BENGHAZI, Libya: Libyan rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil yesterday hailed the end of the four-decade ‘Gaddafi era’, after his fighters took control of most of Tripoli.
Muammar Gaddafi
“The Gaddafi era is over,” he told a press conference in Benghazi, eastern Libya, referring to Libya’s veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Abdel Jalil said he hoped Gaddafi, who faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, would be “captured alive so that he will be given a fair trial.”
He congratulated the Libyan people “for this historic victory” and thanked NATO for its military support, while cautioning that “the real moment of victory is when Gaddafi is captured.”
He acknowledged the whole of Tripoli was not under rebel control. Abdel Jalil, a former justice minister who chairs the rebel National Transitional Council, also called upon “our revolutionaries to respect the law and to let justice take its course.”
Earlier, both US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron said Gaddafi’s regime had come to an end and the Libyan leader must leave now to avoid further bloodshed.
The Arab League yesterday immediately threw its weight behind Libya’s rebels as their forces cornered Gaddafi’s loyalists in their remaining strongholds in the capital Tripoli.
The whereabout of the Libyan leader was a mystery yesterday as rebels take over Tripoli. Gaddafi has not been seen in public since mid-June.
His foes speculate he may not be in the Libyan capital or even in the country.
If he is still in Tripoli, it likely to be a bunker in a military compound.
If he has fled Tripoli, one possible bolt-hole would be Sirte, his home region, where he could still find some support and sympathy. — Agencies