LIBYA: Gaddafi son Saif says he is innocent of war crimes

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam claims he is innocent of crimes against humanity, the International Criminal Court prosecutor said Saturday after indirect contacts with him.

By Kyle G. Brown (video)
News Wires (text)

 

REUTERS - Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the fugitive son of Libya's toppled late leader, told the International Criminal Court he is innocent of alleged crimes against humanity, the court prosecutor said on Saturday in the Chinese capital.
The court, based in The Hague, has said it made informal contact with Saif al-Islam, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and is seeking to arrest him and bring him to trial on the charges stemming from Libya's civil war.
The International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters the contacts were through intermediaries, and Saif al-Islam maintained he is innocent and wants to understand what could happen to him if cleared of charges.


"There are some people connected with him that are in touch with people connected with us, so we have no direct relation; it's through intermediaries," Moreno-Ocampo said in a brief interview after arriving in Beijing, where he is attending a law conference.
"But we trust very much the person who is in touch for our side. He says he is innocent, he will prove he is innocent, and then he is interested in the consequence after that."
The ICC charged Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and Libya's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi with crimes against humanity for the bombing and shooting of civilian protesters in February.
Saif al-Islam fled Libya after forces loyal to Libya's new rulers captured and apparently killed his father outside his hometown of Sirte. Saif al-Islam is believed to have escaped across Libya's southern border into Niger.
A senior military official of Libya's National Transitional Council, told Reuters this week that Saif al-Islam and Senussi wanted to surrender to the ICC in The Hague because they felt unsafe in Libya, Algeria or Niger.
Under a deal, Saif al-Islam would be taken to The Hague where the ICC shares a detention unit with the U.N. Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which is trying the former Liberian president Charles Taylor.
But Saif al-Islam was also concerned about what would happen even if he were found innocent, said Moreno-Ocampo.

ON THE BLOGS Gaddafi’s gone and Libyans must come together – but how?

"He said he is innocent and he will prove to the judges he is innocent, and then he is more concerned about what will happen after, if he is considered innocent by the court," said Moreno-Ocampo.
"So we explain to him the legal system, so we are making no deal, though we have a case against him," he added. "But we are explaining the legal system and his right to defend himself."
The prosecutor confirmed that the court was worried that Saif al-Islam could escape its reach by fleeing to another country through mercenaries. Intelligence reports suggested that the mercenaries could include South Africans, he said.
"We have some information that there is a mercenary group trying to help him to move to a different country, so we are trying to prevent this activity," said Moreno-Ocampo, adding that "we are also working with some states to see if we can disrupt this attempt."
He did not give details of those efforts.
"We know he has explored different options, and then for us we would like to help him surrender," he said of Saif al-Islam.
Source: FRANCE24,

Latest update: 29/10/2011 

LIBYA: Gaddafi: 'He died an angry and disappointed man'

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Katya Adler meets members of Gaddafi's inner circle

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Libya Crisis

• Muammar Gaddafi: How he died
• The bloody birth of new Libya
• Last of the buffoon dictators?
• Revolution 'still has far to go'

Bombed-out devastation is pretty much all you see when you drive in to Misrata.

A few men sit on shabby orange sofas in front of the rubble that lines the main road. The only real sign of life here is the newly-dubbed Misrata Museum where weapons seized from Gaddafi loyalists and other spoils of war are displayed and gloated over.
But one of Misrata's prized trophies is very much hidden from public view.
Mansour Dhao Ibrahim is one of Libya's most wanted - a man believed to have ordered the killing, rape and torture of the opponents of Col Muammar Gaddafi.
It is thought he knows the whereabouts of several mass graves of anti-Gaddafi fighters.
Mansour Dhao's interrogation was briefly stopped to allow us to talk to him. He was sitting crossed-legged and bare-foot on the floor when we met him, a Koran in front of him and a slightly blood-smeared mattress beside him.
A trusted member of Col Gaddafi's inner circle, Mansour Dhao was captured with him in Sirte. He provides a rare insight into the former dictator's state of mind in his last hours and days.
"Gaddafi was nervous. He couldn't make any calls or communicate with the outside world. We had little food or water. Sanitation was bad," he told me.
"He paced up and down in a small room, writing in a notebook. We knew it was over. Gaddafi said, 'I am wanted by the International Criminal Court. No country will accept me. I prefer to die by Libyan hands'."
Suicide mission
Mansour Dhao said Col Gaddafi then made the decision to go to his birthplace, the nearby valley of Jarref. I asked if it was a suicide mission.

The convoy of vehicles in which Col Gaddafi was travelling was hit by a Nato air strike in Sirte

"It was a suicide mission," Mansour Dhao said. "We felt he wanted to die in the place he was born. He didn't say it explicitly, but he was going with the purpose to die."
But Col Gaddafi's plan was thwarted - his convoy was bombed by Nato.
The once-feared dictator scrambled into a water pipe for cover. That is where he was found and captured.
With him inside the water pipe was Huneish Nasr, Col Gaddafi's personal driver.
When we spoke to him at the detention centre, he was wearing the same bloody shirt he was wounded in that day.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

He thought his people should love him until the end. He felt he had done so many good things for them and for Libya”

End Quote Mansour Dhao Aide to Col Gaddafi

He said: "Gaddafi got out of the pipe. I stayed inside. I couldn't get out. There was such a crowd of fighters.

"Gaddafi had nowhere to go. He was one man amongst many and the fighters were shouting, 'Gaddafi, Gaddafi, Gaddafi'."
Huneish Nasr was nervous and clearly mindful of his captors, two of whom stood with us in the room, their arms folded.
His black eyes darted around the room.
He insisted over and over that the fighters who captured Col Gaddafi did not shoot when they came towards him.
'Angry and disappointed'
He said Col Gaddafi did not seem surprised to see them approach. He said he seemed resigned.
But Mansour Dhao believes Col Gaddafi died an angry and disappointed man.

His home and his regime have been destroyed but after Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's future is uncertain

"He thought his people should love him until the end. He felt he had done so many good things for them and for Libya. He also felt betrayed by men who had seemed to be his friends, like Tony Blair and Silvio Berlusconi," he said.
When I asked about terror and torture, the men were less forthcoming. They fear for their lives. If found guilty in Libya, Mansour Dhao could be hanged.
Still, while waiving any personal responsibility, Mansour Dhao spoke about crimes of the Gaddafi regime that are well-known but rarely confirmed by a Gaddafi loyalist.
He said opponents of Col Gaddafi were tortured, that he openly sponsored international terrorism and that the Lockerbie bombing was planned by Gaddafi's external security.
He said one of Gaddafi's most terrible moments was when he ordered the mass murder of around 1,200 essentially political prisoners in Abu Salim jail in Tripoli back in 1996.
The fate of Mansour Dhao and Huneish Nasr is uncertain.
Will the fighters of Misrata hand over their prisoners, along with their weapons and their newly-found power, to the new transitional authorities in Libya?
Or will regional rivalries blight Libya's future before the problems of the past are solved?

Source: BBC News,
30 October 2011 Last updated at 23:25 GMT

Author: Katya Adler BBC News, Misrata

LIBYE: L'Otan se retire lundi.

L'Otan a décidé, hier, de mettre fin, à compter de lundi, à l'opération «Protecteur unifié, lancée le 31mars en Libye pour mettre fin à la répression de la rébellion par les forces du colonel Mouammar Kadhafi, tué le 20octobre.

«Le Conseil de l'Atlantique nord, élargi aux représentants des cinq pays non-membres - Qatar, Émirats arabes unis, Maroc, Jordanie et Suède - partenaires de l'opération, a confirmé la décision prise il y a une semaine. L'opération en Libye prendra donc fin le 31octobre. Notre mission militaire est désormais terminée», a annoncé, hier, le secrétaire général de l'Otan, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. L'officialisation de cette décision de principe ne faisait plus de doutes depuis que le Conseil de sécurité de l'Onu avait mis fin, jeudi, au mandat autorisant le recours à la force en Libye. C'est sur la base des résolutions 1970et 1973 du Conseil de sécurité, qui avaient imposé des sanctions au régime du colonelMouammar Kadhafi et autorisé des mesures pour protéger les civils, que l'Otan avait entamé son opération.

«Opération réussie»

L'opération «Protecteur unifié» est «l'une des plus réussies dans l'histoire de l'Otan», s'est félicité Anders Fogh Rasmussen, tout en estimant que la victoire avait été remportée par le peuple libyen. Pour le patron de l'Otan, les Libyens ont toutefois «encore beaucoup de travail à faire pour bâtir une nouvelle Libye fondée sur la réconciliation, les droits de l'Homme et l'État de droit». Le peuple libyen «peut prendre son avenir en main fermement et en sécurité», a relevé AndersFogh Rasmussen. Ce dernier a toutefois voulu rassurer les nouvelles autorités libyennes en affirmant que «le monde restait aux côtés» du peuple libyen. L'Otan pourrait «aider les Libyens à réformer les institutions de sécurité et de défense dont toutes les démocraties ont besoin pour rester libres et en sécurité», a-t-il expliqué.

Seïf Al-Islam toujours introuvable

Le Conseil national de transition avait demandé, mercredi, le maintien de l'Otan au moins «jusqu'à la fin de l'année», assurant que, même après la mort de Mouammar Kadhafi, ses derniers fidèles représentaient une menace pour le pays. D'autant que SeïfAl-Islam, fils de Mouammar Kadhafi longtemps considéré comme son successeur officieux, reste introuvable. Un responsable touareg a assuré que le plus en vue des fils de l'ancien «Guide», âgé de 39ans, s'était rendu, mardi, à la frontière du Niger pour y chercher refuge. De son côté, le procureur de la Cour pénale internationale, LuisMoreno-Ocampo, a affirmé, hier, avoir des «contacts informels» avec lui, «via des intermédiaires», au sujet de son éventuelle reddition à la Cour, qui le recherche pour crimes contre l'humanité. «Le bureau du procureur lui a signifié très clairement que s'il se rendait à la CPI, il aurait le droit d'être entendu devant la cour, il sera innocent jusqu'à preuve du contraire», a indiqué la cour de LaHaye dans un communiqué.

Tags :GéopolitiqueLibyeOtanOnu
La France et la Grande-Bretagne en première ligne
L'opération «Protecteur unifié» a mobilisé pendant sept mois jusqu'à 18 pays, La France et la Grande-Bretagne étant en première ligne.

Huit pays de l'Otan et deux pays arabes (Émirats et Qatar) ont participé, dans le cadre de l'opération «Protecteur unifié», aux opérations aériennes offensives en Libye. Les plus engagés ont été la France et le Royaume-Uni, tandis que les États-Unis ont pris une position de soutien actif à partir d'avril. En sept mois, les appareils - avions et hélicoptères- de l'Otan ont mené plus de 26.000 sorties aériennes, dont plus de 9.650 dans un but «offensif», selon un bilan établi cette semaine par l'alliance militaire occidentale. Le nombre de bombardements avait fortement baissé ces deux derniers mois, après la chute de Tripoli. Pour la France, qui a notamment mobilisé des avions Rafale, des hélicoptères Puma et Gazelle, ainsi que son porte-avions Charles-de-Gaulle, le coût direct a été évalué à environ 300millions d'euros par le ministre de la Défense, Gérard Longuet. Le Royaume-Uni a mobilisé, lui, 1.200 soldats tandis ses jets ont effectué plus de 3.000 missions, représentant 1/5e des opérations. La mission lui a coûté 300millions de livres (344millions d'euros), dont 140millions de livres de munitions, selon un porte-parole militaire.

Pas de troupes terrestres

Les dépenses des États-Unis se sont élevées, quant à elles, à 1,1milliard de dollars, essentiellement d'équipements (drones, munitions de précision...). L'Otan n'a pas déployé de troupes terrestres depuis le début de cette opération, lancée le 31mars en application d'une décision du Conseil de sécurité de l'Onu. Certains pays ont toutefois envoyé, hors mission, des soldats, comme le Qatar, qui en a mobilisé plusieurs centaines, selon le chef d'état-major de son armée. Des journalistes et des experts ont également fait état de la présence de forces spéciales occidentales.

6.000 cibles atteintes

Sur mer, plusieurs dizaines de navires de l'Otan ont patrouillé en Méditerranée orientale pour faire respecter l'embargo sur les armes, contrôlant plus de 3.100bateaux, et participer aux missions humanitaires. Quelque 6.000 cibles ont été détruites ou fortement endommagées, dont 1.600 bases militaires, 1.300dépôts de munitions et des centaines de véhicules, de radars ou de lance-roquettes, selon l'Otan. À ce chiffre s'ajoutent les nombreuses infrastructures de la défense libyenne détruites entre le 19 et le 31mars, au début de l'intervention internationale avant son passage sous le contrôle de l'Otan. L'alliance, qui n'a subi aucune perte humaine, ne communique pas sur le nombre de morts provoquées par ces frappes mais estime avoir réussi à limiter au maximum les dégâts collatéraux grâce à des règles d'engagement très strictes.

29 octobre 2011

Source:  Le Télégramme, du 29/10/2011

LIBYE: La CPI a des "contacts informels" avec Saïf Al-Islam Kadhafi.

Le procureur de la Cour pénale internationale a assuré vendredi 28 octobre avoir des "contacts informels" avec Saïf Al-Islam "via des intermédiaires". "Le bureau du procureur a signifié très clairement [au fils de Mouammar Kadhafi aujourd'hui en fuite] que s'il se rendait à la CPI, il aurait le droit d'être entendu devant la cour, il sera innocent jusqu'à preuve du contraire", a déclaré le procureur Luis Moreno-Ocampo, cité dans un communiqué.
Recherché pour crimes contre l'humanité, à savoir meurtre et persécution, commis depuis le début de la révolte qui a balayé le régime de son père, Saïf Al-Islam fait l'objet d'un mandat d'arrêt de la CPI et de notices rouges d'Interpol.

De leur côté, les autorités libyennes de transition ont réaffirmé leur volonté de juger Saïf Al-Islam Kadhafi sur leur territoire. "S'il est attrapé en Libye, la loi libyenne prévoit qu'il soit jugé ici. Mais un procès équitable lui sera garanti", a assuré Mohammed Al-Allagy, le ministre de la justice du Conseil national de transition (CNT).

FUITE AU NIGER

Successeur officieux de l'ancien "Guide" libyen, Saïf Al-Islam se serait rendu mardi à la frontière du Niger pour y chercher refuge, selon un responsable touareg. Le quotidien sud-africain Beeld a assuré jeudi qu'un groupe de mercenaires sud-africains se trouvait toujours en Libye pour tenter de l'exfiltrer.

"Nous avons en outre appris par des voies informelles qu'un groupe de mercenaires a offert de transférer Saïf dans un Etat africain qui n'est pas un Etat partie au statut de Rome", le traité fondateur de la CPI, a ajouté M. Moreno-Ocampo. "Le bureau du procureur explore également les possibilités d'intercepter tout avion dans l'espace aérien d'un Etat partie pour procéder à une arrestation", a souligné le procureur argentin. La CPI avait rappelé mercredi que le Niger, Etat partie au statut de Rome, avait l'obligation de coopérer avec la Cour pour arrêter Saïf Al-Islam s'il venait à se trouver sur le territoire nigérien.

Egalement visé par un mandat d'arrêt de la CPI, l'ex-chef des services secrets militaires libyens, Abdallah Al-Senoussi, serait passé du Niger au Mali avec quelques-uns de ses hommes, selon des sources sécuritaires nigérienne et malienne.

LEMONDE.FR avec AFP

Source:  Le Monde, du 29/10/2011

LIBYE: L’OTAN voulait la mort de Kadhafi

L’Otan et plus particulièrement les Etat Unis et la France auraient joué un rôle crucial dans la capture et la mort du colonel Kadhafi. D’après le Canard Enchaîné son décès arrange les puissances occidentales, l’ex guide Libyen aurait pu faire des révélations gênantes lors d’un éventuel procès.

« Laisser ce type en vie le transformerait en véritable bombe atomique », voilà, d’après le journal satirique, généralement bien informé, ce qu’aurait dit le 19 octobre au téléphone, un colonel du pentagone à l’un de ses homologues des services secrets français. Les américains grâce à leurs drones avaient déjà localisé Kadhafi depuis plusieurs jours dans un quartier de Syrte, ce qui explique la violence et l’acharnement des combats dans cette ville. D’après le Canard une cinquantaine d’hommes des forces spéciales françaises aurait été présente à Syrte pour retrouver le dictateur. Les ordres étaient de le livrer à « Renard ». « Renard » le nom de code d’une unité du CNT chargée de capturer Kadhafi.

Une embuscade

La suite on la connait du moins partiellement, le convoi qui cherche à exfiltrer le leader libyen, le drone américain puis le mirage français qui bombardent la colonne. 21 véhicules sont détruits mais Kadhafi n’est que blessé, il cherche à prendre la fuite à pied et c’est là qu’il est pris par le CNT. Mais le Canard révèle autre chose : des agents français auraient été sur place à quelques dizaines de mètres de la scène que l’un d’entre eux raconte dans le journal : « Il est capturé vivant par des combattants surexcités. La foule scande &Allah Akbar à plein poumons, le menace de ses armes et se met à le tabasser pendant que d’autres combattants qui peinent à prendre le dessus, crient de le maintenir en vie ». Puis Kadhafi est exécuté sommairement.

Un guide qui en savait trop

Le Canard explique que l’OTAN avait intérêt à l’élimination physique de l’ex guide, qui aurait pu lors d’un procès faire des révélations sur l’aide qu’il avait autrefois apporté à la CIA, ou sur ses interventions au profit de la France dans plusieurs pays africains .

D’autres sources, que affirment ce matin qu’il y aurait eu à Syrte des centaines de miliaires du Qatar qui ont aidé le CNT à prendre la ville. Bref la résolution de l’ONU a été non seulement outrepassée mais carrément violée. On peut parier que la prochaine fois que l’OTAN voudra intervenir quelque part au nom de l’ONU, la Chine et la Russie opposeront leur veto.

Un avenir incertain

Pour la Libye tout le monde sait que rien n’est réglé, l’annonce de l’application de la charia, n’étant qu’une des surprises que nous apportera peu à peu cette étrange révolution. Quant à Kadhafi, il aurait peut être dit beaucoup de choses. Mais au fond qui l’aurait cru…

Author:  Christophe Giltay dans Divers , 

source:  RTL.be, dul 27 octobre 2011

LIBYE: L'Onu met fin au mandat de l'Otan en Libye

NATIONS UNIES - Le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies a décidé jeudi que la résolution 1973 sur la Libye qui avait imposé en mars une zone d'exclusion aérienne et autorisé l'intervention de l'Otan pour assurer la protection des populations civiles expirera le 31 octobre à 23h59 heure libyenne.

La décision a été prise à l'unanimité des quinze membres du Conseil.

Adopté le 17 mars dernier, un mois après le déclenchement du soulèvement contre Mouammar Kadhafi, la résolution 1973 instaurait une zone d'exclusion dans le ciel libyen et autorisait "toutes les mesures nécessaires" pour assurer la protection des populations civiles face à l'armée de Mouammar Kadhafi.

Elle a permis l'intervention alliée en Libye qui a contribué à la chute du régime.

Source: Reuters/Le Point,Publié le 27/10/2011 à 16:37 


Author: Louis Charbonneau; Henri-Pierre André pour le service français

Libye: Des centaines de soldats du Qatar combattaient aux côtés des rebelles

Des centaines de soldats du Qatar ont participé aux opérations militaires aux côtés des rebelles en Libye, a révélé, hier, le chef d'état-major qatari. Il a souligné que les rebelles avaient besoin d'une telle aide car il s'agissait «de civils qui n'avaient pas l'expertise militaire nécessaire». C'est la première fois que le Qatar reconnaît une participation directe sur le terrain dans le conflit libyen. Jusqu'à présent, le pays n'avait parlé que d'une participation aux opérations aériennes, sous le commandement de l'Otan.

Pour la première fois, le Qatar admet avoir participé aux opérations sur le terrain aux côtés des rebelles libyens. Un CNT qui, trois jours après avoir proclamé la libération totale du pays, demande à l'Otan de prolonger sa mission jusqu'à la fin de l'année.

Trois jours après la proclamation par le CNT de la "libération" totale de la Libye, les chefs d'état-major des pays engagés militairement en Libye se retrouvent pour une réunion à Doha, au Qatar. A cette occasion, le chef d'état-major qatari, le général Hamad ben Ali al-Attiya, a révélé que des centaines de soldats du Qatar ont participé aux opérations militaires aux côtés des rebelles en Libye. Jusqu'à présent, officiellement, le pays avait seulement participé aux opérations aériennes sous le commandement de l'Otan.

Lors de cette même réunion, le président du Conseil national de transition a demandé le maintien des forces de l'Otan dans son pays au moins "jusqu'à la fin de l'année". Pour Moustapha Abdeljalil, cette demande vise en particulier à "assurer la protection des frontières, pour empêcher l'afflux d'armes des pays voisins".

L'Otan devrait faire connaître sa réponse vendredi, après de nouvelles consultations. Jusqu'à présent, le Conseil des ambassadeurs avait fixé, à titre provisoire, au 31 octobre la fin de l'opération "Protecteur unifié", lancée en mars dernier.





Source: Le Télégramme, du 27 octobre 2011

LIBYE: Le Soudan affirme avoir armé les rebelles libyens du CNT.

Le Soudan a fourni des armes, des munitions et d'autres formes d'aide aux anciens rebelles libyens du CNT qui, avec le concours des avions de l'Otan, ont renversé le régime de Mouammar Kadhafi, a révélé mercredi le président Omar al Bachir.

Le Soudan accusait le défunt guide libyen de soutenir les rébellions dans la province occidentale du Darfour ainsi qu'au Sud-Soudan, devenu indépendant en juillet. A Khartoum, les responsables espèrent désormais une amélioration des relations entre les deux pays, qui partagent une frontière.

Dans un discours prononcé à Kassala, dans l'est, le chef de l'Etat soudanais, par ailleurs recherché par la Cour pénale internationale pour crimes de guerre au Darfour, a notamment affirmé": "Les forces qui sont entrées dans Tripoli étaient en partie armées par le Soudan".

Mais il n'a pas donné de précisions sur le type et la quantité d'armes fournies aux rebelles du Conseil national de transition, aujourd'hui au pouvoir en Libye.

—Avec Reuters

Source: 20 minutes, du 27/10/2011

LIBYE: Poutine exprime son dégoût face à la diffusion télévisée de la mort de Kadhafi.

MOSCOU -- Le Premier ministre russe Vladimir Poutine a exprimé mercredi son dégoût à l'égard de la diffusion télévisée des images de la mort de l'ex-dirigeant libyen Mouammar Kadhafi.

« Presque toute la famille de M. Kadhafi a été tuée, son cadavre a été montré par toutes les chaînes de télévision du monde. Il est impossible de voir cela sans être dégoûté », a déclaré M. Poutine cité par l'agence de presse Interfax.

S'exprimant à l'occasion d'un rassemblement du Front populaire russe à Moscou, M. Poutine a également déclaré qu'aucune des grandes religions du monde n'autoriserait les chaînes de télévision à diffuser le meurtre d'un homme couvert de sang mais toujours en vie.

« Il n'y a rien de bon dans le fait que toutes ces scènes aient été montrées sur les écrans et que des millions de personnes, dont des enfants, aient vue cela », a souligné M. Poutine.

Il a ajouté que les médias devaient assumer une responsabilité morale de ce qu'ils diffusent.

M. Kadhafi, au pouvoir pendant 42 ans en Libye, et son fils Mutassim, ont été capturés vivants jeudi dernier lorsque les forces du Conseil national de transition (CNT) ont pris le contrôle de Syrte, sa ville natale. Tous deux sont morts dans des circonstances troubles peu après leur capture par les combattants du CNT.


Source:  Xinhuanet, du 27/10/2011

LIBYE: Le fils de Kadhafi, Seif Al-Islam, serait entré mercredi sur le territoire nigérien

NIAMEY -- Le fils de l'ancien dirigeant libyen Mouammar Kadhafi, Seif Al-Islam, visé par la Cour pénale internationale (CPI), serait depuis mercredi matin dans la région d'Agadez, dans le nord du Niger, selon des sources militaires.

Seif Al-Islam, escorté par des ex-combattants pro-kadhafi, serait déjà entré en contact avec les responsables des Forces armées nigériennes (FAN) de la zone d'Agadez.

Un détachement militaire serait envoyé à sa recherche, précise-t-on de mêmes sources.

Le fils de Kadhafi recherché par Interpol aurait déjà tenté dans la nuit de lundi à mardi de franchir la frontière nigérienne, par l'extrême nord du pays, frontalier de la Libye, a-t-on appris mardi de sources militaires nigériennes.

Seif Al-Islam et son beau-frère Abdallah al-Senoussi sont recherchés par la CPI pour crimes contre l'humanité.

Auparavant, c'était le chef du Service des renseignements du Colonel Kadhafi, M. Abdallah Al-Senoussi, qui serait aperçu en fin de semaine passée dans l'extrême nord du Niger, frontalier de la Libye, selon une source gouvernementale à Niamey.

En rappelle, Niamey abrite depuis début septembre, des proches de Kadhafi dont son fils, Saadi Kadhafi, "pour des raisons humanitaires".



Source:  Xinhuanet, du 27/10/2011

LIBYA: Muammar Gaddafi: How he died

Col Muammar Gaddafi died from bullet wounds some time after a failed attempt to escape from the fighters of the National Transitional Council (NTC), but the exact circumstances of his death are still emerging.
CLICKABLE

Attempt to escape Sirte
After the fall of Tripoli in August, Sirte remained one of the final pockets of loyalist resistance, in particular District 2 in the north-west of the city.
In the early hours of Thursday it appears that Col Gaddafi, accompanied by key loyalists, decided to attempt a breakout from District 2 in a convoy of vehicles.
At about 08:30 local time French aircraft operating as part of the Nato mission attacked the convoy of 75 vehicles heading out of Sirte at high speed approximately 3-4 km (two miles) west of the city near the western roundabout.
Among those in the convoy were Col Gaddafi's son Mutassim and head of Gaddafi's army Abu Bakr Younis Jabr - both men were later reported dead at the scene and Mutassim's body shown on Libyan TV.
According to Nato, a first strike destroyed one vehicle and caused the convoy to disperse into several groups.
One of those groups, carrying Col Gaddafi, headed south and was hit again by a Nato fighter, destroying 11 vehicles.

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“Start Quote

My master is here ... Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded”

Unnamed Gaddafi bodyguard

Col Gaddafi and a handful of his men managed to escape on foot and sought refuge in two large drainage pipes filled with rubbish. Rebel forces then closed in.

Fighter Salem Bakeer told Reuters: "At first we fired at them with anti-aircraft guns, but it was no use.
"Then we went in on foot. One of Gaddafi's men came out waving his rifle in the air... as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me. I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. 'My master is here, my master is here', he said, 'Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded'".
Gaddafi caught Col Gaddafi was initially captured at around noon.

Amateur video of Col Muammar Gaddafi shortly before he was shot dead

The al-Jazeera news channel broadcast footage showing the dazed and wounded Col Gaddafi gesticulating while being man-handled by rebel fighters.
Salem Bakeer told Reuters: "We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying 'What's wrong? What's wrong? What's going on?' Then we took him and put him in the car." One fighter showed reporters a golden pistol he said he had taken from Col Gaddafi.

BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Sirte: "I have spoken to the man who says that he captured him... he was brandishing a golden pistol"

What happened next and how Libya's former leader died remains unclear.
What is certain is that at 16:30 local time, Mahmoud Jibril, the NTC prime minister, confirmed the news that Col Gaddafi was dead, saying: "We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Gaddafi has been killed."
According to Mr Jibril, the colonel died just minutes away from hospital.
He later told journalists that a "forensic report" had concluded that the colonel had died from bullet wounds when the car he was in was caught in crossfire. "The forensic doctor could not tell if it came from the revolutionaries or from Gaddafi's forces," he said.
An interview with the commander of the brigade that captured Gaddafi suggests that the former leader died in an ambulance and appears to support the official version that he was killed in crossfire.
But a man claiming to be an eyewitness told the BBC that he saw Col Gaddafi being shot with a 9mm gun in the abdomen at around 12:30 local time and initial video footage seemed to show Col Gaddafi's body being dragged through the streets of Misrata.

Col Muammar Gaddafi was shot in the abdomen, according to a man who says he was there

Further amateur video footage has also emerged of a convoy of NTC fighters following an ambulance. The video includes scenes of soldiers celebrating with a man who they claim shot Col Gaddafi.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has said there should be a full investigation.
Her spokesman Rupert Colville told the BBC: "There are two videos out there, one showing him alive and one showing him dead and there are four or five different versions of what happened in between those two cellphone videos. That obviously raises very, very major concerns."

The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse visited the drain where Col Gaddafi was reportedly found by NTC forces

Source: BBC News, 24 October 2011 Last updated at 10:52 GMT  

LIBYA: Muammar Gaddafi 'buried in desert grave at dawn'

Footage showed what is believed to be a convoy of vehicles taking Gaddafi's body to be buried

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Libya Crisis

• Muammar Gaddafi: How he died
• The bloody birth of new Libya
• Last of the buffoon dictators?
• Revolution 'still has far to go'

The bodies of ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son Mutassim and a top aide have been buried in secret in the desert, Libyan officials say.

A National Transitional Council (NTC) official told the BBC the bodies were buried at dawn in an unknown location.
This follows days of apparent uncertainty among the new leadership about what to do with the bodies.
Gaddafi's family wanted them buried outside the former leader's hometown of Sirte.
NTC leaders had expressed a preference for a secret burial.
Bound by Fatwa Officials have given few details of the ceremony.
They say it took place early on Tuesday. A few relatives and officials were in attendance and Islamic prayers were read.

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Analysis

Gabriel Gatehouse BBC News, Misrata

The tussle over the body was between the Misratan military brigades who captured and killed Col Gaddafi on Thursday and the politicians - the National Transitional Council - who are now trying to take charge of the whole of this country.
The body of Col Gaddafi was the number-one war trophy after eight months of civil war.
The tussle over it was all part of a behind-the-scenes positioning for power in the new Libya that we'll probably see the aftershocks of reverberating out in the weeks and months to come.

Libya's Minister for Information Mahmoud Shammam said the NTC was following a fatwa, or religious ruling.

"It says that his body should not be buried in Muslim cemeteries and should not be buried in a known place to avoid any sedition," Mr Shammam said.
An NTC official had earlier told Reuters news agency that Col Gaddafi would be buried in a "simple" ceremony with "sheikhs attending" on Tuesday.
"It will be an unknown location in the open desert," he said, adding that a burial was needed because decomposition of the body had reached the point where the "corpse cannot last any longer".
Gaddafi, Mutassim and former Defence Minister Abu Bakr Younis Jabr were killed on Thursday following the fall of Sirte, the last major pro-Gaddafi bastion.
Witnesses said the bodies had been removed late on Monday from the meat storage warehouse in Misrata where they had been on display.
Shrine fears The BBC was told prayers were said over the bodies before they were driven away.
"Our job is finished," a security guard at the warehouse, Salem al Mohandes, told the Arabic television station al-Jazeera. "[Gaddafi] was transferred and the military council of Misrata took him away to an unknown location."
The BBC's Katya Adler in Tripoli says the question of how to dispose of Gaddafi's body has been a political minefield for the new Libyan leadership, and is the reason why it has taken four days for a decision to be taken.
Islamic tradition dictates a burial should happen within a day of the death.
But the NTC leadership was concerned that any public grave could become a shrine for Gaddafi loyalists or a target of hatred for those who opposed his regime, our correspondent says.
In the end, she adds, the decomposition of the body meant the NTC had to act.
Questions have been raised over the former leader's death after video footage showed him alive at the time of capture. Officials said he had been killed subsequently in a crossfire.
A post-mortem examination carried out on the 69-year-old's body on Sunday showed he had received a bullet wound to the head, medical sources said.
Acting Libyan leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said the NTC had formed a committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death.

Source: BBC News, 25 October 2011 Last updated at 13:13 GMT  

RWANDA: Anyone would wish to be part of the new Rwanda – Rwigema

Pierre Celestin Rwigema addresses a news conference in Kigali yesterday. The New Times/John Mbanda.

Former Prime Minister, Pierre Celestin Rwigema, yesterday said that anyone following Rwanda’s remarkable transformation process would wish to be part of it, hence his motivation to return.
Rwigema made the remarks while addressing a news conference following his return to Rwanda, on Saturday, after 11 years in exile.
“Anyone following Rwanda’s evolution would wish to be part of it. This is why I chose to come back and be part of the good cause,” the former premier said, adding that he is back to participate in the ongoing development of the country.
“In some challenging situations, we are often asked to think correctly and think big, this is why I took the decision to come back.
“Seeing what has been done in Rwanda, President Kagame’s efforts deserve our support and I am ready to support him and keep building this country the way he is doing and serve the people of this country, who have gone past trivial issues like ethnic sentiments,” he said.
Rwigema, whose smear campaign against the government featured on various news outlets, said he was misinformed and asked for pardon.
“I know some people are still angry with me because of the language I used, but I apologise. I discovered that it was some few people who wanted to bring me down,” said Rwigema, who sought political asylum in the US in 2000.
He added that; “…the problem is not making a mistake, the problem is not admitting a mistake. I admit my errors and apologise”.
Rwigema pointed out that his return to Rwanda was a personal decision. 
“Upon arrival, I was highly welcomed home and I thank the President for efforts to ensure I arrived home safely,” he said, adding that he immediately toured the city and was impressed by the way the country had changed in the last 11 years.
“From what I have seen, I thank the President and the people of Rwanda for the great work done. Rwanda has turned into a global reference of a well-led and developing country,” he said.
Rwigema blamed his fleeing on members of the Democratic Republican Movement (MDR), a political party he once headed that was later dissolved on grounds of divisionism.
Rwigyema fled the country following a Genocide case against him.
“When I was in exile, I discovered that the accusations against me were not coming from the government but instead from a camp of a few elements within MDR,” he revealed.
The Prosecution suspended the charges against Rwigema citing insufficient evidence.
Speaking to The New Times, the Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga, said his office reviewed the indictments issued against Genocide fugitives and that those that lacked evidence were suspended, including Rwigema’s.
“For the past few years, the National Public Prosecution Authority embarked on a campaign to track down Genocide Fugitives. This was accompanied by a general review of indictments to ensure we process only those that were strongly sustainable in terms of evidence. Those that were found to be wanting, were suspended,” Ngoga said.
“This exercise is continuous and it is in this context that Pierre Celestin Rwigyema’s case file was suspended. As a general rule, the suspension and reopening of cases depends on availability of new evidence,” he said.
Rwigema said that the move proves that the justice system is properly serving the people.
“In case there is new evidence against me, I am ready to appear before court,” he said.
Although Rwigema contends that he does not intend to vie for a political position, he says he is ready and willing to serve if requested.
The former premier told the news conference that Paul Rusesabagina’s portrayal of himself as a “hero”, claiming to have saved the Tutsi at Hotel de Milles Collines, is nothing but fraud motivated by greed and self-interest, shamelessly making money out of the Genocide.

Source: Newtimes,Tuesday October 25, 2011

Author:Edwin Musoni  

LIBYE: Kadhafi a été enterré dans un endroit secret.

Mouammar Kadhafi a été enterré, mardi 25 octobre à l'aube, dans un endroit tenu secret, a indiqué un membre du conseil militaire de Misrata. Les corps de Mouatassim Kadhafi, son fils, et de l'ex-ministre de la défense Abou Bakr Younès Jaber, exposés à ses côtés depuis plusieurs jours, ont été inhumés "dans la nuit de lundi à mardi près de lui", ont ajouté plusieurs membres du conseil militaire.
Selon une personne ayant eu accès au "permis d'inhumer", le cadavre de Mouammar Kadhafi "avait deux blessures par balle, une dans la tête, une dans la poitrine, et portait les cicatrices d'opérations chirurgicales anciennes, une à la nuque, deux à l'estomac et une à la jambe gauche".

Trois dignitaires religieux, partisans de Mouammar Kadhafi, ont prié et procédé à une cérémonie religieuse avant l'inhumation, selon le membre du conseil militaire qui a requis l'anonymat. Le père et deux fils de l'ancien ministre de la défense étaient présents à la levée des corps, selon la même source.

CORPS AUTOPSIÉ

L'ex-dirigeant a été tué jeudi alors qu'il tentait de fuir la ville de Syrte. Des milliers de Libyens ont défilé dans une chambre froide de Misrata pour observer les dépouilles. Compte tenu des allées et venues incessantes, la réfrigération n'était plus suffisante pour empêcher un début de décomposition des corps.

Selon des gardes postés à l'entrée du marché des faubourgs de Misrata, où les dépouilles étaient exposées, un convoi de quatre ou cinq véhicules militaires a emporté les corps tard lundi soir vers un lieu inconnu.

Dans son testament, Mouammar Kadhafi avait demandé à reposer à Syrte, sa ville natale, où il a trouvé la mort dans des conditions qui demeurent obscures après avoir été capturé par les combattants du CNT. Les chefs de celui-ci ont choisi un endroit secret pour éviter que sa sépulture ne devienne un lieu de pèlerinage pour ses partisans.

Le corps de l'ancien dictateur a par ailleurs fait l'objet d'une autopsie. A Misrata, le médecin ayant pratiqué l'autopsie, le docteur Othman El-Zentani, chef du service national de médecine légale, a indiqué que Mouammar Kadhafi avait été "tué par balle", se refusant à donner plus d'informations et précisant que son rapport n'était "pas fini".

Lundi, pour "répondre aux requêtes internationales", notamment celle de l'ONU, le chef du CNT, Moustapha Abdeljalil, a annoncé la création d'une commission d'enquête sur les circonstances de la mort du dirigeant déchu.

Une explosion à Syrte fait entre 50 et 100 morts

Entre cinquante et cent personnes ont été tuées dans l'explosion d'un réservoir de carburant lundi soir à Syrte. L'agence Reuters, citant des Syrtois, évoque un bilan de 50 morts et parle d'une explosion due à un court-circuit qui s'est produite aux alentours de minuit. L'AFP, citant un responsable du CNT évoquant des "dizaines de corps carbonisés", fait état de son côté de plus de 100 personnes tuées et 50 autres blessées. Selon le responsable du CNT, l'explosion s'est produite alors que des dizaines de personnes faisaient la queue pour faire le plein de leur voiture, à proximité du réservoir. Le réservoir était toujours en flammes au petit matin. – (AFP)


Source: LEMONDE.FR avec Reuters | 25.10.11 | 10h05 • Mis à jour le 25.10.11 | 13h18

LIBYE: Mort de Kadhafi : marabouts et intellectuels sénégalais en colère (SYNTHESE).

DAKAR -- La mort de Mouammar Kadhafi n'a pas été appréciée dans certains milieux au Sénégal. Pour des marabouts et des intellectuels, il s'agit d'un "assassinat" orchestré par l'OTAN, la coalition occidentale chargée de mettre en exécution la résolution 1973 des Nations Unies. L'homme religieux Ahmet Khalifa Niass, un ancien conseiller du président sénégalais Abdoulaye Wade, a dénoncé la manière dont il a été " assassiné", en violation, selon lui, des droits humanitaires les plus élémentaires.

Car, "blessé, il a été transporté dans un pick-up, exhibé, sans aucune assistance", a-t-il dit. L'ancien ambassadeur du Sénégal en Libye, Moustapha Cissé, par ailleurs marabout et Khalife général de Pire (confrérie religieuse au Sénégal), a abondé dans le même sens tout en mettant l'accent sur le fait que les pays occidentaux de l'OTAN sont plutôt intéressés par les ressources naturelles de la Libye dont le pétrole. Et ils ne sont pas les seuls. Des intellectuels ont aussi exprimé leur colère. Le journaliste et philosophe Hamidou Dia et le Professeur de droit public Aliou Dia à l'Université de Dakar se sont aussi exprimés en dénonçant "une fausse insurrection en Libye contrairement en Tunisie et en Egypte où les insurgés n'étaient pas armés".

Ils ont surtout estimé que la rébellion en Libye était programmée, encadrée, armée et surtout menée sur le terrain par les puissances occidentales. Nombre de Sénégalais, qu'ils aient exprimé leur soutien en public ou non, désapprouve la manière dont les opérations ont été menées en Libye, surtout par la France et l' OTAN. Ils ont surtout été choqués par les images humiliantes exhibées à la télévision du corps de Kadhafi.



Source:  Xinhuanet, du 25/10/2011

LIBYA: Bodies of Gaddafi supporters 'found executed' in Sirte

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Human Rights Watch have called on Libya's new government to investigate the killings

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Libya Crisis

• As it happened
• The bloody birth of new Libya
• Last of the buffoon dictators?
• Revolution 'still has far to go'

The bodies of 53 Gaddafi loyalists have been found at a hotel in the Libyan city of Sirte after apparently being executed, a human rights group says.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the victims - some of whom had their hands bound - died about a week ago.
It is the latest accusation of atrocities in Libya committed by both sides during the eight-month conflict.
Libya's new rulers have denied any involvement in abuses and have urged Libyans to forego reprisal attacks.
The discovery comes a day after jubilant crowds across the country took to the streets as the interim government declared national liberation, three days after the death of Muammar Gaddafi.
The National Transitional Council (NTC) has come under pressure to investigate how the former leader died, following accusations he had been executed by NTC troops after his capture in Sirte.
His body is in a cold storage facility in Misrata, which is open for public viewing.
'Hands bound'
The bodies were found on Sunday on the lawn of the abandoned Hotel Mahari in Sirte, which saw heavy fighting last week as NTC forces battled for control of the city.

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“Start Quote

This requires the immediate attention of the Libyan authorities to investigate what happened and hold accountable those responsible”

End Quote Peter Bouckaert HRW

"Some had their hands bound behind their backs when they were shot," Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

"This requires the immediate attention of the Libyan authorities to investigate what happened and hold accountable those responsible."
It is not clear who carried out the killings.
HRW said they believed the hotel had been in the hands of anti-Gaddafi forces from Misrata before the killings, and it remained in their control until the fighting in Sirte stopped on 20 October.
On the entrance and walls of the hotel were the names of several anti-Gaddafi brigades from Misrata, HRW added.
"The evidence suggests that some of the victims were shot while being held as prisoners, when that part of Sirte was controlled by anti-Gaddafi brigades who appear to act outside the control of the NTC," Mr Bouckaert said.
Many of the victims suffered bullet wounds to the head, according to an AFP reporter who saw them.
Human Rights Watch also said the remains of 95 people had been found at the site where Gaddafi was captured. They appeared to have died that same day.
HRW, Amnesty International and other rights groups regularly document incidents of atrocities suspected of being carried out by pro- and anti-Gaddafi forces during the conflict. These include several mass killing sites found in August.
Post-mortem
In his speech on Sunday in Benghazi, NTC leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil urged Libyans to put civil conflict behind them for the sake of the country.

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NEXT STEPS

• Elections for a Public National Conference to be held within eight months
• The new body is to appoint a prime minister, an interim government and a constituent authority which will draft a new constitution within 60 days
• Constitution to be put to a referendum
• If the constitution is approved, general elections will be held within six months

"Today we are one flesh, one national flesh. We have become united brothers as we have not been in the past," he said.

"I call on everyone for forgiveness, tolerance and reconciliation. We must get rid of hatred and envy from our souls. This is a necessary matter for the success of the revolution and the success of the future Libya."
Mr Abdul Jalil said the new Libya would take Islamic law as its foundation. Interest for bank loans would be capped, he said, and restrictions on the number of wives Libyan men could take would be lifted.
He thanked all those who had taken part in the revolution - from rebel fighters to businessmen and journalists.
Thousands of people were killed or injured after the violent repression of protests against Gaddafi's rule in February developed into a full-scale civil war.
Gaddafi's government was driven out of the capital, Tripoli, in August.
Questions have been raised over the former leader's death after video footage showed him alive at the time of capture on Thursday. Officials said he had been killed subsequently in a crossfire.
A post-mortem carried out on the former leader's body on Sunday showed he had received a bullet wound to the head, medical sources said.
The NTC has begun moving its base from the eastern city of Benghazi to the capital, Tripoli.
Elections are due to be held by June of next year, Libya's acting Prime Minister, Mahmoud Jibril, said on Sunday.
The new elected body, he added, would draft a constitution to be put to a referendum and form an interim government pending a presidential election.

Source: BBC News,
24 October 2011 Last updated at 11:43 GMT

LIBYA: UN calls for investigation into Gaddafi's death

The UN human rights body called on Friday for an inquiry into how Muammar Gaddafi was killed after gruesome footage emerged of a bleeding Gaddafi being manhandled by a crowd following his October 20 capture by National Transitional Council forces.

By News Wires (text)

 

REUTERS - The United Nations human rights office called on Friday for a full investigation into the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and voiced concerns that he may have been executed.
Images filmed on mobile phones before and after Gaddafi's death showed him wounded and bloodied but clearly alive after his capture in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday, and then dead amidst a jostling crowd of anti-Gaddafi fighters.
"There's a lot of uncertainty about what happened exactly. There seem to be four or five different versions of how he died," U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told Reuters Television in an interview.

PORTRAIT: MUAMMAR GADDAFI PROFILE Gaddafi's brutal four decades in power

"If you take these two videos together, they are rather disturbing because you see someone who has been captured alive and then you see the same person dead.
"We are not in a position to say what has happened at this point but we feel that it is very important that this is clarified, that there is some sort of serious investigation into what happened and what caused his death," he said.
Asked whether the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay was concerned Gaddafi may have been executed while in captivity, Colville replied: "It has to be one possibility when you look at these two videos. So that's something that an investigation needs to look into."
Gaddafi's body lay in an old meat store on Friday as arguments swirled over his burial and the circumstances of his death.
With a bullet wound visible through the familiar curly hair, the corpse shown to Reuters in Misrata bore other marks of the violent end to a violent life that was being broadcast to the world in snatches of grainy, gory cellphone video.
A television station based in Syria that supported Gaddafi said on Friday that the slain Libyan leader's wife had asked for a U.N. investigation into his death.
Arrested alive, killed later
Colville said it was is a fundamental principle of international law that people accused of serious crimes should be tried if possible. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in June for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and their intelligence chief for crimes against humanity.

ON THE BLOGS Gaddafi’s gone and Libyans must come together – but how?

"Summary executions are strictly illegal under any circumstances. It's different if someone is killed in combat. There was a civil war taking place in Libya. So if the person died as part of combat, that is a different issue and that is normally acceptable under the circumstances," he said.
"But if something else has happened, if someone is captured and then deliberately killed, then that is a very serious matter," he said.
Libya's interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said Gaddafi was killed in a "crossfire" while being brought to hospital after his capture. A doctor who examined Gaddafi's body said he had been fatally wounded by a bullet in his intestines.
But a senior interim ruling National Transitional Council source told Reuters Gaddafi was killed by his captors: "While he was being taken away, they beat him and then they killed him," the source said. "He might have been resisting."
In one of the videos that emerged, Gaddafi is hauled by his hair from the hood of a truck. Someone shouts: "Keep him alive!"
Gaddafi disappears from view and shots ring out.
An international commission of inquiry, launched by the U.N. Human Rights Council, is already investigating killings, torture and other crimes in Libya.
Colville said he expected that the team, now headed by former ICC President Philippe Kirsch, would look into the circumstances of Gaddafi's death and make recommendations about the need for either a full national or international probe.

Source: FRANCE24, Latest update: 22/10/2011 

LIBYA: Libya declares country's official 'liberation'

Libya’s interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil formally put an end on Sunday to almost 42 years of dictatorship, declaring the “liberation” of the country and promising to uphold Islamic sharia law as the basic source of legislation.

By News Wires (text)

 

REUTERS - Libya’s new rulers declared the country freed from Muammar Gaddafi’s 42 years of one-man rule on Sunday, saying the "Pharaoh of the times" was now in history’s garbage bin and a democratic future beckoned.

ON THE BLOGS Gaddafi’s gone and Libyans must come together – but how?

Tens of thousands who until this year’s revolt had known only Gaddafi’s all-powerful police state packed a square in the second city Benghazi to hear the interim National Transitional Council (NTC) announce Libya had liberated itself fully.
NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil kneeled in prayer after taking the podium and promised to uphold Islamic law.
"All the martyrs, the civilians and the army had waited for this moment. But now they are in the best of places ... eternal heaven," he said, shaking hands with supporters.
Some fear Jalil, a mild-mannered former justice minister, will find it difficult to impose his will on his fractious revolutionary alliance, pointing to the insistence of the city of Misrata on displaying the body of the former strongman three days after his death, in apparent breach of Islamic practice.
And there is international disquiet about increasingly graphic and disturbing images on the Internet of abuse of a body that appears to be Gaddafi’s following his capture and the fall of his hometown of Sirte on Thursday.
But the immediate reaction to Sunday’s announcement was jubilation.
"We are the Libyans. We have shown you who we are Gaddafi, you Pharaoh of the times. You have fallen into the garbage bin of history," said lawyer Abdel Rahman el-Qeesy, who announced the creation of a new government portfolio to deal with victims of the conflict.
"We declare to the whole world that we have liberated our beloved country, with its cities, villages, hilltops, mountains, deserts and skies," said an official who opened the ceremony in Benghazi, the place where the uprising erupted in February and which has been the headquarters for the NTC.
Cheering crowds waved the tri-colour flag.
Vacuum
Gaddafi, who had vowed to fight to the end, was found hiding in a drain after fleeing Sirte, the last bastion of his loyalists. He died in chaotic circumstances after video footage showed him bloodied and struggling at the hands of his captors.
With big oil and gas reserves and a six million population, Libya has the potential to become very prosperous, but regional rivalries fostered by Gaddafi could erupt into yet more violence that would undermine the authority of Jalil’s NTC.
"There is a yawning security and political vacuum in which brewing political disputes, factionalism and security problems pose a serious risk of derailing or prolonging transition," said Henry Wilkinson of Janusian security consultants in London.
In Misrata, people queueing for a chance to see Gaddafi’s body saw no reason for a rapid burial, apparently heedless of concern in Tripoli about how the NTC is perceived overseas.
"We brought our children to see him today because this is a chance to see history," said a man who gave his name as Mohammed. "We want to see this arrogant person as a lifeless body. Let all the people see him."
The declaration of liberation is intended to set the clock ticking on a process to set up a multiparty democracy, a system Gaddafi railed against for most of his 42 years in power.
In 2007 Gaddafi, whose "state of the masses" was seen by many Libyans as despotism, called democracy a sham in which people were "ridden like donkeys" by powerful interests.
Some analysts fear that without strong leadership the revolution could now collapse into armed infighting, preventing the country from ever attempting the novelty of the ballot box.
The lack of a clear plan for Gaddafi’s burial suggests to some analysts that there is justification for fears of a descent into leaderless turmoil.
An autopsy has been performed, and a medical source told Reuters that Gaddafi’s body had a bullet in the head and a bullet in the abdomen.
"There are multiple injuries. There is a bullet in the abdomen and in the brain," the medical source said.
The autopsy was carried out at a morgue in Misrata, about 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli. Local officials said Gaddafi’s body would now be brought back to the cold store at an old market in Misrata where it has been on public display.
Regional infighting
The loosely disciplined militias that sprang up in each town to topple the dictator with the help of NATO air power are still armed. The places they represent will want a greater say in the country’s future, particularly the second and third cities Benghazi and Misrata, which were starved of investment by Gaddafi.
It was fighters from Misrata who emerged from a lengthy and bloody siege to play a large part in taking Tripoli and later caught Gaddafi.
Libya’s new leaders have a "very limited opportunity" to set aside differences, said interim prime minister Mahmoud Jibril as he announced he was stepping down on Saturday.
Jibril said progress for Libya would need great resolution, both by interim leaders on the National Transitional Council and by six million war-weary people.
But a field commander in Misrata worried that trouble was brewing.
"The fear now is what is going to happen next," he said, speaking to Reuters privately, as ordinary Libyans, some taking pictures for family albums, filed in under armed guard to see for themselves that the man they feared was truly dead.
"There is going to be regional in-fighting. You have Zintan and Misrata on one side and then Benghazi and the east," the guerrilla said. "There is in-fighting even inside the army."
New democracy
There is some unease abroad over what many believe was a summary execution of Gaddafi. U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has called for an investigation into the killing, but few Libyans share those concerns.
Arguments have arisen among Libya’s factions about what to do with the corpse, which has not been accorded the swift burial required by Islamic law and is beginning to decompose. Those viewing the body on Saturday were obliged to cover their faces with surgical masks.
Gaddafi’s surviving family, in exile, wants his body and that of his son Mo’tassim to be handed over to tribal kinsmen from Sirte. NTC officials said they were trying to arrange a secret resting place to avoid loyalist supporters making it a shrine. Misrata does not want his body under its soil.
The disputes within the NTC have delayed the announcement of an end to the war several times, but such worries are unlikely to be paramount in the minds of many Libyans as they celebrate the beginning of a new era in their country’s history.
The announcement of "liberation" will set a clock ticking on a plan for a new government and constitutional assembly leading to full democracy in 2013.
"We hope we will have an elected democratic government with broad participation," student Ali Abu Shufa said.
Gaddafi promoted tribalism to keep the country divided, he said. "But now Gaddafi is dead, all the tribes will be united."

Source: FRANCE24, Latest update: 23/10/2011 

LIBYA: Gaddafi's brutal four decades in power

The grim and eccentric rule of Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi began with a bloodless coup in 1969 and ended in a bloodbath 42 years later.

By Jonathan WALSH / Kethevane GORJESTANI / Mark Thompson (video)
FRANCE 24 (text)

 

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the Arab world's longest-serving ruler, was killed on Thursday in an attack by forces loyal to Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) on his hometown of Sirte, the last major bastion of his crumbling regime, NTC officials have announced. People cheered in the streets of the capital of Tripoli and waved the country’s new flag upon hearing of the leader’s death.
Gaddafi, who was famously labelled the "mad dog of the Middle East" by former US president Ronald Reagan, was the uncontested ruler of oil-rich Libya for a full 42 years. But his iron-clad grip on the country began loosening in February 2011, when a popular revolt gained control over most of the east and parts of western Libya.

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True to form, Gaddafi responded with a brutal crackdown that plunged the country into a full-blown civil war. Despite the crucial support of NATO strikes, it took rebel forces a full six months to sweep into the capital city of Tripoli, and a further two months to track down the elusive colonel. The European Union said Gaddafi’s death, if confirmed, marked the “end of an era of despotism.”
Tensions with the West
Widely viewed as a political maverick, Gaddafi came to power in Libya after a bloodless coup in 1969. His stated aim was to create a regime underpinned by "Islamic socialism", a philosophy that was laid out in his Green Book from the 1970s. By the end of the decade, a system of government by people's committee was born — although in reality the country had become a police state ruled by one man.
Gaddafi turned Libya into a haven for anti-Western radicals, where terrorist groups received weapons and financial support.
Tensions between Tripoli and the West reached a peak in 1988, when 270 people died in the bombing of a Pan Am plane over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Two Libyans were accused of the attacks, but Gaddafi refused to hand them over. UN sanctions followed, crippling the country's oil-dependent economy. It was not until 2003 that Tripoli assumed responsibility for the tragedy, a move that signalled a warming in relations between Libya and its onetime detractors.
In subsequent years, Gaddafi held meetings with several Western heads of state, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2009. Ever the eccentric, the Libyan leader displayed a penchant for safari suits and sunglasses, travelling under the watchful eyes of a bevy of female bodyguards.
Nevertheless, Gaddafi was for many years considered a shrewd politician who realised the need to bring his country in from the cold. That, however, was not enough for Libya's disenchanted youth, angered by rising unemployment and the failure to benefit from the country's considerable oil wealth.
Discontent boils over
Anti-regime protests broke out on February 15, prompting Gaddafi to order an extensive crackdown, vowing to fight on until “the last drop of blood”. After opening fire on protesters in Tripoli, pro-Gaddafi forces used tanks and airplanes to launch a counter-offensive against the rebels. In mid-March, the UN Security Council passed a resolution authorising a 10-country coalition led by the United States, France and Britain to take “necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians from Gaddafi forces.
Gaddafi remained defiant, but his public appearances became less frequent after one of his sons was killed in an April operation in Tripoli led by NATO, which had taken over control of the international coalition. With Russian and Turkish support for his regime fading, the International Criminal Court issuing a warrant for his arrest, and rebels taking control of a handful of key western towns, pressure on Gaddafi mounted all summer. But he continued to thumb his nose at his adversaries, repeatedly urging his supporters to “prepare for the battle” to take back rebel-held cities.
On August 22 rebels brandishing opposition flags and firing triumphant shots into the air drove into Tripoli’s Green Square, which they promptly renamed Martyrs’ Square. But when they broke into the colonel’s heavily guarded compound in the Libyan capital, Gaddafi was nowhere to be found. It was widely believed that the fugitive leader was either hiding with Tuareg fighters in the country’s southern desert or that he had taken refuge in his hometown of Sirte.
After a bloody two-month siege, forces loyal to Libya’s new interim government finally captured Sirte on Thursday. Initial reports said Gaddafi was injured in the legs and head. Soon after, NTC officials said the former strongman had succumbed to his injuries.

Source: FRANCE 24, Latest update: 21/10/2011