which caught up native blacks with SSAf "guests" (including exiles more or less permanently in Libya, as being not welcome back home, i.e. people with nowhere realistic to go) that had flooded in under The Guide's Africa policy. The violence in 2000, for example, was extreme and I doubt the black community has forgotten that. Many doubtless fear and expect similar treatment if Gaddafi falls.

Gaddafi's policies (which are evidently not the fault of either the average black Libyan nor the majority of economic migrants that make up the SSAf population) have without doubt exacerbated in a very uniquely nasty way general Maghrebi colour prejudice that we've discussed previously here.

This is a point to keep in mind re the talk of mercenaries and the hard-core to the last stand support he many have. People with their back against the wall who feel they are likely to be slaughtered are going to behave differently than those who think, "well, time to change shirts..." relative to allegiance. This also puts colour on a scenario of Qadhdhafi "going Guerilla" à la Sadaam.