Gaddafi buried in unknown location, reports say

Libyan dictator buried at dawn after corpse’s decay forced government to withdraw it from public display, al-Jazeera reports The Libyan government buried Muammar Gaddafi in an unknown location at dawn on Tuesday, al-Jazeera television reported, citing a source in the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC). Officials from the interim government had said earlier that the ousted Libyan leader would be buried in a secret desert grave, ending a wrangle over his rotting corpse that led many to fear for the country’s governability. Government forces had put the body on show in a cold store in Misrata while they argued over what to do with it, until its decay forced them to end the display on Monday. The killing of the 69-year-old in his hometown of Sirte brought to a close eight months of war, finally ending a nervous two-month hiatus since anti-Gaddafi fighters overran the capital, Tripoli. But it also threatened to lay bare the regional and tribal rivalries that present the NTC with its biggest challenge. NTC officials had said negotiations were going on with Gaddafi’s tribal kinsmen from Sirte and within the interim leadership over where and how to dispose of bodies – Gaddafi’s son Mutassim was also on display in Misrata – and over what rebel leaders in possession of corpses might receive in return for co-operation. “No agreement was reached for his tribe to take him,” an NTC official told Reuters. With the decay of the body forcing the NTC leadership’s hand, it appeared to have decided that an anonymous grave would at least ensure the plot did not become a shrine. An NTC official told Reuters several days ago that there would be only four witnesses to the burial, and all would swear on the Qur’an never to reveal the location. NTC fears that Gaddafi’s sons might mount an insurgency have largely been allayed by the death of two of those who wielded the most power, military commander Khamis and Mutassim, the former national security adviser. Mutassim was captured along with his father in Sirte and killed in similarly unclear circumstances. The NTC official said he would be buried in the same ceremony on Tuesday. Khamis was killed in fighting earlier in the civil war. But the official said Gaddafi’s long-time heir apparent Saif al-Islam was in the remote southern desert and set to flee Libya, with the NTC powerless to stop him. “He’s on the triangle of Niger and Algeria. He’s south of Ghat, the Ghat area. He was given a false Libyan passport from the area of Murzuq,” the official added. He said Muammar Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi who, like Saif al-Islam, is wanted by the international criminal court, was involved. “The region is very, very difficult to monitor and encircle,” he said. “The region is a desert region and it has … many, many exit routes.” The death of the fallen dictator allowed the NTC to spark mass rejoicing by declaring Libya’s long-awaited “liberation” on Sunday in Benghazi, the seat of the revolt. But it also highlighted a lack of central control over disparate armed groups, and jockeying for power among local commanders as negotiations begin in earnest to form an interim government that can run free elections. Muammar Gaddafi Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa guardian.co.uk

Posted by on October 25, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.