Colonel Gaddafi in March of this year ignored
the demonstrations and protests against him by claiming
in an interview with a foreign journalist that "My people love me!"
Cartoon (Toronto: March 5, 2011) © Joachim Romeo D'Costa
Libya’s
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year tyrannical rule came to end on October 20
with his ignominious death at the hands of his own people who had revolted
against him.
His hometown
of Sirte in northwest Libya was a place of bitter fights between the advancing
rebels and Gaddafi’s armed force personnel and supporters. As he saw the fall
of Sirte imminent, he and a few of his close associates were fleeing the city
in early morning in a convoy of vehicles. The NATO forces intercepted the convoy
and realized that some important person or persons must have been there.
American drone missile strikes destroyed a number of vehicles but Gaddafi
luckily survived. He and some others left the remaining vehicles and took
shelter in a nearby concrete culvert. In the meantime, the rebels nearby closed
in and captured bloodied Colonel Gaddafi.
He was
captured alive and was mishandled by the captors, who were mostly ragtag rebels
with no or little army training. At one point someone shot Gaddafi dead instead
of handing him over to the new government of Libya for trial.
This Type of Death of Gaddafi Is
Uncalled For
Colonel
Gaddafi, although a maniacal and brutal head of the state of Libya, did not
deserve such a death when he was captured alive and when there were none of his
men defending him by using arms. It would be a wise thing to hand him over to
the new government authority for trial that would be good for the future of
Libya. He should have been held accountable for the atrocious misdeeds he
committed against his own people. His immediate killing deprived Libya of
bringing justice to him.
At the same
time, we also need to realize that many of the Libyans were living a life of
fear and sudden unjust imprisonment and death for so long under the high-handed
rule of Gaddafi. People were fed up with
him, yet they could not say or act anything against him without retribution. Many
of the people saw how Gaddafi’s men brutalized, imprisoned and killed their
near and dear ones for no or little reason. People were so enraged and full of
hatred for him that his killing came naturally when he was captured. May be the
idea of sparing his life temporarily was thought of dangerous and that’s why he
was done with immediately.
So, the practice
of international law of sparing lives of those captured during war for later
trial is difficult to expect under such circumstances.
Gaddafi the Tyrant
Colonel
Muammar Gaddafi was not only an autocratic dictator but also a tyrant. He knew
how to use his power and brutality to keep people under subjugation. He was
adept at using the evil side of his character to rule Libya.
He was such
an ambitious person that in 1969, at the age of only 27, he took control of the
country in a bloodless coup. King Idris of Libya was sent into exile in Egypt. Then
he did a lot of experiments in ruling the country and finally he imposed his
own system – a mixture of capitalism and communism.
The
tyrannical aspect of his character came to the fore one year after he took over
power. A group of young army officers wanted to oust him from power by a coup
but failed. He became suspicious of others and became vengeful. He saw any
opposition as a sign of ousting him from his position. In the 1970’s decade, he
imprisoned and killed many students and their supporters who demanded freedom
and human rights. Once he also killed about 1,200 unarmed prisoners for
asserting their demands. There are dozens of tribal groups in Libya. He
favoured his own nomadic Bedouin tribals and acted against almost all others.
Journalists
call him eccentric in a nice way, but in reality his tyrannical and
unremorseful behaviour is a clear proof of mental illness. He should have been
removed from power a long ago.
He was
against western system of capitalism. He nationalized the Western-dominated oil
industry of Libya in 1973. He exported terrorism by funding terrorist groups in
Colombia, Northern Ireland, Germany and Palestine. His Libyan agents in 1986
bombed a night club in Berlin and killed two American soldiers and wounded
many. His agents also placed bomb in the PanAm (American) airlines in 1988 and
killed 270 people, mostly Americans. The Western countries then imposed a heavy
sanction again doing business with Libya.
This
sanction was too much to bear. Colonel Gaddafi, after suffering much economic
loss, ultimately admitted its participation in the bombing plot the PanAm
airlines and compensated millions of dollars for the death of the passengers
and crew. In the first half of 2000’s, he also disavowed himself from
supporting terrorism and producing weapons of mass destruction. After this, the
USA and western countries began normal relations with Libya.
The Arab Spring
– common people’s demonstrations and rallies – demanding freedom and democracy
started in the beginning (Spring) of 2011. It became successful in ousting the
president first in Tunisia and later in Egypt. Seeing their success, people in
Libya also followed the same tactics but were fiercely opposed by Colonel Gaddafi and his henchmen, who vowed to flow rivers of blood in the country by
attacking and killing the demonstrators. The killings gave birth to full-scale
revolts in different cities of the country. The NATO countries openly supported
the fledgling rebels and air-bombed Gaddafi’s forces and weakened their
positions. Gradually the rebels, also aided by military weapons and advisers from
the NATO countries, freed most of the country and fought the last battles in
Sirte until Colonel Gaddafi’s death.
Securing the Rule of Law and
Scattered Arms and Weapons Should Be the First Priority
The new
government of liberated Libya must secure the rule of law and all scattered
arms and ammunition in the country before any peace and stability are established
for exercising democracy.
The birth of
Bangladesh in 1971 and the present birth of new Libya in 2011 have similarity.
Bangladesh (former East Pakistan), in 1971, fought the war of independence against
West Pakistan (now Pakistan) with the direct assistance of India and indirect
support of the Soviet Union. After the country won independence in December of
the same year, the new government of Bangladesh failed to secure the law and
order situation and retrieve all the arms and ammunition from the freedom
fighters. As a result, after some months of independence, a reign of terror
started all over the country when one political group began fighting another
with the loose arms, some freedom fighters resorting to robberies and blackmail
and so and so forth. For more than half a decade this lawlessness persisted
before matters began to settle. Similarly, Libya, with the direct intervention of the NATO countries, gained freedom after a bitter fight with Gaddafi forces. The new Libya should take a lesson from Bangladesh's experience.
Another similarity is: Those who came to power after the independence of Bangladesh, did not have experience of holding political or administrative offices in the country due to domination of the West Pakistanis in political and economic fields. As a result, these new leaders failed miserably in running the country. In the midst of chaos and confusion, there were coups and counter-coups and killing of the President of the country, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and his colleagues of his political party. If the new Libya is not careful and does not plan well, it is very likely to face a lot of difficulties in politics, economy and society.
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