By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
TRIPOLI, Libya – Libya rejoiced after reports of former dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi’s death were confirmed Thursday, marking the end of an unpredictable 42-year reign of terror. Shouts praising God, celebratory gunfire, and other noisemakers pervaded the streets of Tripoli, the capital. Saturday will confirm the beginning of a new era in Libya when the National Transitional Council (NTC) will declare the country free and start the process of transitioning into a democracy, but many challenges remain as it begins.
NTC forces captured Gaddafi near his hometown of Sirte after a U.S. Predator drone and a French fighter jet fired on a convoy leaving the city in order to stop its progress. From then, the Libyan fighters made their attack and found the onetime despot. The nature of his death is unclear. Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, who has promised to resign after liberation, said that Gaddafi died in crossfire between his supporters and the NTC and died en route to a hospital. But others, including Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, are uncertain as to whether this is true. Recently available video footage suggests that he was alive when he was captured, but was later executed. Pillay wants an investigation into the matter.
For Libyans, it was a chance to celebrate.
“It is a historic moment,” said NTC spokesman Abdel Hafez Ghoga. “It is the end of tyranny and dictatorship. Gaddafi has met his fate.”
Omar Abulqasim Alkikli, a writer and a former political prisoner, saw the celebration first hand as he traveled the streets of Tripoli.
“Cars passed us, carrying passengers who themselves were carried on the waves of a powerful joy,” he wrote for the New York Times.
Those passengers waved the independence flag outside their windows, while heavy traffic, with almost all of the cars running their blinkers, blocked the roads. Others on the street sprayed the passing vehicles with orange blossom water, which Alkikli said was “a custom traditionally reserved for weddings,” adding that “[o]ne of the young men shouted as he showered us: ‘A new life! A new life!’”
Twitter also blazed with comments. Many of them suggested that similar fates awaited President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen and President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who had also tried to crush protests against their regime. One notable tweet, also referring to the former Tunisian and Egyptian leaders, read: “Ben Ali escaped, Mubarak is in jail, Gaddafi was killed. Which fate do you prefer, Ali Abdullah Saleh? You can consult with Bashar.” Another simply said: “Bashar al-Assad, how do you feel today?”
The international community generally stated its approval of the liberation.
“We can definitely say that the Gaddafi regime has come to an end,” said U.S. President Barack Obama. “The dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted, and with this enormous promise the Libyan people now have a great responsibility to build an inclusive and tolerant and democratic Libya that stands as the ultimate rebuke to Gaddafi’s dictatorship.”
The Sun, Great Britain’s most popular newspaper, bore the headline: “That’s for Lockerbie!”,a reference to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. An agent of Gaddafi’s was convicted for conducting the attack.
NATO, which had run a bombing campaign in Libya since March, will be terminated. Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that “the people of Libya can truly decide their own future.”
That future is still uncertain. Libya now faces the challenges of building a new government almost from scratch and finding a common goal to keep its people united. Lisa Anderson, president of American University in Cairo and a political scientist who studies the country, feared the worst.
“Libya is going to have a terrible time. For a long time, what knit them together was a kind of morbid fascination with Qaddafi, and until now everybody felt that until they saw his body that he almost might come back, like a vampire,” she said. But “they don’t have a credible institution in the entire country. They don’t have anything that knits them together.”
Arguably, the first step the new nation must take is one of reconciliation, as the country seeks to turn itself into a democracy. The disparate groups that formed the provisional government were locked in a power struggle for positions within it before Gaddafi’s death, but agreed to put that off until his capture. Those issues will need to be resolved, and a new constitution will have to be written. The NTC has scheduled elections for 2013, which will prove difficult because Libya, even before Gaddafi, has never used an electoral system before.
Providing security and developing a national army is also a top priority. During the revolution towns relied on small brigades, some of which became rivals, to maintain order. But more than anything, reducing the stockpiles of guns will be critical.
While forming the government will be a major issue going forward, Libyans are able to celebrate right now. Younis Fenadi, a climate researcher at the Libyan National Meteorological Center, was happy to learn of the news, saying that Gaddafi’s death brings a degree of closure to the country. Over time, he believes, they will receive answers to questions about Gaddafi’s behavior during his regime. But more than anything, he is enjoying the potential for a brighter day.
“I am glad that I get a chance, I am 52 years old now, to speak freely in my country,” Fenadi said.
For more information, please see:
Al Jazeera — Libyans Celebrate Gaddafi’s Death — 21 October 2011
Al Jazeera — Muammar Gaddafi Killed as Sirte Falls — 21 October 2011
BBC — After Gaddafi: Libyan Revolution ‘Still Has Far to Go’ — 21 October 2011
BBC — Libya: The Challenges Ahead — 21 October 2011
Libya TV — Gaddafi Killed in Hometown Sirte as Libyans Look Toward Future — 21 October 2011
Tripoli Post — NATO Chief Calls on Libyans to Work Together to Build a Brighter Future — 21 October 2011
Tripoli Post — NTC to Proclaim Libya Free Saturday — 21 October 2011
New York Times — In Tripoli, Blaring Horns and Shouts of Joy — 20 October 2011
New York Times — Qaddafi’s Death Places Focus on Arab Spring’s ‘Hard Times’ — 20 October 2011
New York Times — Violent End to an Era as Qaddafi Dies in Libya — 20 October 2011
