telecom vendors would have sold the sophisticated machinery to an unrecognized rebel government or individual businessmen, according to people familiar with the situation.

"The Emirates government and [its telecommunications company] Etisalat helped us by providing the equipment we needed to operate Libyana at full capacity," said Faisal al-Safi, a Benghazi official who oversees transportation and communications issues.

U.A.E. and Qatari officials didn't respond to requests for comment. Emirates Telecommunications Corp., known as Etisalat, declined to comment.

VIDEO: After 42 years under Moammar Gadhafi's rule, it's hard to imagine what Libya could look like without the dictator in power. WSJ's Neil Hickey reports from Washington on the cloudy outlook for the north African nation.

By March 21, most of the main pieces of equipment had arrived in the U.A.E. and Mr. Abushagur was ready to ship them to Benghazi with three Libyan telecom engineers, four Western engineers and a team of bodyguards.

But Col. Gadhafi's forces were still threatening to overrun the rebel capital and trying to bomb its airport. Mr. Abushagur diverted the team and their equipment to an Egyptian air base on the Libyan border. Customs bureaucracy cost them a week, though Egypt's eventual approval was another show of Arab support for rebels. Egypt's governing military council couldn't be reached for comment.

Once in Libya, the team paired with Libyana engineers and executives based in Benghazi. Together, they fused the new equipment into the existing cellphone network, creating an independent data and routing system free from Tripoli's command.

The team also captured the Tripoli-based database of phone numbers, giving them information necessary to patch existing Libyana customers and phone numbers into their new system—which they dubbed "Free Libyana." The last piece of the puzzle was securing a satellite feed through which the Free Libyana calls could be routed—a solution provided by Etisalat, according to Benghazi officials.

Photo: European Pressphoto Agency - A Libyan rebel stood guard Tuesday on a checkpoint between Brega and Ajdabiya. Rebels now can use cellphones to communicate between the front lines and opposition leaders.

On April 2, Mr. Abushagur placed a test call on the system to his wife back in Abu Dhabi. "She's the one who told me to go for it in the first place," he said.

International calling from Libya is still limited to the few individuals and officials in eastern Libya who most need it. Incoming calls have to be paid for by prepaid calling cards, except for Jordan, Egypt and Qatar.

Domestic calling works throughout eastern Libya up until the Ajdabiya, the last rebel-held town in the east. An added bonus of the new network: It is free for domestic calls, at least until Free Libyana gets a billing system up and running.

—Loretta Chao, Shireen El-Gazzar and Sam Dagher contributed to this article.
Write to Margaret Coker at margaret.coker@wsj.com and Charles Levinson at charles.levinson@wsj.com

Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Gaddafi scion was steeped in U.S. internship when crisis broke

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• "After attending a course on consciousness, he goes and leads troops," says Deepak Chopra
• "Why was he in my course? I have no idea."
• Khamis Gadhafi was visiting U.S. military schools and weapons makers
• Youngest son runs elite special forces

Gadhafi scion was steeped in U.S. internship when crisis broke
From: CNN.com - edition.cnn.com
By TOM WATKINS, CNN
Published date: Thursday, 31 March 2011 -- Updated 0952 GMT (1752 HKT). Full copy:

Photo: Gadhafi's son had a U.S. internship

(CNN) -- The athletic young man who arrived in Dr. Deepak Chopra's classroom last month for a course in leadership was impeccably dressed in a hunting jacket, polite and unassuming.

"He said he was in the investment business," the wellness guru told CNN in a telephone interview. "He did not say, 'I'm from Libya.' He said, 'I'm from North Africa,' or words to that effect."

But Chopra knew who he was and where he was from. "We had been informed by the State Department that he was going to be there, that he didn't want to use his official name and we should respect that. So, he introduced himself with his name, but he didn't use the name Gadhafi."

His name was Khamis, the 27-year-old scion of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi who was in the third week of an "internship" that took him across the country to hone his leadership skills.

Asked to list his hobbies, Khamis Gaddhafi said, "Adventure and horses."

Libyan foreign minister resigns No 'prolonged US engagement' in Libya

Someone with knowledge of his program told CNN his 36-day planned internship began in Houston on January 21, when he was to meet with officials from AECOM, the global engineering and design company that sponsored the program.

That weekend's options included a 236-mile flight to Hondo, Texas, for hunting at Lonesome Deer Ranch with a return flight arriving in Houston in time for dinner at Capital Grille, a high-end steakhouse.

The next day's classes in leadership and program management were to be followed by a visit to the Johnson Space Center, a class in traffic and emergency management and a "business dinner" at Willie G's, a steakhouse and seafood place.

The week included a visit to the Port of Houston. An official told CNN in a statement that it had granted a request to meet with Gadhafi during his internship associated with his pursuit of an MBA. "During his visit, he toured several Port Authority facilities and received briefings on trade relations," the statement said.

Visits with oil company and other business executives were scheduled around lunch at the Coronado Club, which describes itself as "a bastion of strength and financial solidity in Houston's downtown business district."

On January 29, Gadhafi was scheduled to travel to Los Angeles, where he was to receive a VIP tour of Universal Studios, meet with Silicon Valley and other business leaders there and in San Francisco and then travel to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Academy spokesman John Van Winkle told CNN that Gadhafi was given "a standard tour" during his visit on February 7.

The next morning, he was slated to fly to Chicago for more training with AECOM lawyers on such topics as "global contract management" and "foreign corrupt practices training."

It was in Chicago that he attended Chopra's three-day leadership class at the Kellogg School of Business. The author of "The Soul of Leadership," who has advised CNN management, noted to the class the turmoil faced by then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. "We were analyzing in the class why Mubarak was going through this and why it would have a ripple effect. He (Gadhafi) was taking notes extensively."

Chopra added, "I purposely didn't mention his dad because I thought it would be impolite."

After the class, when Gadhafi and a traveling companion, also from Libya, invited their teacher to visit Libya and meet Gadhafi's father, Chopra said he was tempted to accept. "I said, 'Wow, these guys are really interested in spirituality.' "

Gadhafi next traveled to Washington, where he met with defense contractors, including representatives of Northrop Grumman. A spokesman for the company, Randy Belote, confirmed that the meetings took place.

But, citing company policy, he would not comment on them.

National War College spokesman Dave Thomas said Khamis Gadhafi visited there accompanied by a State Department representative, meeting with faculty and deans. Tactics were not discussed, though the "structure of military education" was, Thomas said.

On February 16, a day after unrest erupted in his country, Gadhafi traveled to New York for more meetings and meals with business leaders.

New York Stock Exchange spokesman Richard Adamonis confirmed that Gadhafi visited the exchange as part of a group on February 17. "Neither he nor the group in question were part of a bell ring, simply a basic tour of the trading floor for the group," Adamonis said.

But later that day, he cut short his internship -- missing out on a planned tour of West Point, his choice of the Broadway shows "Mamma Mia" or "Jersey Boys" and a final leg to Boston for meetings with professors at Harvard University.

Instead, he returned to Libya to lead the 32nd Reinforced Brigade against rebel forces.

On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the department had not approved any of the meetings. "There was nothing, in fact, for the State Department to sign off on," he told reporters. "This was a private internship. We were aware of his itinerary, but that was the extent of it. And our role was limited to meeting him upon his arrival at the airport, which is not unusual in these kinds of situations."

Paul Gennaro, the senior vice president and chief communications officer for AECOM, issued a statement saying, "The educational internship, which consisted of publicly available information, was aligned with our efforts to improve quality of life, specifically in Libya, where we were advancing public infrastructure such as access to clean water; quality housing; safe and efficient roads and bridges; reliable and affordable energy; and related projects that create jobs and opportunity."

Gennaro said the company was "shocked and outraged" to learn of the young Libyan's role in his country's crisis. "We were aware of the student's family relationship, but we were not informed of any military connection whatsoever," he said.

It was the company's understanding that Khamis was an MBA student from a university in Spain, he said.

Since 2008, AECOM has been involved in a multibillion-dollar initiative with Libya to modernize the country's infrastructure. The company withdrew its expatriate employees and their families from Libya this month. The joint project to train Libyan engineers to build and maintain homes, roads and water systems is on hold, he said.

Vice Adm. William Gortney of the Joint Staff on Monday described the brigade led by Khamis Gadhafi as "one of the most active in terms of attacking innocent people."

Libya's state TV on Monday night broadcast live footage from Gadhafi's Tripoli compound of the former intern dressed in uniform and greeting people.

The world events soon changed Chopra's mind about visiting his former student in Libya. "I believe he is killing people. I mean, it's bizarre. The whole thing is bizarre. After attending a course on consciousness, he goes and leads troops."

He added, "Why was he in my course? I have no idea."

CNN's Pam Benson and Brian Todd contributed to this story.

Hat tip: Drima