Colonel Muammar Gadhafi (1942-2011)On Thursday 20th of October, 2011 will forever be ingrained in the minds of many Libyans and people all over the world alike. Colonel Muammar Gadhafi was confirmed dead by so many reports including pictures and videos as evidence of his death, bringing the end to a war that has raged on for almost a year.
I did not celebrate as every other Dick and Harry was, by updating their Twitter and Facebook statuses with all sort of congratulatory messages to Libyans. I am not a person who will celebrate over the death of another human being, no matter how vile or despicable the person might have been.
When I read some of the reports, saw pictures and watched videos of his death, I could not help but notice some discrepancies between the videos I saw and the accounts of the rebels who captured him. They said he died of his wounds from stray bullets, but in some of the videos of Gadhafi while he was alive, he was bleeding and being rough handled by his captors. I saw no sign of gunshot bullets. Then the videos of Gadhafi surfaced with his body having numerous bullet holes. The first question that came to my mind was, “Did the Libyan rebels murder Gadhafi?”
Gadhafi ruled Libya for a good 42 years and turned it into the most developed and stable country in the whole of Africa. A man who had amassed so much wealth under the sun, had so much pride and was strong headed was trapped in a storm drain by his captors, fished out and killed like a rat.
People would say that Gadhafi deserved to die that way because he was an ‘animal’. Well, I think that the people who stooped so low to his level to kill him are no better than him. Take for example, a mentally ill patient accosts a man on the road and they start fighting, nobody will know who is mentally ill between the two of them. The same applies to this situation.
He may have committed atrocities and abused human rights and he deserved to die by execution under the court of law, if found guilty for his crimes. But he was murdered like an animal and has still not been buried two days after his death, even though he was Muslim. The worst part is that his body is now used for show to anybody who cares to see, like an exhibit in a museum. All this nonsense should stop, and his body and that of his son, Mutassim (who was also killed by the rebels on the same day as his father) should be returned to their families for burial immediately.
The NTC needs to condemn whoever carried out this extra judicial killing. Because this could backfire as it would show that the Libyan rebels are also guilty of human rights abuse. The rebels are the same people who have been accused of human rights abuse and killing black Africans in Libya. These are not mere accusations. A thorough investigation needs to be made to check if these accusations are true or false. The UN and all human rights groups need to look into the death of Gadhafi and his son. This is a case that should not be swept under the carpet because he was a dictator who abused human rights of Libyans while he was their leader.
This madness should stop immediately and the NTC should figure out a way to start rebuilding Libya. They should unveil a detailed plan to Libyans on how they intend to move forward and restore their nation.
This unnecessary war that has claimed thousands of lives and rendered millions homeless is now over. A lot of work needs to be done at once to help shape a better future for their next generation. Libya should stand independently and reclaim the glory it once had as one of the best in nations in Africa.
I am one of those people that don't think he should have been killed like that. Loved reading your views on that! Thumbs up for that analysis. I do feel that the Western Countries had a hand in all this madness. Ghaddafi, also did have choice to step aside but he never did. its a case of Dog eat Dog. I am watching carefully on how libya intends to rebuild itself.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback. I am so glad that I am not the only one who felt disgusted by the barbaric act that the Libyan rebels did to Gadhafi. The West has always been trying to get a hold of Libyan oil for decades and it would surely please all of them now that he is gone forever. My main fear is that there would be a frenzy now by nations in the West trying to grab whatever they can from this poor nation under the pretense of "aid" to get compensated for all of NATO's assistance. Most of them are already dealing with economic crises, and Libya might just be their way out of it.
ReplyDeleteThey will come with all "sweet talks" of how they can loan them money, build roads, invest in their country and oil fields and all the rest. By the time they are finished with Libya, it would be debt ridden and forever loyal to the Western powers.
I hope the new Libyan government would not fall for all their tricks and actually rebuild the nation on their own. It will be a shame to see a country that was once the best in Africa to be just another 3rd world country.
Just read your analysis- it is an excellent one. Sure, Gaddafi's fall was a welcomed development but he did not have to be killed the way he was- If other African leaders had done only half of what Gaddafi had done in his country (I mean the development), Africa would surely be a much better place but Libyans for some reason think their country ought to be doing better- well, I say good luck to them but they should not forget that they killed so many black Africans and we black Africans will not come to their aid when they need us- it will be a question of when, not if!
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