You are in the 250th Witness Revolution diary, bearing witness to pro-democracy movements in North Africa, the Middle East and beyond. This is a special edition to cover the unfolding events in Libya, as the Gadaffi regime falls. (see links to previous diaries for this event at the bottom of the diary.) (h/t Athenian for pointing out that the grammatical error.)
UPDATE:
That armored convoy which went from Libya into Algeria:
brokenwing2005 10:01pm via Twitter for Android
Did gaddafi escape?"@AJELive: 6 armoured Mercedes seen crossing border from #Libya into #Algeria - Reuters http://t.co/...
may have been the one which carried Gadaffi's wife and a few of his children:
(h/t amk for obama) qadaffi family has fled to algeria
The wife and three children of fugitive Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have entered Algeria, the Algerian foreign ministry says.
Algeria's APS news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying that Col Gaddafi's wife Safia, daughter Ayesha and sons Muhammad and Hannibal had crossed into Algeria early on Monday.
The report came as rebels in Libya were trying to overcome the pockets of resistance by Gaddafi loyalists.
Col Gaddafi's whereabouts are unknown.
The arrival of Col Gaddafi's wife and three children in Algeria had been reported to the UN and to Libyan rebel authorities, the Algerian foreign ministry said.
It said they had crossed the border between Libya and Algeria at 08:45 local time (07:45 GMT) on Monday.
Meanwhile, here is a celebration in what is now called Martyr Square in Tripoli:
But we must remember that the fight is not over, as the Freedom Fighters try to negotiate a peaceful handover in Sirte, but the people of Sirte don't believe that Tripoli is no longer under Gadaffi's control, so the preparations for battle continue:
more updates below the fold....
Some inspirational messages from Libyans:
(h/t
petral)
@taimur_ly تيمور عبد العزيز
Benghazi taught us courage, Misrata resistance, Nafousa determination, Zawiya perseverance, Tripoli patience. This is Libya @tripolicouncil
54 minutes ago via Echofon
(h/t downsouth )
Good Tweet
hishamjmatar Hisham Matar, Author
We've defeated Qaddafi in the battlefield, now we must defeat him in our imagination. We mustn't allow his legacy to corrupt our dream.
6 minutes ago
The Libyans tell us who they are and what they fight for
A Vision of a Democratic Libya - the guiding document of the revolution
Their newer, flashier web site is
NTCLibya.com
Who are the libyan 'rebels'?
Opposition fighters against Gaddafi's regime are sometimes referred to as 'rebels'. This can be viewed negatively and so the correct term for the 'rebels' is freedom fighters.
(h/t
angry marmot )
TNC comments on post-Q role for NATO
AFP via Al-Ahram
Libya's rebel government envoy to the Cairo-based Arab League said Monday that his country will not allow NATO bases in Libya after Muammar Gaddafi's ouster, official MENA news agency said.
"Libya is an Arab and Islamic nation before NATO and after NATO," he said, adding, "the Libyans revolted from the 1970s against Western bases and there will be no non-Libyan bases."
They've also decided not to take international loans:
(h/t
greenbird )
Bloomberg news:
“We don’t need loans,” former Libyan Central Bank Governor Farhat Bengdara, who broke with Qaddafi’s regime in February, said in an interview in Dubai. “Libya has huge financial resources and oil reserves. What it needs is the cooperation of the international community to lift the freeze on Libya’s assets aboard.”
Good sources for information:
Al Jazeera English live TV
Al Jazeera English liveblog
Guardian Middle East liveblog
Feb17.info news aggregator and local reporting (live video feed), excellent resources such as maps and reliable Twitter streams to follow
BBC live coverage (video and text)
Free Libya TV-Arabic
Free Libya TV-English
NATO site on Libya
File:Tripolitanian Front.svg
Great map of what's happening where right now from the Guardian. (I couldn't figure out how to embed this)
Follow on Twitter:
Feb 17 voices
Al Jazeera English
LibyanYouthMovement
Sultan Al Qassemi
Twitter tags #feb17 #libya #tripoli #mermaiddawn
In an early test of democratic principles (I don't see it as a "crack" per se, but more of a "hey, we have the freedom to do this now!"), the Misratans are in the streets protesting a decision made the NTC:
(h/t Lawrence) Misrata rebels defy Libya's new regime
City refuses to accept appointment by National Transition Council of former Gaddafi ally as Tripoli security chief
Chris Stephen in Misrata
guardian.co.uk, Monday 29 August 2011
The first cracks in Libya's rebel coalition have opened, with protests erupting in Misrata against the reported decision of the National Transitional Council (NTC) to appoint a former Gaddafi henchman as security boss of Tripoli.
Media reports said the NTC prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, is poised to appoint Albarrani Shkal, a former army general, as the capital's head of security.
Protests erupted in the early hours of the morning in Misrata's Martyr's Square, with about 500 protestors shouting that the "blood of the martyrs" would be betrayed by the appointment.
Misrata's ruling council lodged a formal protest with the NTC, saying that if the appointment were confirmed, Misratan rebel units deployed on security duties in Tripoli would refuse to follow NTC orders.
Misratans blame Shkal for commanding units that battered their way into this city in the spring, terrorising and murdering civilians.
One of the most difficult things that Libyans will have to reconcile is that many who did Gadaffi's bidding did not do so willingly, as this story from some of his female bodyguards makes clear:
Gaddafi’s female bodyguards say they were raped, abused by the Libyan leader
Five women who were part of Col. Moammar Gaddafi’s elite team of female bodyguards say they were raped and abused by the now fugitive Libyan leader.
The Sunday Times of Malta reports that the former bodyguards said Gaddafi and his sons raped and abused them and then discarded the women once the men became “bored” with them.
Benghazi-based psychologist Seham Sergewa has collected the details for use by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating possible war crimes by Gaddafi and his associates.
(h/t jpmassar) Juan Cole's Top Ten Myths About The Libya War
1. Qaddafi was a progressive in his domestic policies.
2. Qaddafi was a progressive in his foreign policy.
3. It was only natural that Qaddafi sent his military against the protesters and revolutionaries; any country would have done the same.
4. There was a long stalemate in the fighting between the revolutionaries and the Qaddafi military.
5. The Libyan Revolution was a civil war.
6. Libya is not a real country and could have been partitioned between east and west.
7. There had to be NATO infantry brigades on the ground for the revolution to succeed.
8. The United States led the charge to war.
9. Qaddafi would not have killed or imprisoned large numbers of dissidents in Benghazi, Derna, al-Bayda and Tobruk if he had been allowed to pursue his March Blitzkrieg toward the eastern cities that had defied him.
10. This was a war for Libya’s oil.
He devotes a paragraph or two to each of his myths.
Map of neighborhoods in Tripoli (click on image for larger version):
map of West Libya, towns surrounding Tripoli (click on image for larger version):
updated as of AUG 28
(h/t Oujdi) This interactive google map is more up to date
View Larger Map again, I can't get google map embed to work here
(h/t bumblebums) I can't get the embed to work
there's an interactive Google map of Tripoli indicating where fighting has broken out.
This is the best map we've seen of Libya and what's happened where.
@IbnOmar2005 Ibn Omar
EXCELLENT PIC. How the media covered the "stalemate" in #Libya. Every outlet should see this. @CNN @BBC
(h/t Lawrence)
A blog post from a Libyan on Al Jazeera that I
would like to repost here.
I know from personal experience just how grateful Libyans are to all who gave them their solidarity and this blog post expresses that well:
LibyaInAbstentia
Thank you to all the people here who have stood with the Libyan people to what I hope will soon be the end. I hope that any of you who would like to visit Libya and see all the places you have been talking about and meet all the people you have been supporting will be able to. I know that I do mention God in my posts, I do not mean to offend anyone and I know that you are all good people no matter what your belief or you would not be here. I have to believe in God, I go to funerals for these young men, I have seen them badly hurt and I have tried to calm my children while they tried to sleep listening to battles in the neighborhood. Because I believe, I do pray for the best for each one of you who has given up time doing something else so that you could be here. That you know more about a place and people that you might not have thought of a year ago, means to me that there is hope not only for the future of Libya, but the future of the world. Apathy is the biggest threat to freedom and democracy. No matter what your opinions, you are not apathetic and you are all fighters for freedom and democracy. To those who consider themselves believers, God bless you, to those who do not, my sincere thanks and appreciation.
(h/t Lawrence)
If a picture speaks a thousand words, then this video about the early days of the Libyan Revolution speaks millions. Not only does it clearly show that the Revolution was initially peaceful, but also that it was an uprising that took place in basically every major town and city in Libya.
Links to previous Tripoli Battle diaries:
The Battle for Tripoli Part II
Breaking: The Battle For Tripoli Has Begun. W/ Updates. "All Hell Has Broken Out in Tripoli."
Witnessing Revolution #227: Battle of Tripoli or #MermaidDawn
Witnessing Revolution Diary #228: Battle of Tripoli continues
Witnessing Revolution Live Blog #229 - Libya
Witnesssing Revolution #230: Battle of Tripoli continues
Witnessing Revolution Live Blog #231 - Libya
Witnessing Revolution #232 - Battle of Tripoli continues
Witnessing Revolution #233: Zero Hour for Libya is really here
Witnessing Revolution #234: Libya Celebrating, Seeking Gaddafi
Witnessing Revolution #235: Libya Celebrating, Seeking Gaddafi
Witnessing Revolution #236: Libya NTC Rejects Notion of NATO Bases
Witnessing Revolution #237: Fighting continues in Libya
Witnessing Revolution #238: Fighting continues in Libya
Witnessing Revolution #239: Do the Gaddafis Even Matter Anymore?
Witnessing Revolution #240: Libyans have entered Bab Alziziya
Witnessing Revolution #241: full Arab Spring updates
Witnessing Revolution #242: Battle of Tripoli continues
Witnessing Revolution #243: Libya-SCUD missiles, grad rockets, journalists as hostages
Witnessing Revolution #244: Libya: Journalists freed, another defection
Witnessing Revolution #245: Fighting, atrocities and change in Libya
Witnessing Revolution #246: still fighting while beginning to restore Tripoli
Witnessing Revolution #247: Arab Spring update
Witnessing Revolution #248: Gadaffi escape? Hana lives? NTC in Tripoli.
Witnessing Revolution #249: Arab Renaissance Update |