Libya’s embattled leader clings to power, with his military unleashing the bloodiest crackdown among the wave of protests sweeping the Arab world. But how long can Muammar Gaddafi survive? And what are the risks if his regime is toppled?
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As world leaders condemn violence against protesters, what is at stake for Western nations with close ties to Gaddafi?
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• UN calls for immediate end to violence • Gaddafi tells Libya: ‘I’ll die a martyr’ • Mercenaries and militias roam Tripoli • Eastern Libya in opposition hands 8.36am: In other developments in the region, Bahrain has begun freeing political and other prisoners, including 23 accused of seeking to overthrow the kingdom’s Sunni Muslim monarchy. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has announced a series of housing and other benefits for Saudis ahead of his return on from several months abroad for health treatment. 8.29am: Reuters is reporting that a senior aide to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who was supposed to be a modernising force in Libya, has resigned to protest against the violence used by the regime. “I resigned from the Gaddafi Foundation on Sunday to express dismay against violence,” Youssef Sawani said in a text message sent to a Reuters correspondent. He was executive director of the foundation, which has been Saif al-Islam’s main vehicle for wielding influence. 8.22am: Muammar Gaddafi appears increasingly isolated as the UN security council yesterday called for an immediate end to the violence in Libya and demanded that he lives up to his responsibilities to protect his own people. But the man who has ruled Libya for 42 years made clear in a long, sometimes incoherent speech that he is not giving up without a fight . Urging loyalists to take to the streets to fight “greasy rats” in the pay of enemies ranging from the US to al-Qaida, he declared: “I am not going to leave this land. I will die as a martyr at the end … I shall remain, defiant. Muammar is leader of the revolution until the end of time.” Reports from Tripoli describe corpses left in the streets, burnt-out cars and shops, and armed mercenaries who looked as if they were from other parts of Africa. Residents were running out of food and water because they feel too threatened to leave their houses. But while Gaddafi clings on in Tripoli, the eastern part of the country is already out of his grasp. Benghazi, Tobruk and other eastern towns, are no longer under the control of his security forces. Unconfirmed reports said the interior minister had resigned, urging the army to join the people and respond to the “legitimate demands”. Libyan and foreign analysts said Gaddafi’s characteristically bizarre performance underlined his desperation. “He is like an injured animal,” said an exiled opposition activist, Abu Nasser. “He knows he has his back to the wall.” Noman Benotman, a former Islamist fighter, said: “He will stay and fight until the last day.” Be that as it may, Gaddafi cuts an increasingly forlorn figure. The Arab League has barred Libya from attending meetings of the bloc until it ends its violent crackdown on protesters, which it said involved violations of human rights and international laws. Peru has severed relations with Libya over its use of force against civilians. We are looking for your first-person accounts of protests where you are. Now you can record your own Audioboo voice recording and send it straight to us. Click here to record an Audioboo . Log in using your Audioboo or Twitter account. If you don’t have one, log in using these details: Username: GuardianMEaudio Password: GuardianMEaudio Then click “start recording/upload file”. Once you have recorded your file, we will listen to it and post the most interesting ones on this blog. Arab and Middle East protests Libya Egypt Bahrain Yemen Tunisia Middle East Mark Tran guardian.co.uk
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Ali Ojli, the Libyan ambassador to the United States, told Al Jazeera’s Jane Dutton that he and his staff decided to condemn the “massacres” and use of heavy weapons against civilian protesters, but he said he had not resigned and stopped short of calling it a “genocide.” “But what’s happening is really terrible,” he said. “This is not the time to calculate profit and loss … there have been massacres.”
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In their first press conference since a revolt began on February 14, the Libyan regime’s secretary general and deputy commander of the air force said that reports of air strikes against civilians were false. They singled out Qatar, Al Jazeera’s host country, for spreading “lies” and hiring Egyptian and Libyan “sheikhs” with “high salaries” to foment the unrest.
Continue reading …Libya’s tribal structure plays a crucial role in its politics and now in the pro-democracy opposition movement as well. Muammar Gadaffi has, for four decades, been at the helm of a country that is described as one of the most complex tribal nations in the Middle East. Analysts say most of the major tribes are represented in the military but Gadaafi has long relied on his own tribe the Qathafa to staff elite security brigades. Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford has this report.
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Colonel Gaddafi is fast losing the support of his own people. Diplomats have been resigning across the world. Now General Abdul Fattah Younis, the Libyan interior minister has also renounced his post. He’s urging the army to join the people’s revolution.
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The battle in Madison, Wisconsin between new Gov. Scott Walker and the public-sector union hacks offers an amazing study in journalistic double standards. The same national media that have spent the last two years drawing devil’s horns and Klan hoods on the Tea Party protesters have switched sides with lightning speed. In the Wisconsin protesters, they find sweetness and light, “hope and change.” From her Sunday soapbox, ABC host Christiane Amanpour snobbishly deplored the Tea Party as not conservative, but “extreme” last fall. In a special “town hall” episode of her show on the Ground Zero mosque debate, she accused an incredulous Gary Bauer of encouraging vandalism at a Tennessee mosque because somehow, Christian rhetoric is offensive. The accusation itself was offensive because it was entirely baseless. Yet in Wisconsin, the exact opposite happened. Amanpour took the extreme, vicious, and wholly offensive signs comparing Gov. Walker to Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak – and embraced them as geopolitically accurate: “People power, making history: A revolt in the Midwest, and a revolution sweeping across the Middle East.” She touted how “populist frustration is boiling over this week.” This is politically perverse. Last November, Wisconsin registered one of the most dramatic rejections of the Democrats in the entire country. Sen. Russ Feingold, once considered a shoo-in for re-election, was not only defeated. He was crushed by 100,000 votes. Polls convinced Democrat Gov. Jim Doyle to avoid running for re-election, paving the way for Walker, and the GOP swept into both houses, defeating both state Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker and Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan at the polls. The Republican Party was so successful that Wisconsin GOP leader Reince Priebus was elected as the national party chairman. What incredible gall for the national media try to transform Wisconsin from conservative juggernaut to Egyptian dictatorship in a heartbeat. Their political imagination (or delusion) is just staggering, completely ignoring the election returns. Liberals were crushed by the voters, and now they dare
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From an intermediary, Al Jazeera has received mobile phone footage from a “young Libyan in Tripoli”. The footage allegedly was taken in the Zawid Dahmani neighborhood on Tuesday night amid an ongoing security crackdown. The explosions were at the “TV building” in the neighborhood, our intemediary says. “(Troops) were patrolling the streets and shooting at random at anyone that was outside, even those on rooftops,” he says. “They came in big patrol cars and with no number plates. The patrol and shooting started at 7:00 and continued until 11:00 last night.”
Continue reading …As protests spread to Ohio and Indiana from Wisconsin, Republicans are taking a harder and meaner stand against them. Look at that video above. Those citizens exercising their First Amendment rights are being called “a danger”, which is the excuse given for limiting the number of people allowed to enter the statehouse today. Do they look dangerous to you? Maybe it’s dangerous to sing “God Bless America” with bagpipe accompaniment? It seems the public doesn’t think so. Today’s USAToday/Gallup poll shows a majority oppose the effort by Governor Walker to take rights away from public employees. The poll found that 61% would oppose a law in their state similar to one being considered in Wisconsin, compared with 33% who would favor such a law. Of all the results reported in that poll, consensus formed around opposition to a Walker-like proposal to balance state budgets, increasing sales taxes to cover budget shortfalls, and reducing pay or benefits for government workers. Respondents were evenly divided on cuts to state programs . Of course, we know this is not about balancing the budget at all. Just like Wisconsin, it’s intended to break unions in this country. Ohio.com has more about the lockout of Ohioans to their own statehouse: COLUMBUS: Democratic legislative leaders in Ohio said Tuesday that they were prepared to ask a judge to force officials to unlock the doors to the Statehouse as thousands of union protesters gathered for a hearing on a bill that would strip public employees of collective bargaining rights. Ohio Public Safety spokesman Joe Andrews says about 1,000 people have been allowed into the Rotunda and Atrium for a committee hearing on the bill and additional visitors without appointments were turned away in the interest of safety. The heightened security came after a long President’s Day weekend during which unions across the state sought to mobilize their supporters against the bill and bring out big crowds. Visitors wanting to attend the hearing after doors were closed were directed to an off-site theater, where the meeting was to be simulcast. The Statehouse halls and meeting rooms near the committee room remained mostly empty, prompting Democrats to call a news conference and call the access issue an outrage. House Minority Leader Armond Budish held up a stack of papers that he said contained names of people who were not permitted into “the people’s house.” Have you noticed how the Republicans are dividing people and putting them in silos? If you’re a union member, you’re dangerous. If you’re not, you’re a citizen. As if union members are not citizens. If they succeed with unions, what’s next? What group of citizens will be considered “dangerous” after unions are broken? This is why it’s so important, and why the coordinated actions of Republican governors set the tone for what we can all expect from Republicans in the future. As the Birchers continue to pull (purse) strings, their bought-and-paid-for governors and legislators will continue to crack down on anyone not in lockstep with conservative values. Don’t believe me? Read this . Update: Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has decided to drop the effort to pass a right-to-work bill this year.
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