06 September 2011

NORTH OF BANI WALID, Libya: Libyan forces massed Monday outside a pro-Gadhafi desert town that has refused to surrender, building a field hospital for a possible last stand.

Meanwhile a spokesman for Moammar Gadhafi said the ousted leader was in Libya and in good health and high spirits. On-off talks with tribal elders from Bani Walid, south of Tripoli, and a fog of contradictory messages in recent days reflect the complexities of dismantling the remnants of Gadhafi’s rule and building a new political system.

At a military checkpoint some 60 km north of the town on the road to the capital, Abdullah Kanshil, who is running talks for the interim government, told journalists a peaceful handover was coming soon. Nevertheless, a dozen vehicles carrying NTC fighters arrived at the checkpoint.

“The surrender of the city is imminent,” he said. “It is a matter of avoiding civilian casualties. Some snipers have surrendered their weapons. Our forces are ready.”

But 20 km closer to the town, NTC forces built a field hospital and installed 10 volunteer doctors to prepare for the possibility that Gadhafi loyalists would not give up.

“The presence of pro-Gadhafi forces in Bani Walid is the main problem. This is their last fight,” said Mohammad Bin Dalla, one of the doctors. “If Bani Walid is resolved peacefully then other remaining conflicts will be also be resolved peacefully,” Bin Dalla added. Forces loyal to the National Transitional Council are also trying to squeeze Gadhafi loyalists out of his home town of Sirte, on the coast, and a swathe of territory in the desert.

Last week, a senior NTC military commander said he believed Gadhafi himself was in Bani Walid, 150 km south of Tripoli, along with his son Saif al-Islam.

But Kanshil said he thought the only member of Gadhafi’s entourage still in the town was his spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim.

Al-Arabiya television reported that a senior former official, Mansour Dhao, had turned up in Niger to the south, beyond Libya’s deserts. Niger officials described him as the head of Gadhafi’s security brigades.

The officials, who asked not to be identified, said Dhao and more than 10 other Libyans crossed into Niger Sunday after several days of talks while they waited at the border. “Around 15 Libyans, including Mansour Dhao, one of the heads of Gadhafi’s security, arrived at the border about a week ago,” one of the sources said.

At the same time as it is grappling with rooting out the remnants of a fallen dictatorship, the NTC is facing its first teething problems as a government.

In Tripoli, two weeks after the Western-backed rebels overran the city, water is in short supply, but other goods are more available. Ahmad Darat, the interim interior minister, said about half the police force had returned to work in the capital.

The NTC announced a plan Sunday to offer work in the police and elsewhere to disbanded rebel fighters – a move of a kind recommended by the United Nations, which is concerned about the large numbers of disorganized armed men in Libya.

Asked about complaints about the conditions of people being held by the new authorities for questioning, Darat acknowledged there were problems in prisons but said they would improve as resources became available.

Ian Martin, a United Nations adviser in Tripoli, said after a meeting at the Interior Ministry that the NTC should ensure that rights were respected.

“One of the most important challenges is the restoration of public security in the hands of a system which will respect human rights rather than the previous system which violated human rights,” he said.

Also Monday, Britain re-established its full diplomatic presence in the Libyan capital, seven months after closing its embassy in Tripoli.

“A diplomatic team, led by acting U.K. special representative Dominic Asquith, arrived in Tripoli today on a Royal Air Force flight,” Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday.

Copyright The Daily Star 2011.