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Ordinary people heed the call to free Libya

Friday, Mar 04, 2011

Gulf News

Semblance of normality returns to liberated Benghazi but residents still bracing for long, bloody and tough fight

By Mick O’Reilly

Deputy Managing Editor

MICK THURSDAY FOR FRIDAY

Benghazi, Libya

At the seafront here, next to the burnt out courthouse that has become the de facto headquarters of the anti-Gaddafi revolutionaries, young children wave their colourful new flags of their newly freed Libyan home.

An old Soviet-era tank sits with its gun ever ominously facing the courthouse. It will never fire another round from its long, rifled barrel, it having been knocked out, to use the parlance of war movies.

Instead, children with their new flags and red, black and green painted faces clamber over the weapon of war, a fantasy plaything for the young and the innocent. Posters of their former leader Muammar Gaddafi lie across the road, the wheels of passing vehicles leaving countless tyre tracks across the former dictator’s head.

Should those children with the painted faces tire too quickly, they can play in the sand or in the rubble of the liberated buildings.

Passing cars honk their horns, drivers ready to flash a victory sign with their fingers.

Merits of the West

In the background, patriotic songs play over loudspeakers. I can only speak aleer arabia, but understand enough by the rousing chorus interspersed with “Li-b-ya! Li-b-ya! Li-b-ya.”

In a crowd, men gather, listening to a debate between two older men, each wearing the small red felt hats that are the Libyan headdress. Through a translator, they are debating the merits of the West — Nato, American, the British or the French — providing air support for the revolutionary forces trying to wrest control of the rest of “Li-b-ya!” from their tyrant.

There is an issue here among these people and it is this: Who to trust? Who to trust from abroad? And who to trust from within?

There is a fear that should Western powers intervene, they will only do so to gain control of the supplies of light, sweet crude that bubbles up from beneath the sands of Brega. That crude is so good, it powers most of the cars in Europe, its distillate also excellent for air fuels. Just as the French know their wines, Emiratis their dates, Italians their pasta, the Libyans know their oil.

But should the West not intervene, there is a fear that Begra will remain in Gaddafi’s hands, allowing him to control his own destiny.

The argument is that some 6,500 Libyans are estimated to have died so far since February 17, how many more need die? Or does the West just care about oil? The oil is so abundant and so good, it even effects the surface sand.

I heard a story told a few days ago by a professor of archaeology who was looking for a particular crashed Second World War plane deep in the Libyan Sahara.

This plane, by the way, was a US Liberator with a crew of nine on board. In April, 1943, it crashed. Eight bodies of the crewmen were recovered years later by a British Petroleum exploration company, the ninth was never found. This plane, seeing as the Oscars were presented last week, was the inspiration for that award-winning movie, The English Patient.

A team of five 4x4s were searching for the wreck, and were using Tuareg guides. It turns out, because of the amount of iron in the desert rocks there, compasses are useless, not knowing north from south and spinning wildly.

An elderly Toureg guide would pick up sand and smell it and determine their position from the smell coming from the light sweet crude beneath.

To test the Toureg, the archaeology professor pocketed some sand. After four hours, the guide stopped to smell. The professor offered his pocketed sand and the guide sniffed. “We have come in circles,” the guide told him, believing they had gone wildly off course.

There was no alternative but to trust the guide.

The plane was found and now sits in Tobruk.

Issue of trust

In the military council, there is also an issue of trust. The senior command structure has been closely associated with Gaddafi, and the higher up the chain of command you go, particularly above the rank of colonel, the officers are viewed with suspicion. As I left the courthouse to return to my hotel to file for Radio 2 news bulletins, I pulled a muscle in my leg, a cramp, the kind that usually strikes you in the middle of the night in bed. I limped it off as best as I could.

“Habibi,” a motorist says. “Where you going?”

Osama Jaffer was behind the wheel and offers to drive me, which I gladly accept.

“I go to Begra to fight,” he says, lifting his shirt and removing a new, black matte 9mm pistol, placing it on the plastic veneer console next to his gear lever. He points to the back seat. “AK47,” he says.

Sure enough it is, ready for action. I note that he is an experienced soldier — he has two full, curved magazines taped together. When the first runs out, he can simply snap it out and slap the second in, barely missing a vital second in the heat of combat.

“I go home to say goodbye to my mother,” he says. “I have one last meal before I go.”

I note a tear well up in his eye. As we stop at a traffic light, he reaches into his wallet and produces a picture of her, happy in her passport-style portrait.

“Take her picture,” he says, pressing it to me. I awkwardly and respectfully decline. He gives me his mobile number. “Call me,” he says. He has answered free Libya’s call. I hope he can take mine when I will call soon.

Los Angeles Times

Ready for action

A young revolutionary with his AK-47 outside a recruiting office in Benghazi, hoping to head toward Tripoli in coming days to battle the forces of Muammar Gaddafi. No organised military force has yet emerged against Gaddafi, but the ragtag groups of rebels have thus far proven surprisingly effective in the conflict.

EPA

Victory party

Opposition forces wave the flag of the Kingdom of Libya about 5km away from Ajdabiya, southwest of Benghazi in eastern Libya.

AP

Facial expression

A boy has his face painted with the old royal flag of Libya during a demonstration against Muammar Gaddafi in Benghazi.

Have your say

Do you think Libya’s opposition will stay united in the face of Gaddafi’s latest offensive? Where do you see this leading to??Tell us at readers@gulfnews.com

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Mick O’Reilly Deputy Managing Editor

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