Libyan rebels celebrate as they seize compound
Source: Agencies |
August 24, 2011, Wednesday
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TRIUMPHANT rebels seized Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli yesterday after a fierce battle with a loyalist rearguard but there was no word on the fate of the Libyan leader who vowed to fight "to the end."
Rebel fighters stream through the sprawling Bab al-Aziziya headquarters compound, firing in the air in celebration after hours of heavy clashes. But it was unclear whether the "Brother Leader" or his sons were still somewhere in the complex's maze of buildings and bunkers.
Defensive fire died away and hundreds of jubilant rebels poured in. Some smashed a statue of Gadhafi. Others hunted through dozens of buildings, unchallenged, seizing weaponry and vehicles. The rebels' envoy to the United Nations said the area was "totally in the hands of the revolutionaries."
One man shouted: "It's over. Gadhafi is finished."
The Russian head of the World Chess Federation, who visited Gadhafi in Tripoli in June, said he received a call from him yesterday afternoon in which Gadhafi said he was still in the capital.
He "is in Tripoli, he is alive and healthy and is prepared to fight to the end", Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said.
Western governments, which have backed disparate opposition groups, said they could not be sure where the 69-year-old leader was but urged him to surrender after six months of civil war which have put an end to his four decades of absolute power.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after speaking to US President Barack Obama that the end of Gadhafi's rule was "inevitable and near."
NATO, which declined to confirm reports that its air forces bombed Gadhafi's compound to aid the rebels, said Gadhafi's whereabouts were unclear but no longer a major concern.
In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said he believed Gadhafi was still in Libya and that his forces remained a threat. He also said the United States was monitoring chemical weapons sites in Libya, amid worries that groups hostile to Western interests could try to seize stocks once built up by Gadhafi.
Speaking after Gadhafi's son and long-time heir-apparent Saif al-Islam confounded rebel claims of his capture by appearing to journalists at the compound early yesterday, several analysts said the credibility of the disparate opposition movement had suffered a serious setback.
Though the credibility of Saif al-Islam's claims that his father's supporters were winning the war was also threadbare, confusion among the rebels, who seemed to have allowed two of Gadhafi's sons to escape on Monday, embarrassed their backers.
Noman Benotman, senior analyst at Britain's Quilliam think tank and an associate of Gadhafi's former spy chief, said: "Gadhafi is banking on the rebels making a mess of Tripoli and causing chaos. He is relying on them to behave badly.
"They want rival militia zones to start springing up ... That's why it's critical for the rebels to get their act together."
Residents, many of whom took to the streets on Sunday to celebrate the end of Gadhafi's 42-year rule, stayed indoors yesterday as the irregular rebel armies that swept the capital ran into resistance from sharpshooters, tanks and other heavy weaponry.
The lack of clear control revived concerns that the sprawling, thinly populated desert state could fall into the kind of instability that has beset Iraq since Saddam Hussein's overthrow. Gadhafi loyalists and anti-Western Islamists could exploit Libya's ethnic, tribal and political divisions.
Rebel officials say they have a force ready to impose order in the capital, as they have generally done in parts of the country they have taken since February. But it is not yet clear how they will handle traditional east-west divisions if they consolidate their grip on the country.
The efficient rebel advance into the capital, coordinated with an uprising inside the city, seemed evidence to some analysts of the military advice and training provided by Western and some Arab powers.
Outside powers have taken pains to characterize the revolt against Gadhafi as quite different from the Western assault on Saddam, saying it is a home-grown uprising inspired by other Arab protest movements that overthrew Western-backed autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt.
Rebel fighters stream through the sprawling Bab al-Aziziya headquarters compound, firing in the air in celebration after hours of heavy clashes. But it was unclear whether the "Brother Leader" or his sons were still somewhere in the complex's maze of buildings and bunkers.
Defensive fire died away and hundreds of jubilant rebels poured in. Some smashed a statue of Gadhafi. Others hunted through dozens of buildings, unchallenged, seizing weaponry and vehicles. The rebels' envoy to the United Nations said the area was "totally in the hands of the revolutionaries."
One man shouted: "It's over. Gadhafi is finished."
The Russian head of the World Chess Federation, who visited Gadhafi in Tripoli in June, said he received a call from him yesterday afternoon in which Gadhafi said he was still in the capital.
He "is in Tripoli, he is alive and healthy and is prepared to fight to the end", Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said.
Western governments, which have backed disparate opposition groups, said they could not be sure where the 69-year-old leader was but urged him to surrender after six months of civil war which have put an end to his four decades of absolute power.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after speaking to US President Barack Obama that the end of Gadhafi's rule was "inevitable and near."
NATO, which declined to confirm reports that its air forces bombed Gadhafi's compound to aid the rebels, said Gadhafi's whereabouts were unclear but no longer a major concern.
In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said he believed Gadhafi was still in Libya and that his forces remained a threat. He also said the United States was monitoring chemical weapons sites in Libya, amid worries that groups hostile to Western interests could try to seize stocks once built up by Gadhafi.
Speaking after Gadhafi's son and long-time heir-apparent Saif al-Islam confounded rebel claims of his capture by appearing to journalists at the compound early yesterday, several analysts said the credibility of the disparate opposition movement had suffered a serious setback.
Though the credibility of Saif al-Islam's claims that his father's supporters were winning the war was also threadbare, confusion among the rebels, who seemed to have allowed two of Gadhafi's sons to escape on Monday, embarrassed their backers.
Noman Benotman, senior analyst at Britain's Quilliam think tank and an associate of Gadhafi's former spy chief, said: "Gadhafi is banking on the rebels making a mess of Tripoli and causing chaos. He is relying on them to behave badly.
"They want rival militia zones to start springing up ... That's why it's critical for the rebels to get their act together."
Residents, many of whom took to the streets on Sunday to celebrate the end of Gadhafi's 42-year rule, stayed indoors yesterday as the irregular rebel armies that swept the capital ran into resistance from sharpshooters, tanks and other heavy weaponry.
The lack of clear control revived concerns that the sprawling, thinly populated desert state could fall into the kind of instability that has beset Iraq since Saddam Hussein's overthrow. Gadhafi loyalists and anti-Western Islamists could exploit Libya's ethnic, tribal and political divisions.
Rebel officials say they have a force ready to impose order in the capital, as they have generally done in parts of the country they have taken since February. But it is not yet clear how they will handle traditional east-west divisions if they consolidate their grip on the country.
The efficient rebel advance into the capital, coordinated with an uprising inside the city, seemed evidence to some analysts of the military advice and training provided by Western and some Arab powers.
Outside powers have taken pains to characterize the revolt against Gadhafi as quite different from the Western assault on Saddam, saying it is a home-grown uprising inspired by other Arab protest movements that overthrew Western-backed autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt.
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