Libyans celebrate on August 24, 2011, in the eastern city of Benghazi, after rebels overran Muammar Gaddafi's fortified Bab al-Azizya headquarters in the capital Tripoli following heavy fighting. Photo/AFP
By MURITHI MUTIGA mmutiga@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Thursday, August 25 2011 at 21:17
Posted Thursday, August 25 2011 at 21:17
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has urged deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to formally surrender power to save his nation from the bloodbath that would result from a protracted stalemate in Tripoli.
Mr Odinga said Gaddafi’s call to his supporters to stage a last stand in the besieged capital risked escalating the loss of life in a battle which has already claimed hundreds of casualties.
“A good general should know when the game is up,” he said. “The war is over and Mr Gaddafi’s side has lost. He should do the honourable thing now and let the people of Libya go. You can only govern people with their consent and Libyans have clearly shown that they want to move on from the Gaddafi era.”
The Prime Minister’s call for Gaddafi to formally give up office or go into exile is one of the strongest statements from an African leader yet on the fate of the beleaguered Libyan strongman whose hold on power dissolved in the last few days following a lightning advance into the capital by rebel forces.
Colonel Gaddafi had cultivated close ties with leaders across the continent and African reaction to developments in the North African nation of six million has been largely muted.
Mr Odinga told the Nation the success of the revolutionaries was a bittersweet moment because while they had achieved freedom they had done so largely with the support of Western powers.
“This is a triumph and a tragedy for Africa. It is a positive development because the people of Libya have secured their freedom. But it is tragic that this happened with the assistance of external forces. These developments should prick the conscience of every leader on the continent. The European Union would never have let things escalate to this level among any of its members. Because the African Union refused to act the people of Libya had no choice but to ask for external support.”
Just as in Cote d’Ivoire four months ago, the air support of Western militaries hastened the fall of Gaddafi, who had ruled the North African nation with an iron fist for more than four decades.
His forces suffered stunning reversals in the battlefield in the last 72 hours as opposition fighters made a faster than expected advance into the Libyan leader’s last remaining stronghold of Tripoli.
Fears persist, however, that Gaddafi’s supporters melted away into residential areas in readiness for an insurgency against rebel forces.
That has raised the possibility that Tripoli and other cities where Gaddafi has sympathisers may become the theatre of Iraq-style urban warfare extending a war which has already stretched over six months.
On Thursday, the London think-tank Chatham House urged the political arm of the opposition fighters, the Transitional National Council, to offer rewards for the surrender of weapons by citizens who have been extensively armed by both sides in the conflict.
“In the immediate post-conflict period there will be an urgent need to establish a process to collect weapons, as large sections of the civilian population will be left with arms,” the Chatham House statement read. “It is possible that financial incentives may be necessary for this process.”
In Nairobi, Mr Odinga said authoritarian leaders across the continent should take heed of the lessons of the string of revolutions which have come to be known as the ‘Arab Spring’.
“Events in North Africa should be a wakeup call to all oppressive regimes that people are not willing to tolerate dictatorship any more. The events in North Africa and the Middle East are akin to the revolutions in Europe that ended feudalism. The world will never be the same again.”
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Good-for-flashback-of-1982-coup-and-2008- in-Kenya-when-Kenyans-really-lost-their- loved-ones, just-like- the-Libyans-are-loosing-lives-of-their-own-Nationals-to-internal-political-strife-that-has-been-supported-by-outside-forces. But, in-as-much-as-I-may-want-say-good-riddance-to-the-on-goings-in-the-country-then, I-also-recall-politically-instigated-housing/ tenant-crisis-of-2003-in-Kibera-where-tenants-refused-to-pay-house-rents-without-an-immediate-positive-remediation; lest-we-forget, the database-is-bulky-and-filthy. Dust-has-not-settled-after-the-infamous Ford-KENYAN and NDP-nominations-of 1997-in-Thika, where daggers-aka-sword- and-stones-reigned-for-some-time-before-sanity-prevailed. While-NATO-is-unable-to-design-weaponry-that-distinguish-military-hardware-from-political-patronage, and-human-life. I am-compelled-to-imagine-the-kind-of-political-intervention-and-agitated-for-by-the-likes-of-such-politicians –that-often-call-for-western intervention –in-the-name-of-being-perceived-democratic-rather, POLITICAL-CORRECTNESS -to powerbrokers. When-homegrown-(Nationally, regional-Or-Africa)-solutions-are-possible-in-major stalemates, let-individuals-politicians-shelve-off-the-warrior/soldier-in-their-blood, Africa-has-lost AND-CONTINUES-TO-LOSE –many-lives-DUE-to-MISCALCULATED-at-times-IRRESPONSIBLE-UTTERANCES. For-those-people-that-are-SMART-POLITICIANS-but-POOR-IN-LEADERSHIP-SKILLS, we-are-highly-encouraged-to-CONSTITUTE-and-SEEK CONTRIBUTION-from-TEAM-OF¬-ADVISERS-especially- on-MATTERS-OF-NATIONAL-and-INTERNATIONAL-Significance. My-opinion-is-that Democratic-rights-of-leaders-are-inherently-compromised-by-consensus-spirit-and-democratic-rights-of-people-they-are-leading-and-ACCEPTING- POSITION-of-LEADERSHIP-is-construed-as-accepting-the inherent-compromise-of-individual-democratic-right. Say, if-a-given-people-don’t-have-inclination-towards-CONFRONTATIONAL-TENDENCIES, then-their-leaders-should-not-drive-such-a-people-into-confrontations. Here, ACADEMICIANS-and-POLITICIANS-don’t-argue-that-Leaders-ought-to-give DIRECTION-and-VISION-TOWARDS-CONFRONTATIONS; NOT-in-the-current-world-where-WINNING WAR –is-ONLY-BY-EMPOWERING-your-people-ECONOMICALLY, and-not-buying-latest-military Hardware-AND-DIRECTING-YOUR-ARMY-or-MILITARY-into-WAR or MAKING-SPEECHES-THAT-INSTIGATE-DIPLOMATIC quagmire! Hata-Vita-ya-baridi-aka-COLD-WAR-that Granpas-knew-and-talked-about-from-teenage-to-80plus-iliisha! If-that-is-something-to-go-by, political-smartness-should-have-been-weighed-against-leadership-ingenuity-by-supposed-ADVISORY-TEAM-in-making-some-remarks-on-Stand-off-in-HARARE, IVORY-COAST, President-of-Uganda, Visit-by-President-Bashir, Cross-border-trespass-by-Ethiopians-Tribesmen, Post Ivory Cost-Negotiations-Press-conference-in-Addis-Ababa-that-never-was.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: The inherent compromise of Leaders individual Democratic rights V's Consensus, Spirit and Democratic rights people they lead that you have talked about; was an integral part of what some Judge(s) used to determine retention of some or one of the "OCAMPO-SIX" on the suspect list, even when the suspect9s) had not been notified informed or interviewed by whoever compiled the list(s) or report(s)
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