Libya after Gaddafi: A dangerous precedent?

Courtesy: "Aljazeera English", 22 Oct 2011

Libya after Gaddafi: A dangerous precedent?

The death of a dictator is being celebrated, but foreign intervention could prove problematic in the long-term. By Richard Falk

The fall and death of the despised and despotic leader who had ruled for 42 years naturally produced celebrations throughout Libya, especially in the main cities. Although his end was bloody and vindictive, warning that a violent aftermath could further spoil the outcome of the struggle, we should remember that Gaddafi’s early rants against his own people invited a harsh popular response if their turn came.
Recalling WH Auden’s famous line, “Those to whom evil is done/ do evil in return,” it is almost inevitable that when a leader refers to his opponents as "rats" and pledges to hunt them down house by house the stage is set for the kind of violent drama that played out a few days ago in the dictator’s last stand at Sirte.
At this time, there seems to be a leadership vacuum in Libya that is not likely to be filled very soon. It is difficult to discern whether tribal loyalties will provide primary political identities now that the unifying effect of hostility to the Gaddafi regime can no longer suppress diverse goals and ambitions. Much of the fighting in the last stages of the struggle was under the semi-autonomous control of militia-like commanders such as Abdel Hakim Belhadj who led the attack on Tripoli or Fawzi Bukatef who seemed to command the assaults on those places where Gaddafi loyalists gathered for their last stand.
Such commanders do not usually submit to civilian control, presenting an immediate threat to national coherence. The Transitional National Council has seemed mainly successful so far in lending international credibility to the anti-Gaddafi forces. We will soon learn whether it can also represent the collective will of the Libyan people sufficiently to manage the interim process that will be needed before the establishment of an elected government can be arranged.

Gaddafi's children in exile, on the run, or dead

Courtesy: "Reuters", 21 Oct 2011
Gaddafi's children in exile, on the run, or dead
By David Stamp and Giles Elgood

(Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's eight children, whose pampered lives ranged from security chief and U.N. goodwill ambassador to playboy and professional footballer, earned reputations for extravagance, violence and bizarre behavior almost equaling their father's.
Amid the chaos of war, three now appear to be dead like the deposed Libyan leader himself, four are scattered in exile and one remains on the run, their lives of privilege disrupted or ended by the collapse of Gaddafi senior's 42-year rule.
Jealousy and greed long poisoned relations within the family but when rebellion broke out in February, Gaddafi's seven sons and one daughter closed ranks around their father, breaking off lives that in many cases had been lived abroad.
A leaked U.S. diplomatic report from 2009 noted that "internecine strife is nothing new for the famously fractious family." Several Libyan officials lost their jobs or were forced into exile after falling foul of family members.
Perhaps the best internationally known son, Saif al-Islam, is also the most elusive. A senior official of the National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Friday that he was fleeing south from the last Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte toward Libya's border with Niger, where another son has already taken refuge.
Al Arabiya TV quoted NTC officials as saying Saif al-Islam had been captured near Misrata but this was unconfirmed.

Gaddafi: Death of an era, dawn of an era - By Robert Grenier (in Aljazeera English)

Courtesy: "Aljazeera English", 21 Oct 2011

Gaddafi: Death of an era, dawn of an era

Gaddafi's death is symbolic of the death of an old paradigm that no longer has a place in today's world.

By Robert Grenier

First accounts are almost never correct, but if the circumstances of Libyan Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi's death prove to be as reported, they will provide yet another, final irony in a life replete with them. The man whose success relied upon a combination of great-power manipulation and the ability to sustain the fantasy that he embodied the aspirations of his people succumbed in the end to a combination of great-power military intervention and the genuine aspiration of his people for a future free of his vicious domination.

Battle for Libya: Key moments: Timeline of decisive battles and political developments in Libya's uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.

Courtesy: "Aljazeera English", 20 Oct 2011

Battle for Libya: Key moments

Timeline of decisive battles and political developments in Libya's uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.

Gaddafi has been killed and Sirte, Muammar Gaddafi's hometown, has finally been seized by fighters of the National Transitional Council (NTC) after weeks of heavy fighting.
On Thursday, NTC commanders said they had wrested the toppled leader's last remaining stronghold, thereby liberating the entire country.

It is a watershed moment for Libya that has been swept by turmoil over the past several months.
Al Jazeera looks back at some of the key developments since the uprising against Gaddafi began.

February 17: The Day of Revolt. The first major protests and violent clashes in Libya actually began two days before this, on February 15, mostly in Benghazi. Hundreds gathered outside the police station, and a number of protesters were killed.
But February 17 was the official "day of revolt," an effort to bring thousands of protesters into the streets. Major demonstrations were reported in Benghazi, Ajdabiya, Darnah and Zintan, among others; Gaddafi forces responded by firing live ammunition at the crowds. More than a dozen demonstrators were killed.
Gaddafi reportedly released dozens of prisoners from jail and paid them to fight against the protesters.
The "day of revolt" coincided with the fifth anniversary of a major anti-Gaddafi protest in Benghazi.
Protests continued to escalate after February 17, and there were widespread reports that Gaddafi had hired mercenaries to supplement his security forces and suppress the demonstrations.

Muammar Gaddafi killed as Sirte falls

Courtesy: "Aljazeera English", 21 Oct 2011

Muammar Gaddafi killed as Sirte falls

Former Libyan leader killed in apparent attempt to flee last bastion, but circumstances of his death remain unclear

Muammar Gaddafi has been killed after National Transitional Council fighters overran loyalist defences in the toppled Libyan leader's hometown and final stronghold of Sirte.

But questions remained on Thursday over the circumstances of Gaddafi's death as footage appeared to show he had been captured alive, following an apparent attempt to flee the besieged coastal city in a convoy which came under fire from French warplanes and a US drone aircraft.



Other footage showed Gaddafi's lifeless and bloodied body being dragged along a road.
"We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Gaddafi has been killed," Mahmoud Jibril, the de facto Libyan prime minister, told reporters on Thursday in Tripoli, the capital.
Asked what would be done with Gaddafi's body, he said: "It doesn't make any difference, as long as he disappears".

Obituary: Muammar Gaddafi: One of the world's most eccentric and unpredictable leaders, Gaddafi dominated the world stage for decades

Courtesy: "Aljazeera English", 22 Oct 2011

Obituary: Muammar Gaddafi

One of the world's most eccentric and unpredictable leaders, Gaddafi dominated the world stage for decades

After 42 years at the helm of his sparsely populated, oil-rich nation, Muammar Gaddafi - the Arab world's longest-ruling leader - lost his grip on power after a six-month uprising.
Since he lead a successful military coup in 1969, Gaddafi styled himself as Libya's "brother leader" and the "guide of the revolution", as an almost paternal figure looking after Libya's six million inhabitants.
His relationship with the rest of the world was erratic. For years, Gaddafi was known in the West as a pariah, blamed for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. After years of denial, Libya acknowledged responsibility and agreed to pay up to $10m to relatives of victims; Gaddafi also declared he would dismantle all weapons of mass destruction.
Those moves eased him back into the international community.
In February, only weeks after street protests brought down the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt, a rebellion against Gaddafi's rule started in the country's east.

UN calls for probe into Gaddafi's death: UN Special Rapporteur Christof Heyns warns the killing could be a war crime

Courtesy: "Aljazeera English", 22 Oct 2011

UN calls for probe into Gaddafi's death

Special Rapporteur warns the manner of the deposed Libyan leader's killing could be a war crime

The UN has called for an international investigation into the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the deposed Libyan leader, saying it could well have been a war crime.

Christof Heyns, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, told Al Jazeera on Friday that a proper investigation into the exact events surrounding Gaddafi’s death was a key test for Libya’s future as a democratic and accountable state.

“The Geneva conventions are very clear that when prisoners are taken they may not be executed willfully and if that was the case then we are dealing with a war crime, something that should be tried.”

“It’s important that the new government will be placed on a solid basis where there is accountability for illegal actions.  I think it would be good if there was international investigation into this as well, and it’s not simply Mr Gaddafi  but also there’s the dangers of reprisals against others as well and that is where it is important to draw the line to say that  new system in place  one of  accountability.”