One Libyan government employee said: "They have been fighting very hard for us. They deserve to relax and rebuild." One of 40 fighters relaxing at the five-star Corinthia Hotel yesterday said they had been battling al-Qaeda linked groups in the desert financed by Col Gaddafi for years. He said they had been brought from Niger to Tripoli to fight al-Qaeda in eastern Libya and would do whatever was asked of them by the Libyan leader.