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| Muammar Gaddafi |
By Paul Arhewe
(Published October 21st, 2011)
The long awaited drama surrounding the hunt of Libyan strongman, Muammar Gaddafi finally drew to a close, as the National Transitional Council (NTC) forces successfully drew the curtain, where he was hunted down, captured and killed from his burrowed hideout in Sirte, in his hometown yesterday.
The 42 –year rule of this proponent of a ‘United States for Africa’, and fondly referred to as ‘Brother Leader’ by some is no doubt one that has colourised the continuation and presence of tight-sitting leaders in the African continent. Unfortunately, Gaddafi had failed to learn where his tight-sitting predecessors had failed. The story trailing the demise of Idi-Amin of Uganda, Samuel Kanyon Doe of Liberia, Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo, Omar Albert Bernard Bongo of Gabon, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, among others have failed to deter those still clinging on to power.
His early days
Gaddafi was born in 1942, to a family of a Bedouin herdsman, in a tent near Sirte on the Mediterranean coast. He abandoned a geography course at the Benghazi University for a military career that included a short spell at a British army signals school.
He entered the Libyan military academy at Benghazi in 1961, and graduated in 1966. Both towards the end of his course and after graduation, Gaddafi pursued further studies in Europe.
He took power in a bloodless military coup in 1969 when he toppled King Idriss, and in the 1970s he formulated his “Third Universal Theory,” a middle road between communism and capitalism, as laid out in his “Green Book.”
After seizing power, he laid out a political philosophy based on pan-African, pan-Arab and anti-imperialist ideals, blended with aspects of Islam. While he permitted private control over small companies, the government controlled the larger ones.
The Libyan ruler argued for the creation of a "United States of Africa" - an idea first conceived by US pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey - in which the continent would include "a single African military force, a single currency and a single passport for Africans to move freely around the continent". He also supported membership among countries in other parts of the world whose citizens are mostly part of the African Diaspora, including Haiti and Jamaica.
The project did not pan out, although some of its ideas influenced the African Union, which was created in 2002. Gaddafi served as chairman of the African Union from 2009 to 2010.
A 2008 meeting of African monarchs proclaimed Gaddafi the continent's "king of kings".
Gaddafi had seven sons and a daughter.
How the insurrection started
The insurgency in Libya was prompted by the success recorded in Tunisia and Egypt’s revolution that brought down the governments of Zine El bidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak respectively in latter part of last year and January this year.
Libyans began to hold protests against Gaddafi’s regime in the eastern city of Benghazi in February of this year.
The Libyan revolution had taken a different twist from that which was witnessed in Tunisia and Egypt that led to the ouster of.
Gaddafi used military force to quell demonstrations, but the protests escalated into an all-out armed conflict, with NATO-led forces intervening.
On June 27, the brutal actions of the Libyan government were referred to the International Criminal Court, which issued arrest warrants for Gaddafi, one of his sons and his spy chief on charges of crimes against humanity.
Gaddafi repeatedly blamed the unrest on al-Qaeda and a "colonialist plot". He called those opposed to him "rats", and alleged that they had been influenced by "hallucinogenic drugs". In his last address before rebels entered Tripoli, he accused "Western intelligence" of "working with al-Qaeda to destroy Libya".
On October 20, an NTC official reported that Gaddafi had been killed in a gun battle near Sirte after fighters liberated the deposed leader's hometown.
Intention to die as a martyr in Libya
Since the revolution began in February this year, Gaddafi had insisted that he will fight to the last and die in Libya. Truly he has fulfilled his word.
“I am not going to leave this land, I will die here as a martyr … I shall remain here defiant,” he said in one broadcast.
His sons are equally displayed the high level of power drunkenness that was a symbol of their father. Libya to them was a kingdom where their ancestral lineage is only authorised to rule
They were in support to see that their dynasty is preserved.
"Listen, nobody is leaving this country. We live here, we die here. This is our country,” his son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour during an interview early this year.
As one of the world’s longest serving national leaders, he had no official government function and was known as the “Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution.”
He strove for influence in Africa, showering his poorer neighbours with the largesse that Libya’s vast oil wealth allowed and styling himself the continent’s “King of Kings.”
His love of grand gestures was on display on foreign visits when he slept in a Bedouin tent guarded by dozens of female bodyguards.
In Italy last year, Gaddafi’s invitation to hundreds of young women to convert to Islam overshadowed the visit, which was intended to cement growing ties between Tripoli and Rome.
U.S. diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks website shed further light on the Libyan leader’s tastes.
One cable posted by The New York Times describes Gaddafi’s insistence on staying on the ground floor when he visited New York for a 2009 meeting at the United Nations and his reported refusal or inability to climb more than 35 steps.
Gaddafi was also said to rely heavily on his staff of four Ukrainian nurses, including one woman described as a “voluptuous blonde.” The cable speculated about a romantic relationship, but the nurse, Galyna Kolonytska, 38, fled Libya after the fighting started.
Gaddafi was born in 1942, the son of a Bedouin herdsman, in a tent near Sirte on the Mediterranean coast. He abandoned a geography course at university for a military career that included a short spell at a British army signals school.
Gaddafi took power in a bloodless military coup in 1969 when he toppled King Idriss, and in the 1970s he formulated his “Third Universal Theory,” a middle road between communism and capitalism, as laid out in his “Green Book.”
His battered family
In this cause of the war those lucky ones among Gaddafi’s family were scattered around other African countries like Algeria and some in Niger. His wives, daughter and grand children took refuse in Algeria while a part of his forces led by his son were harboured in Niger.
Gaddafi’s had eight biological children, including Muhammad (born 1970), who escaped with the remaining of his father’s loyalists, Saif al-Islam (born 1972) who was termed as the supposedly successor, and was reported yesterday to be fleeing with a faction of loyalists away from Sirte. Al-Saasi was alleged to be arrested by the NTC forces, but turned out to be incorrect. On August 30 NTC senior official said Al-Saadi (born 1973) made contact to discuss the terms of his surrender, indicating he wish to remain in Libya. Hannibal (born 1975) was known for his violent lifestyle in Europe. Ayesha (born 1976) is the only daughter of the late Libyan strongman, and she is married to a cousin of her father. She gave birth to a son in Algeria when the family fled Libya in August.
Al-Mutassim (born 1977) was found dead in Sirte yesterday, fighters told a news agency.
Khami (born 1983) served as the commander of the Libyan army’s elite Khamis brigade. He was killed in August 29 in Tarhuna.
Hana Gaddafi was claimed to be his adopted daughter, was apparently killed at the age of four, during the retaliatory US bombing raids in 1986, but was reported to be alive and working as a doctor in a Tripoli hospital.
Mad dog
U.S. President Ronald Reagan called Gaddafi a “mad dog” and sent warplanes to bomb his Bab al-Aziziyah compound in 1986, after the bombing of a West Berlin discotheque he blamed on Libyan agents.
Gaddafi used the Tripoli building bombed in the raid, left unrepaired for 25 years, to deliver one of his first defiant speeches of the war, standing beside a memorial in the shape of a giant metal fist crushing an American warplane.
This week, the interim government sent bulldozers in to start levelling the compound.
In televised addresses in response to the rebellion in the east earlier this year, Gaddafi blamed the unrest on rats and mercenaries and said they were brainwashed by Osama bin Laden and under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs used to spike their coffee.
As the weeks passed, there was repeated speculation that Gaddafi has either been killed or wounded in NATO air raids, but he made carefully choreographed television appearances in response to the rumours.
In May, Gaddafi taunted NATO, saying its bombers could not find him.
“I am telling the coward crusaders that I am at a place you cannot reach and kill me,” he said in a broadcast audio recording. His later speeches during the summer were also delivered as audio recordings, presumably to conceal his whereabouts.
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