A short-lived Spinner. Dr A.Y. Kenshil

Posted by Felix
April 25, 2012

Where did Dr Abdalla or Abdulla or Abdullah Kenshil عبدالله كنشيل come from? Suddenly he was the NTC Negoatiator for the surrender of Bani Walid in early September 2011. Try googling "NTC Negotiator". Not many of them about. He last checked in with the early news of the death of Colonel Gaddafi to the BBC by phone. Then he's gone. In th interim, he also provided - probably equally misleading - information about the death of Khamis Gaddafi and of the whereabouts of Saif Al-Islam. Where did he go to? A short and key role in the end of the Gaddafis. Elsewhere, he is the "chief negotiator of the NTC"

On 4 September 2011 Miles Amoore of the Sunday Times reported the first sighting of the man:

  Testimony from the prisoners suggests that Khamis was killed in the firefight, but other rebels question these reports.“We’re not sure if we got Khamis, but they buried someone senior in secret that evening in Bani Walid,” said Dr Abdullah Kenshil, who heads the political wing of the Bani Walid brigade. “They buried the body quickly and only security attended. We believe it was either Khamis or the intelligence chief’s son.”By nightfall on August 27 Gadaffi had entered Bani Walid, according to Kenshil, who said his information came from a network of rebel spies inside the city.Residents woke to a large presence of Libyan soldiers positioned in buildings inside the town, on the streets and in the surrounding villages, Kenshil said.

Only a PBS interview on Sept 5 hinted at Kenshil's background: The chief negotiator, a doctor who lived in Britain for 10 years [said] "We are worried about massacre of the civilians of the city."
ABC Australia,in an intereview with Kenshil,Emily Bourke on the evening of 5 September, Australia time reported the talks failed thus: "Dr Abdullah Kenshil says talks broke down after Gaddafi's chief spokesman Moussa Ibrahim insisted that the rebels disarm before entering the town." (naturally). In the same interview, Kenshil said that Saif had been in Bani Walid and had left for the south. It was helpfully relayed to CTV Canada, 7 September , that Kenshil told reporters outside a field clinic in Wishtat that Gadhafi's son and one-time heir apparent Seif al-Islam appears to be one of those hiding in the area. "There's evidence Seif was sighted yesterday in the district of Bani Walid," Kenshil said. "There are a lot of caves, but he has left from the centre of the city. No talks with Seif al-Islam." Thus another false trail is left...

Hadeel Al-Shalchi (AP) reported Dr Kenshil thus in the Washington Times: The elders left the besieged town of Bani Walid to meet with rebels in a tiny mosque about 40 miles away. “The revolutionaries have not come to humiliate anyone. We are all here to listen,Abdullah Kenshil, the chief rebel negotiator, said at the start of the meeting. Then, in a message clearly intended for the hardcore Gadhafi loyalists in Bani Walid, some of whom may be fearing rebel retribution, he added: “I say we are not like the old regime. We don’t take revenge, and we don’t bear grudges.”

Nevertheless, an attack was launched, as reported by AP on Sept 10 following the failure of the talks, but Kenshil said NTC fighters "later withdrew for tactical reasons decided by the military commanders which could be linked to military operations which NATO might be planning."

Kenshil dissapears from the radar until September 29 , apart from telling the BBC on Sept 16 that there is a lot of fighting going on in Bani Walid, when he talks to AFP, reported by Al Arabiya that "Among those killed in the rocket barrage at Bani Walid was senior commander Daou al-Salhine al-Jadak whose car was struck by a rocket as he headed towards the front"

On October 16, he tells the Washington Times that rebels had captured Bani Walid airport that Sunday.

His important swansong takes place on October 20 ,then his job is done. He tells The Takeaway in an audio link :
His words on the air:
"Firstly I am not the spokesman for the NTC. I am the chief negotiator for the NTC in Bani Walid front and I'm area ?co? for Bani Walid which has fallen two days ago where Gaddafi was there and Saif al-Islam his son was wounded yesterday and he's now cornered in ?some? area. However this time it's real. Gaddafi, either his body or himself he is in the hands of NTC forces after the fierce fighting in District 2 in Sirte. So I confirm that he is in our hands,according to very reliable sources from the field."
but a minute or two later in the broadcast he is suddenly certain that Gaddafi is dead...
"I will confirm that Gadhafi is dead and also his second man in the army, Abu Bakr Younus Jabr. This is definitely confirmed by our commander and our miltary council in Tripoli, so he is killed... We are very very happy."
Strangely he omitted to mention Younus in his dramatic call to the BBC on the same day. (I am not sure of the reporter who has a New Zealand accent) I have transcribed his message.
"Can you confirm that Colonel Gaddafi has been captured or killed?" "..he was by very very reliable sources confirmed that he was killed with three of his aides in Sirte."
"Who killed him?? Who killed Colonel Gaddahfi?"
"He was killed during the fight and found dead in a residental area where the heavy fighting was carried out and beside him are three of his adjutants."
"Who told, could you please tell us how you know this information? How how can verify it for us?"
"I can confirm it by very reliable sources who is there at the scene. and also the libyan TV some of the libya TV they brought his pictures on the screens now in Libya "
"We are getting so many different reports from so many different sources . Are you absolutely confident that the people you have spoken to ..that Colonel Gadaffi has been killed? It happend in Sirte in District 2?"
"Yes in Sirte."
"Where is his body now?"
"I have no idea. This will be announced by the authorities of the NTC to confirm this in the near future."
" It is your understanding that NTC frces killed him during fighting ?"
"Killed during fighting with NTC So Nato forces were not involved in this fighting??"
"No, Libyan people, Libyan forces had this honour.


Oh, where did Dr Abdalla Youssef Kenshil come from? He was a doctor in Blackpool UK until 1999 (presumably from 1989) when he emigrated to Saskatewan in Canada according tominutes of the state legislature to take up a position of chief surgeon at St Peter's Hospital, Melville,having trained and worked in Tripoli,England and Montreal.

If anyone knows what really happened to the Gaddafis, it is Dr Kenshil.
His facebook page shows a continuing keen interest in Bani Walid.

Videos of Dr Kenshil...

Daily Telegraph

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgCGwYv2dRQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyJboLNB_8
(with the elders at Bani Walid, 0.05)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZdssK1K4sk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOYJwjsIpQw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEvsKv0Tzuo

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arabic/middleeast/2011/09/110905_libya_bani_walid.shtml
(at 0.46)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9rAkqD72f8 talking to Stephanie Fried of CNTV, uploaded Sept 17.[at 1.43 a fat rebel soldier has told Fried that he had nabbed a Belgian FNF2000 weapon from Khamis Gaddafi's car. http://english.cntv.cn/program/newsupdate/20110907/102901.shtml
CNTV China, at 00.50; subsequent interview with Bani Walid NTC local council member Mahmood Abdel Aziz said Gaddafi loyalists had threatened the elders."Gaddafi forces had shot all people who wanted to leave Bani Walid" Allegedly. But Aziz is described as a "political analyst" in the Sue Turton Sky TV video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K933MdFLEog: "the time for talk is over" Aziz's purposes was to collapse the talks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUPJ-gpzuRs Interview with Stephanie Fried of CNTV
Anita McNaught of Al-Jazeera interviewed on Sept 10 "Mohamed Bashir", the head of the Southern Military Front NTC commander about the cease-fire and negotiations as Bani Walid. Andrew Simmons of the same station tweetet that he had Met Mohamed Bashir Saleh, 1 of 3 who escaped 1993 coup attempt. Now in talks on #BaniWalid [Video here] Bashir was also "one of the organizers of a meeting of Libya's opposition forces in London on June 25-26" ,a href="http://www.africaintelligence.com/MCE/who-s-who/2005/06/23/mohamed-bashir-saleh,14202383-BRE">[Maghreb Confidential] Bashir was sure Saif Al-Islam was in Bani Walid. In 2012, the town's Mayor is called Mohamed Bashir.
There is something very fishy about this standoff. In the Times of Malta, Sept 6 2011, we read: Mr Kenshil said, however, that Gaddafi spokesman Mussa Ibrahim had remained in Bani Walid, adding: “We know where he is.”
Channel 4 news http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtcYkSg70V0, Sept 3 , interviewed a rebel commander Brigadier Douros Salamjadek (?) from Tarhuna was sure Saif al-Islam and Moussa Ibrahim were in Bani Walid.
Finally another video from AFP this time, September 5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=jKwyT3qfHB8>http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=jKwyT3qfHB8 where Kenshil appears as Mohammed Buanna, to which a commenter has written: Do not trust Mohammed Buanna. He's from the old regime. LaosBuffalo 9 months a