por admin » Mar Feb 22, 2011 10:29 pm
El dictador pierde control en el desierto.
El lider de Libia Col. Moammar Gadhafi publicamente desafio a los manifestates que buscan finalizar con su mandato, jurando permanecer en el pais "hasta el final" mientras el pais cierra sus puestos, suspende sus exportaciones de petroleo.
Se estima que ya hay 300 muertos a manos de los Gadhafi.
El Martes, el jefe de la policia el por mucho tiempo leal a Gadhafi, se unio a los diplomaticos, soldatos y otros para abandonar a su lider de 42 anios. En un video mostrado por Al Jazeera el Martes, el ministro del Interior Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi anuncio su apoy por los manifestantes anti-Gadhafi e hizo un llamado a las fuerzas armadas de Libia para que se unieran a la revolucion. Todavia no esta claro que tanta influencia puede el tener sobre las fuerzas claves de seguridad consideradas fieles a morir por Gadhafi.
MIDDLE EAST NEWSFEBRUARY 23, 2011
Dictator Loses Grip in Desert
By CHARLES LEVINSON in Tobruq, Libya, MARGARET COKER in Abu Dhabi and TAHANI KARRAR-LEWSLEY in Dubai
Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi publicly defied protesters seeking to end his rule, vowing to remain in the country "until the end" as that country closed its ports, suspending oil exports. Margaret Coker and John Bussey discuss.
On the ground in the eastern chunk of this oil-rich desert nation, the signs of rebellion are plain to see in the armories of a military base near Baida: Weapons crates lay busted open and empty. Rifles are missing from their racks. Left behind are helmets and gas masks and cleaning kits—things that can't shoot.
For four days, rebels newly armed with anti-aircraft guns and Kalashnikovs battled forces loyal to Libyan strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi and commanded by one of his sons. After days of firefights, feints and an ambush on unarmed local sheiks, the regime forces surrendered their hold on the vital local airport Tuesday morning—placing nearly all of eastern Libya outside Col. Gadhafi's control.
The battle for Baida airport is one example of how quickly the tide across Libya has turned against Col. Gadhafi. A brutal crackdown by pro-Gadhafi forces across the country has left at least 300 dead over six days, civil-rights groups say.
On Tuesday, Libya's top policeman, a longtime Gadhafi loyalist, joined the string of diplomats, soldiers and others to abandon their leader of 42 years. In a video aired on the Al Jazeera news channel Tuesday, Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi announced his support for anti-Gadhafi protesters and called on Libya's armed forces to switch loyalties. It was unclear how much influence he has over the key security forces considered die-hard loyalists to the regime, such as the armed revolutionary committees or the military units controlled by Col. Gadhafi's family members.
The defections came as Libya teetered. In the country's eastern half, an anti-Gadhafi stronghold where protests began just last week, only one additional airport, in the region's main city of Benghazi, remained in government control. In the coastal city of Tobruq, also in the east, Libya's historic red, black and green flag, which was barred during Col. Gadhafi's four-decade reign, flew over many buildings. The all-green flag of the Gadhafi regime was nowhere to be seen.
In the capital of Tripoli—a traditional stronghold of Col. Gadhafi's power—the leader publicly defied protesters seeking to end his rule. He vowed to remain in the country "until the end."
"I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr," he said in a rambling, 80-minute address on state television. He vowed to take back the eastern cities under rebel control and show no mercy to those he says have acted against the nation.
Around midnight, following the leader's speech, Tripoli residents reported heavy machine-gun battles in the capital's center and a near-constant wail of sirens. Residents say carloads of the leader's supporters cruised around the city in the early evening, waving green flags as a symbol for their loyalty to Col. Gadhafi.
Pro-Gadhafi security agents roamed the city, blaring a message over bull horns and loud speakers that people forming in groups on the streets would be shot, two residents of the capital said. Plain clothes groups of men roaming the streets in unmarked sedans were also seen picking people up from the streets in recent days.
Residents said they had formed neighborhood patrols out of fear of looting or breakins. "There is no regular police anymore to call if something happens," said one female resident. "We feel alone."
Tuesday evening, the United Nations Security Council condemned the use of force against civilians and called for "an immediate end to violence and for steps to address the legitimate demands of the population."
Rahman Shalgam, the Libyan ambassador to the U.N.—who didn't resign with the rest of his staff and remains loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi—gave and emotional at at times "contradictory" speech behind closed doors to the U.N. Security Council earlier Tuesday, according to a diplomat present at the private meeting.
"He talked about his sons friends being killed, that all Libyans are his his brothers and he denied any aerial bombardment of Tripoli," the diplomat said. Mr. Shagam also said "he'd be first to condemn attacking civilians," said the diplomat.
The events threw one of the region's major oil economies into turmoil. Libya's ports—including Zawia, Tripoli, Benghazi and Misurata—have been closed, traders in the country said. Foreign oil companies, including Italy's Eni SpA and Spain's Repsol YPF, said they had suspended some operations.
With Col. Gadhafi inciting more clashes and the streets around Tripoli still heavily patrolled by uniformed security forces, many Libyans feared that the nation could fracture on tribal or regional lines.
"We've been calling for an end to Gadhafi's rule for years," said Hafed Al-Ghwell, a U.S.-based Libyan opposition activist. "But what we've always feared is the day after. Right now it looks like the worst-case scenario is coming true—that Libya becomes like Somalia, with every strongman with a gun ruling his own fiefdom."
In the eastern town of Tobruq, Maj. Gen. Suleiman Mahmoud disagreed. A top commander of Libya's eastern military forces until he defected from the army on Feb. 20, Gen. Mahmoud said Col. Gadhafi had once successfully played tribes against each other, but that in recent years, these groups have generally been more united.
"This is propaganda that if Gadhafi dies, then Libya will fall apart in civil war," he said. "Libyan society is united. We have responsible and capable generals and academics who can step up when Mr. Gadhafi falls."
The events in Baida, following the airport siege, may provide a preview of the rough justice that could follow any regime dissolution.
On Wednesday, several of the 300 to 350 pro-Gadhafi fighters captured in the airport siege—the many soldiers among them that locals say are mercenaries hired from other African coutries—will face a popular trial.
"We expect they will be executed," said one of the residents, Fadhil al-Hadouthi, an unemployed 38-year-old who helped coordinate logistics and medical relief for the pro-democracy rebels who battled Mr. Gadhafi's forces.
The days-long fight for Baida, which began in the first days of anti-Gadhafi protests last week, was described by several witnesses.
Police, they say, initially clashed with protestors using tear gas and other non-lethal methods. But when protests swelled, Col. Gadhafi's government ordered in reinforcements from the Khamis Brigade, commanded by Mr. Gadhafi's son Khamis.
The newly deployed brigade was elite and famously loyal to the regime. The professional soldiers opened fire expertly with live ammunition as soon as they deployed, witnesses said. "They fired at any unarmed civilians they could find," said Mohammad Abduh, an Egyptian who was working in Baida as a painter.
That spurred local police to turn on the soldiers. The government forces retreated to the airport outside of town. Townsmen followed and laid siege to the airport.
The pro-Gadhafi forces tried to escape in jeeps, residents said, but got lost in the side roads. They came under attack and returned to the airport.
On Sunday, the government sought to provide reinforcements to the besieged pro-Gadhafi forces, with helicopters arriving with supplies and fresh troops. The ad hoc local forces—who, like citizens across eastern Libya, were becoming heavily armed as entire army units joined forces with locals and police stations were abandoned—fought them off.
Witnesses say locals countered the government helicopters with anti-aircraft machine guns and Kalashnikovs. The helicopters dropped a few boxes of food before turning away, said Mr. al-Hadouthi, the 38-year-old unemployed local who was there.
On Monday, the pro-Gadhafi troops offered to make a deal, said residents involved in the fighting. They had taken about 30 Baida residents prisoner, and offered to free them in exchange for being let go from the airport, residents said.
The locals selected four sheikhs to go to handle the negotiation. The sheikhs arrived, accompanied by about 35 pro-democracy rebels, all of whom left their weapons outside as part of the deal, according to Mr. al-Hadouthi, who was present.
The negotiations soured when the sheikhs demanded the pro-Gadhafi forces surrender their weapons and captives in exchange for their freedom, Mr. al-Hadouthi said. "It was a trap, an ambush," he said.
The pro-Gadhafi gunmen opened fire. One of the sheikhs fell dead, along with 10 other people. The siege intensified.
At 9 a.m. Tuesday morning, the pro-Gadhafi forces said they were surrendering for good.
Locals said they identified several among them as foreign because of their features and accents; the accounts these fighters gave under interrogation, placed them as from Chad, Niger and other sub-Saharan African countries.
The Libyan soldiers will be handed over to their tribal leaders, Baida rebel leaders said. The foreign fighters will face a jury of local notables on Wednesday.
The fate of others may have already been determined, grimly. Earlier Tuesday in Sidi Burana, an Egyptian town on the border with Libya, Egyptian workers fleeing back home showed thumb-drive and cell-phone videos with pictures of what they said were captured pro-government mercenaries being viciously beaten in Baida. One video showed a dark skinned man, who the Egyptian workers said was a mercenary from Chad, being beaten to death. Another video showed what they said were mutilated mercenary corpses.