Fighting
reported around building of state broadcaster as claims over success of
coup are made and president’s plane is prevented from landing
Gunfire is heard in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, after an attempted military coup
Fierce fighting between rival Burundian troops has erupted in the
capital, Bujumbura, deepening fears that Wednesday’s coup attempt could
trigger a bloody and protracted power struggle.
Forces loyal to President Pierre Nkurunziza, whose whereabouts are
unknown, were resisting an assault on the state television and radio
complex, military sources and witnesses told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Independent broadcasters were hit by rocket and grenade attacks.
Burundi has been a tinderbox since Gen Godefroid Niyombare, a former intelligence chief fired three months ago, announced that
Nkurunziza had been ousted after weeks of deadly civil unrest sparked
by the president’s attempt to stand for a third term. The president was
in Tanzania for a meeting with regional leaders at the time of
Niyombare’s speech, and there are reports that he has not returned to
Burundi.
Thick plumes of smoke obscured sections of Bujumbura’s skyline on
Thursday as buildings burned. Gunfire increased in frequency throughout
the morning and residents claimed that police forces guarding the ruling
party’s headquarters were firing on anyone who came near.
“There are policemen guarding the CNDD-FDD headquarters, they’re
firing from the headquarters and if you cross the road nearby they’re
shooting at you,” said Ngugusony Buyenzi, who was among a crowd of
people gathered a couple of miles from the party HQ. When a police truck
came down the road the crowd scattered. “We want to continue with our
lives, we want peace, we don’t want to live with this insecurity,” he
said.
Two of Buyenzi’s friends were shot the night before, he believes by
Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the ruling party. “They’re waiting for
night, the police will return to shoot us tonight,” he said.
Thousands of people took to the streets on Wednesday
to celebrate Niyombare’s announcement but the security services appear
to have divided into pro- and anti-Nkurunziza factions. In the early
hours of Thursday, the armed forces chief, Gen Prime Niyongabo, said on
state radio: “The coup attempt failed, loyal forces are still
controlling all strategic points. The national defence force calls on
the mutineers to give themselves up.”
A spokesman for the attempted coup, Burundi’s police commissioner,
Venon Ndabaneze, dismissed the claim and said Niyombare’s supporters
were in control of many key sites, including Bujumbura’s international
airport. “We control virtually the entire city. The soldiers who are
being deployed are on our side,” he told AFP.
A anti-Nkurunziza’s protester gestures in front of a burning barricade in Bujumbura. Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters
A journalist inside the state TV and radio building said it came
under attack after the loyalist broadcast and that heavy weapons
including cannon and rockets were being used.
Media
organisations were also caught up in the violence. The African Public
Radio station, which was shut down during the weeks of protests and
reopened after the coup attempt, was hit by a rocket and was ablaze,
witnesses said.
A grenade attack seriously damaged the building of Renaissance TV,
where Niyombare made his coup statement, according to the station’s
director, Innocent Muhozi. One of his offices was also burned overnight,
he told the Associated Press.
The whereabouts of the 51-year-old president remain unclear. He
attempted to fly back from a summit in Tanzania, where regional leaders
were discussing the situation in Burundi, but the airport had been closed to stop him from landing. His plane reportedly returned to Tanzania.
The main streets of the city were almost entirely free of cars on
Thursday, while small crowds of onlookers gathered on the roadside
diving behind walls and buildings when gunfire rang out.
Others continued on their way to work, hoping they would be safer in hotels and restaurants than on the streets.
Jermoe Njibariko, a security officer at a nearby hotel, was on his
way to work when police unleashed gunfire about 25 metres away from him.
He hid behind the wall of a nearby church to avoid being hit. “They
don’t care who you are, they don’t care where you’re going, they’re just
shooting,” he said.
Residents on a street in Bujumbura. Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters
The violence leaves Burundi facing its biggest crisis since the end
of a 12-year ethnically charged civil war in 2006. Hundreds of thousands
of people died in the conflict and the subsequent peace accord ensured
that the future army would be split 50-50 between minority Tutsis and
majority Hutus.
The attempted coup has caused alarm internationally. East African
leaders attending the summit in Tanzania said in a joint communique:
“The region will not accept nor stand by if violence does not stop or
escalates in Burundi.”
Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the chair of the African Union commission,
said: “The chairperson condemns in the strongest terms today’s coup
attempt in Bujumbura, calls for the return to constitutional order and
urges all stakeholders to exercise utmost restraint.”
The US urged Burundians to “lay down arms, end the violence and show
restraint”, while the EU warned it was “essential the situation does not
spin out of control”.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, made an urgent appeal for
calm, while the security council said it would hold an emergency meeting
on the situation on Thursday.
Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader from the Hutu majority and a
born-again Christian, believes he ascended to the presidency in 2005
with divine backing.
Opposition and rights groups say it is unconstitutional for him to
run for more than two terms. The president, however, argues his first
term did not count as he was elected by parliament, not directly by the
people. This was supported by the constitutional court, although one of
the judges fled the country, claiming its members received death
threats.
More than 22 people have been killed and scores wounded since late
April, when Burundi’s ruling CNDD-FDD party nominated Nkurunziza to
stand for re-election in elections scheduled for 26 June. More than
50,000 Burundians have fled the violence to Rwanda and other
neighbouring countries in recent weeks, with the UN preparing for
thousands more refugees.
Dr Robert Besseling, principal Africa
analyst at the London-based risk consultancy IHS, said: “While it is
too early to confirm that the coup attempt has been successful,
factional fighting between rival ethnic groups in the military and
police is likely to erupt and increase the probability of a civil war.
The highest risk of ethnic fighting over the next few days will be in
Bujumbura, overpopulated rural areas and internally displaced people’s
camps along the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzanian borders.
“The Imbonerakure, a youth militia affiliated to the CNDD-FDD, is
likely to be deployed against ethnic Tutsi and to stage targeted
political assassinations of Tutsi leaders and attacks on Tutsi groups.
Retaliatory attacks by ethnic Tutsi are likely against government
buildings and CNDD-FDD assets and supporters. Expatriates or foreign
assets are less likely targets.”
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” —Ambrose Redmoon
“It is your decisions not your conditions that truly shape the quality of your life.” —Anthony Robbins
“Life is found in the dance between your deepest desire and your greatest fear.” —Anthony Robbins
“How do we keep our inner fire alive? Two
things, at minimum, are needed: an ability to appreciate the positives
in our life - and a commitment to action. Every day, it’s important to
ask and answer these questions: ‘What’s good in my life?’ and ‘What
needs to be done?’” —Nathaniel Branden
“The price of excellence is discipline; the cost of mediocrity is disappointment.” —William Arthur Ward
“If we had no winter, the spring would
not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity,
prosperity would not be so welcome.” —Anne Bradstreet
“Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit
tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green
again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Even if you encounter opposition, have conviction and finish what you start. In the end, people will understand.”
—Kotaku Wamura (Mayor of Japanese village who built a sea wall, against
many protests, which recently saved the town when the tsunami hit NE
Japan)
“My grandfather once told me that there
were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the
credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less
competition.” —Indira Gandhi
“A moment of choice is a moment of truth. It’s the testing point of our character and competence.” —Stephen Covey
“If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it!” —Jonathan Winters
“If doubt is challenging you and you do not act, doubts will GROW. Challenge the doubts with action and YOU will grow.” —John Kanary
“Those who turn good organizations into
great organizations are motivated by a deep creative urge and an inner
compulsion for sheer unadulterated excellence for its own sake.” —Jim Collins
“Compromise: The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.” —Sherry Rothfield
“We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails.” —anonymous
“Life’s not about waiting for the storms to pass... it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” —B.J. Gallagher
“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” —Thomas Jefferson
“Power is of two kinds. One is obtained
by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on
love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one
derived from fear of punishment.” —Mahatma Gandhi
“Keep your thoughts positive because your
thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words
become your behaviors. Keep your behaviors positive because your
behaviors become your habits. Keep your habits positive because your
habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values
become your destiny.” —Gandhi
“A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.” —English proverb
“Great masters merit emulation, not worship.” —Alan Cohen
“Clear, written goals have a wonderful
effect on your thinking. They motivate you and galvanize you into
action. They stimulate your creativity, release your energy, and help
you to overcome procrastination as much as any other factor.” —Brian Tracy
“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” —Alan Lakein
“Confidence is contagious. So is the lack of confidence.” —Vince Lombardi
“Optimism may sometimes be delusional, but pessimism is always delusional.” —Alan Cohen
“Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon them and to let them know that you trust them.” —Booker T. Washington
“We are continually faced with great opportunities which are brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems.” —Margaret Mead
“Long-range goals keep you from being frustrated by short-term failures.” —James Cash Penney
“If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.” —Margaret Thatcher
“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.” —Beverly Sills
“We can do anything we want to as long as we stick to it long enough.” —Helen Keller
“In organizations, real power and energy
is generated through relationships. The patterns of relationships and
the capacities to form them are more important than tasks, functions,
roles, and positions.” —Margaret Wheatley
“It’s not differences that divide us. It’s our judgments about each other that do.” —Margaret Wheatley
“You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you.” —Brian Tracy
“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.” —Louis L’Amour
“It is understanding that gives us an
ability to have peace. When we understand the other fellow’s viewpoint,
and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our
differences.” —Harry S. Truman
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” —Abraham Lincoln
“Freedom is actually a bigger game than power. Power is about what you can control. Freedom is about what you can unleash.” —Harriet Rubin
“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” —William Jennings Bryan
The ultimate measure of man is not where
he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at
times of challenge and controversy. —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” —Peter F. Drucker
“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” —George S. Patton
“A leader is a dealer in hope.” —Napoleon Bonaparte
“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.” —Theodore M. Hesburgh
“The best executive is the one who has
sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and
self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” —Theodore Roosevelt
“A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others see.” —Leroy Eimes
“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” —Henry Kissinger
“Great leaders are almost always great
simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a
solution everybody can understand.” —General Colin Powell
“In periods where there is no leadership,
society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders
seize the opportunity to change things for the better.” —Harry Truman
“The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leader and followers.” —Gary Wills
“Leadership is lifting a person’s vision
to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher
standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” —Peter F. Drucker
“Leadership is getting people to work for you when they are not obligated.” —Fred Smith
“My own definition of leadership is this:
The capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose
and the character which inspires confidence.”” —General Montgomery
“I think leadership comes from integrity -
that you do whatever you ask others to do. I think there are
non-obvious ways to lead. Just by providing a good example as a parent, a
friend, a neighbor makes it possible for other people to see better
ways to do things. Leadership does not need to be a dramatic, fist in
the air and trumpets blaring, activity.” —Scott Berkun
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” —Jack Welch
“The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist.” —Eric Hoffer
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” —Abraham Lincoln
“Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?” —Abraham Lincoln
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” —Albert Einstein
“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain, and most fools do.” —Benjamin Franklin
“Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a big ship.” —Benjamin Franklin
“He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.” —Benjamin Franklin
“First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst.” —Dale Carnegie
“If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive.” —Dale Carnegie
“You can make more friends in two months
by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by
trying to get other people interested in you.” —Dale Carnegie
“Most of the important things in the
world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when
there seemed to be no hope at all.” —Dale Carnegie
“An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
“To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.” —George Washington
“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.” —George Washington
“If you once forfeit the confidence of
your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. You
may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of
the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the
time.” —Abraham Lincoln
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
“You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.” —Golda Meir
“I can honestly say that I was never
affected by the question of the success of an undertaking. If I felt it
was the right thing to do, I was for it regardless of the possible
outcome.” —Golda Meir
“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” —Henry Ford
“Associate yourself with men of good
quality if you esteem your own reputation, for ’tis better to be alone
than in bad company.” —George Washington
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” —Winston Churchill
“The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.” —Winston Churchill
“It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.” —Winston Churchill
“If you want to get somewhere you have to know where you want to go and how to get there. Then never, never, never give up.” —Norman Vincent Peale
“We must find time to stop and thank the people who have made a difference in our lives.” —Dan Zadra
“To lead people, walk beside them... As
for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next
best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the
next, the people hate. When the best leader’s work is done the people
say, ‘We did it ourselves’.” —Lao Tzu
“The consequence of living our lives at
warp speed is that we rarely take time to reflect on what we value most
deeply or to keep these priorities front and center. Most of us spend
more time reacting to immediate crises and responding to expectations
from others than we do making considered choices guided by what matters
most to us.” —Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, The Power Of Full Engagement “Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.” —Thomas Carlye
“Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage without fear.” —P. Hayes
“Entrepreneurship is a state of mind, a can-do attitude, a capacity to focus on a vision and work toward it.” —Barry Rogstad
“Many of our fears are tissue paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.” —Brendan Francis
“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” —Marie Curie
“If your actions inspire others to do more, to learn more, to dream more or to become more, you are a leader.” —John Quincy Adams
“When we accept tough jobs as a challenge to our ability and wade into them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen.” —Arland Gilbert
“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
“The wise man bridges the gap by laying out the path by means of which he can get from where he is to where he wants to go.” —John Pierpont Morgan
“A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.” —English proverb
“The question in life is not whether you
get knocked down. You will. The question is, are you ready to get back
up... and fight for what you believe in?” —Dan Quayle
“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” —Albert Einstein
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.” —Mike Murdock
“Real difficulties can be overcome. It’s the imaginary ones that are unconquerable.” —Theodore Vail
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.” —Ambrose Redmoon
“Luck favors the well prepared.” —anonymous
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” —T.S. Eliot
“If we can only accept what we currently
believe, we have already reached our full potential. Be willing to
experiment, to take risks. While skepticism can be healthy, too much
skepticism can be deadly... deadly to one’s spirit, to one’s sense of
well-being and to one’s dreams.” —Blair Warren
“People will do anything for those who
encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears,
confirm their suspicions and help them throw rocks at their enemies.” —Blair Warren
“Your past is not your potential. In any hour you can choose to liberate the future.” —Marilyn Ferguson
“The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.” —Maureen Dowd
“Adversity is like a strong wind. It
tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we
see ourselves as we really are.” —Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha
“Real obstacles don’t take you in circles. They can be overcome. Invented ones are like a maze.” —Barbara Sher
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you’re heading.” —Lao Tzu
“The cave you most fear to enter contains the greatest treasure.” —Joseph Campbell
Your fears are not walls, but hurdles. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the conquering of it. –Dan Millman
Every man has a coward and hero in his soul. –Thomas Carlyle
Each day comes bearing its gifts. Untie the ribbons. –Ann Ruth Schabaker
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. –Eleanor Roosevelt
If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it! –Jonathan Winters
Live your life each day as you would
climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal
in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new
vantage point. –Harold B. Melchart
“The tragedy of life is not found in
failure but complacency. Not in you doing too much, but doing too
little. Not in you living above your means, but below your capacity.
It’s not failure but aiming too low, that is life’s greatest tragedy.” –Benjamin E. Mayes
Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” “Calm self-confidence is as far from conceit as the desire to earn a decent living is remote from greed.” —Channing Pollock
“Class is an aura of confidence that is
being sure without being cocky. Class has nothing to do with money.
Class never runs scared. It is self-discipline and self-knowledge. It’s
the sure footedness that comes with having proved you can meet life.” —Ann Lander
“Courage is the greatest of all the
virtues. Because if you haven’t courage, you may not have an opportunity
to use any of the others.” —Samuel Johnson
“Fear is the opportunity for courage, not proof of cowardice.” —John McCain
“Many of our fears are tissue paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.” —Brendan Francis
“Ships are safe within the harbor, but is that what ships are for?” “Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
“One’s action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be a mere rushing on.” —D.H. Lawrence
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” —Seneca
“While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.” —Henry C. Link
“You can’t help someone get up a hill without getting closer to the top yourself.” —H. Norman Schwarzkopf
“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” —Carl Bard
“I don’t know if you’ll succeed or fail, but I know this: you will fail if you don’t try!” “Better to fail at doing the right thing than to succeed at doing the wrong thing.” —Guy Kawasaki
“People rarely succeed unless they enjoy what they are doing.” —Dale Carnegie
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” —Helen Keller
“Optimism is a strategy for making a
better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better,
it’s unlikely you will step up and take responsibility for making it
so. If you assume that there’s no hope, you guarantee that there will be
no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that
there are opportunities to change things, there is a chance you may
contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours.” —Noam Chomsky
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin
As
National Transitional Council fighters fought their way into Sirte,
radio intercepts spoke of 'an asset' in the besieged city. But no one
knew until the final moments that the deposed dictator was within their
grasp
Unconscious or already dead, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is
seen in this still image taken from video footage on 20 October, 2011.
Photograph: Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters Esam Omran Al-Fetori/REUTERS
Osama Swehli is bearded and wears his hair long, tied back in a thick
ponytail. A soldier with the National Transitional Council's fighters
in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, his English is fluent from his time
living in west London.
Until the fall of Sirte – Muammar Gaddafi's home city – Swehli was
one of those who listened in to the radio frequencies of the pro-Gaddafi
defenders of the besieged city.
Twelve days ago, the Observer encountered Swelhi at a mortar
position in Sirte close to the city's still contested television
station at the edge of District Two where the Gaddafi loyalists would be
trapped in a diminishing pocket. "We know some of the call signs of
those inside," Swehli explained, as men around him fired mortars into
the areas still under Gaddafi control.
"We know that call sign '1' refers to Mo'atissim Gaddafi and that '3'
refers to Mansour Dhao, who is commanding the defences. We have an
inkling too about someone known as '2', who we have not heard from for a
while and who has either escaped or been killed." That person, he
believed, was Abdullah Senussi, Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence chief.
"There is someone important in there, too," Swelhi said, almost as an
afterthought. "We have heard several times about something called 'the
asset' which has been moved around the city." Precisely who and what
"the asset" was now is clear, even if most government fighters in and
around the city could not believe it at the time. They were convinced
that Libya's former leader was in all likelihood hiding in the Sahara
desert. But the asset was Gaddafi himself, who would die in the city,
humiliated and bloody, begging his captors not to shoot him.
Already the last minutes in Gaddafi's life have gained a grisly
status. A spectacle of pain and humiliation, the end of the man who once
styled himself the "king of the kings of Africa" has been told in
snatches of mobile phone footage and blurry stills and contradictory
statements. It is the longest of these fragments of a death – a jerky
three minutes and more shot by fighter Ali Algadi on his iPhone and
acquired by a website, the Global Post
– that describes those moments in the most detail. A dazed and confused
Gaddafi is led from the drain where he was captured, bleeding heavily
from a deep wound on the left side of his head, from his arm, and,
apparently, from other injuries to his neck and torso, staining his
tunic red with blood. He is next seen on the ground, surrounded by men
with weapons shouting "God is great" and firing in the air, before being
lifted on to a pickup truck as men around him shout that the ruler for
more than four decades should be "kept alive".
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There
are other clips that complete much of the story: Gaddafi slumped on a
pickup truck, face smeared with blood, apparently unconscious; Gaddafi
shirtless and bloody on the ground surrounded by a mob; Gaddafi dead in
the back of an ambulance. What is not there is the moment of his death –
and how it happened – amid claims that he was killed by fighters with a
shot to the head or stomach. By Friday, the day after he died, the body
of the former dictator once so feared by his Libyan opponents was
facing a final indignity – being stored on the floor of a room-sized
freezer in Misrata usually used by restaurants and shops to keep
perishable goods.
If there is an irony surrounding the death of Muammar Gaddafi,
it is, perhaps, that he should have met his end in Sirte, a city more
than any other associated with his rule. Gaddafi was not born in the
city itself but in Bou Hadi, a sprawling, largely rural area of farms
and large villas on the city's outskirts.
It was Sirte that Gaddafi turned into his second capital – a former
fishing village that he transformed into a place dedicated to both his
own ego and his Third Revolutionary Theory, which he embodied in his
Green Book that was taught in all Libyan schools. It was here, too, that
the nomenklatura of Gaddafi's regime had their second homes, sprawling
villas in roads lined by eucalyptus trees, beside well-tended parks or
overlooking the Mediterranean. And as the city fell, bit by bit over the
weeks, its nature was revealed.
Abandoned houses reveal evidence of a city's dedication to the Gaddafi cult. The Observer
found a discarded mobile phone belonging, it seems clear, to a friend
of Mo'atissim Gaddafi with pictures of parked white stretch limousines.
There are pictures in the wealthier houses of Gaddafi with their
occupants and stylised beaten copper images of Gaddafi on the walls. In
one building, discovered by paramedics with the government forces, there
is a trove of snapshots of Gaddafi and his sons. No wonder, perhaps,
that this is where he chose to make his last stand.
The conflict around the city – during the long siege that began in
September – reveals another nature of Sirte that must have made it
attractive to Gaddafi. There are concrete walls within walls, compounds
within those barriers, easy for Gaddafi and his protectors to defend.
For those attacking Sirte they seemed for a while to be insuperable
obstacles, not least the long barrier blocking access to the vast plaza
of the Ouagoudougou conference centre.
During the weeks of the siege, life on the Gaddafi side of the lines
in Sirte was thrown up in fragments, as disjointed as the last moments
of Gaddafi's life. There were small counter-attacks as the government
forces crept forward, sometimes with rocket-propelled grenades that
burst in the air or crashed into buildings. At other times machine-gun
fire rattled into the bullet-pocked facades of offices, banks, schools
or villas. But it was at night that Gaddafi's forces were most active.
They probed for weak positions. There were rumours of cars attempting to
break out as the net closed.
Twice the Observer heard accounts of sightings of a car
belonging to Mo'atissim Gaddafi. And with each day fighters posed the
same question to which they could not supply an answer: why was it that
those fighting on the Gaddafi side would not give up?
It is only now, after Gaddafi's death, that any sketchy details of
how he lived on the run have begun to emerge and, indeed, who was
ultimately responsible for his safety. How Gaddafi came to be in Sirte –
if not the reason that he went to one of the few locations still
strongly supportive of him – remains murky. It is believed he fled from
Tripoli shortly before it fell in August.
Motorcades carrying his wife and daughter to Algeria, and at least
one other son to Niger, were spotted and the details leaked to the media
by Nato. But the convoy carrying the dictator appears to have been
missed. For his escape, Gaddafi had only one highway to travel – leading
south of the capital to Beni Walid, 90 miles from Tripoli, the only
highway not in rebel hands. A further detour would then have been
necessary to avoid the rebels who were pushing in all directions out of
the coastal city of Misrata, involving the convoy driving south-east,
deeper into the Libyan desert, to the only traffic junction leading to
Sirte at Waddan. This city, which fell to the rebels last month, was
under 24-hour surveillance, according to the Pentagon, with drones
keeping a close eye on the chemical weapons store five miles north of
the city – home to Libya's remaining stockpile of nine tonnes of mustard
gas.
The rebels were deeply divided over where Gaddafi was. Some believed
he had fled on one of the convoys carrying his wife and other sons that
were spotted crossing south to Niger and east to Algeria. Misrata's
Shaheed brigade set up a special unit, suspecting that Gaddafi had been
trapped in the capital by the speed of the rebel advance and for the
last two months they have been carrying out raids in Tripoli hoping to
find him.Still others thought he had driven to the fabled Bunker, a
possibly mythical concrete complex constructed deep in the desert by the
dictator for such an emergency. They were all wrong.
The truth of Gaddafi's last movements has now been revealed by one of
his inner circle who travelled with him on his last convoy: Mansour
Dhao – number "3" in the pro-Gaddafi radio codes – a former commander of
Libya's Revolutionary Guards. And like Gaddafi, Dhao was not supposed
to be in Sirte. Instead, it was widely reported that Dhao had fled Libya
in a convoy of cars heading for Niger. But as the weeks of the siege of
Sirte went on, it became clear this was not true. Even as it was
revealed that Gaddafi and his fourth son Mo'atissim were dead, Peter
Bouckaert, emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, stumbled across
an injured Dhao in hospital, who confirmed he had been in the same
convoy with Gaddafi when the former Libyan leader had been captured and
his son killed.
A day later Dhao was interviewed by a television crew. What Dhao had
to say contradicted not only some previous understanding of who was
conducting the war on Gaddafi's behalf but supplied the first
description of how events had unfolded on Gaddafi's last day. While it
was believed that Gaddafi's son Khamis had directed the regime's
attempts to put down the rebellion against it, Dhao insisted that it was
Mo'atissim. Not only that, Mo'atissim took control of his father's
safety, making all the key decisions until the end. "He was in charge of
everything," said Dhao. His face heavily bruised, Dhao insisted it was
Mo'atissim who organised each movement of Gaddafi as he was ferried
between safe houses for the two months since the fall of Tripoli, moving
location on average every four days before becoming trapped in Sirte,
the monument that became his living mausoleum. Crucially, it has been
Dhao who has provided the most compelling account yet offered of
Gaddafi's last day of life as he attempted to leave the last pocket in
the shattered seaside District Two to reach the countryside beyond
Sirte's eastern boundary.
"Gaddafi did not run away, and he did not want to escape," Dhao said.
"We left the area where we were staying, to head towards Jarif, where
he comes from. The rebels were surrounding the whole area, so we had
heavy clashes with them and tried to escape towards Jarif and break out
of the siege. After that the rebels surrounded us outside the area and
prevented us from reaching the road to Jarif. They launched heavy raids
on us which led to the destruction of the cars and the death of many
individuals who were with us.
"After that we came out of the cars and split into several groups and
we walked on foot, and I was with Gaddafi's group that included Abu
Bakr Yunis Jabr and his sons, and several volunteers and soldiers. I do
not know what happened in the final moments, because I was unconscious
after I was hit on my back."
Some things do not ring true. According to Dhao, Gaddafi was moving
from place to place and apartment to apartment until last week, but
given the state of the siege of Sirte at that stage it seems unlikely
that he could have entered the city from outside. The net was closing
around the last loyalists who were squeezed into a pocket, surrounded on
all sides, that was becoming ever smaller by the day.
Dhao made no mention either of the attack on the Gaddafi convoy by a
US Predator drone and a French Rafale jet as it tried to break out of
Sirte, attempting to drive three kilometres through hostile territory
before it was scattered and brought to a halt by rebel fighters. It is
possible that Dhao did not know that the first missiles to hit the
Gaddafi convoy as it tried to flee came from the air.
What is clear is that at around 8am on Thursday, as National
Transitional Council fighters launched a final assault to capture the
last remaining buildings in Sirte, in an area about 700 metres square,
the pro-Gaddafi forces had also readied a large convoy to break out.
But if Dhao was not aware of the air strike, then neither did Nato's
air controllers and liaison officers with the NTC fighters know that
Gaddafi was in the convoy of 75 cars attempting to flee Sirte, a fact
revealed in a lengthy statement on Friday.
"At the time of the strike," a spokesman said, "Nato did not know
that Gaddafi was in the convoy. These armed vehicles were leaving Sirte
at high speed and were attempting to force their way around the
outskirts of the city. The vehicles were carrying a substantial amount
of weapons and ammunition, posing a significant threat to the local
civilian population. The convoy was engaged by a Nato aircraft to reduce
the threat."
It was that air attack – which destroyed around a dozen cars – that
dispersed the convoy into several groups, the largest numbering about
20. As NTC fighters descended on the fleeing groups of cars, some
individuals jumped from their vehicles to escape on foot, among them
Gaddafi and a group of guards. Finding a trail of blood, NTC fighters
followed it to a sandy culvert with two storm drains. In one of these
Gaddafi was hiding.
Accounts here differ. According to some fighters quoted after the
event, he begged his captors not to shoot. Others say he asked of one:
"What did I do to you?" But it is what happened next that is the source
of controversy.
What is certain from several of the clips of video footage – most
telling that shot by Ali Algadi – is that Gaddafi was dazed but still
alive, although possibly already fatally wounded. The question is what
happens between this and later images of a lifeless Gaddafi lying on the
ground having his shirt stripped off and propped in the back of a
pickup truck and the next sequence which shows him dead.
Here the accounts differ wildly. According to one fighter, caught on
camera, he was shot in the stomach with a 9mm pistol. According to
doctors not present at his capture and ambulance staff, Gaddafi was shot
in the head. Some NTC officials have said anonymously he was "killed
after capture", while others have said he was killed after capture in a
crossfire.
If there are suspicions that Gaddafi was summarily killed, already
raised by Amnesty and UN human rights officials, they have been deepened
by the death, too, of his son Mo'atissim in even more dubious
circumstances. He was filmed alive but wounded smoking a cigarette and
drinking from a bottle of water, before the announcement that he also
had died.
On Saturday, in the cold storage unit where Gaddafi's body was being
stored as the family demanded its release for burial, those filing in to
film his corpse were less bothered about how he had died than the
legacy of his 42-year rule. "There's something in our hearts we want to
get out," Abdullah al-Suweisi, 30, told Reuters as he waited. "It is the
injustice of 40 years. There is hatred inside. We want to see him."
And in confirming that Gaddafi is no more, the Libyan people want to bring the final curtain down on his tyranny.
Born: 1918
Transkei, South Africa
South African president and political activist
Nelson Mandela is a South African leader who spent years in prison for
opposing apartheid, the policy by which the races were separated and
whites were given power over blacks in South Africa. Upon his release from
prison, Mandela became the first president of a black-majority-ruled South
Africa in which apartheid was officially ended. A symbol of hope for many,
Mandela is also a former winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Youth and education
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in a small village in the
southeastern region of South Africa called the Transkei. His father was
chief of the village and a member of the royal family of the Thembu
tribe, which spoke the Xhosa language. As a boy, Mandela grew up in the
company of tribal elders and chiefs, which gave him a rich sense of
African self-government and heritage, despite the cruel treatment of
blacks in white-governed South Africa.
Mandela was also deeply influenced by his early education in Methodist
church schools. The instruction he received there set Mandela on a path
leading away from some African tribal traditions, such as an arranged
marriage set up by a tribal elder, which he refused. After being
expelled from Fort Hare University College in 1940 for leading a student
strike, Mandela obtained a degree from Witwatersrand University. In 1942
he received a degree in law from the University of South Africa.
Joining the ANC
In 1944 Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC), a South
African political party. Since its founding, the ANC's main goal
had been to work to improve conditions and rights for people of color in
South Africa. However, its fairly conservative stance had led some
members to call for less timid measures. Mandela became one of the
ANC's
younger and more radical leaders as a member of the ANC's Youth
League. He became president of the league in 1951.
The years between 1951 and 1960 were troubled times, both for South
Africa and for the ANC. Younger antiapartheid activists (protesters),
including Mandela, were coming to the view that nonviolent
demonstrations against apartheid did not work, because they allowed the
South African government to respond with violence against Africans.
Although Mandela was ready to try every possible technique to destroy
apartheid peacefully, he began to feel that nonviolent resistance would
not change conditions in the end.
In 1952 Mandela's leadership of ANC protest activities led to a
nine-month jail sentence. Later, in 1956, he was arrested with other ANC
leaders for promoting resistance to South Africa's "pass
laws" that prevented blacks from moving freely in the country.
Mandela was charged with treason (a crime committed against one's
country), but the charges against him and others collapsed in 1961. By
this time, however, the South African government had outlawed the ANC.
This move followed events at Sharpeville in 1960, when police fired on a
crowd of unarmed protesters.
Sharpeville had made it clear that the days of nonviolent resistance
were over. In 1961 antiapartheid leaders created a semi-underground
(operating illegally) movement called the All-African National Action
Council. Mandela was appointed its honorary secretary and later became
head of Umkhonto weSizwe (the Spear of the Nation), a militant ANC
organization which used sabotage (destruction of property and other
tactics
Nelson Mandela.
Reproduced by permission of
AP/Wide World Photos
.
used to undermine the government) in its fight against apartheid.
Political prisoner
In 1962 Mandela was again arrested, this time for leaving South Africa
illegally and for inciting strikes. He was sentenced to five years in
jail. The following year he was tried with other leaders of Umkhonto
weSizwe on a charge of high treason, following a government raid of the
group's secret headquarters. Mandela was given a life sentence,
which he began serving in the maximum security prison on South
Africa's Robben Island.
During the twenty-seven years that Mandela spent in prison, his example
of quiet suffering was just one of many pressures on South
Africa's apartheid government. Public discussion of Mandela was
illegal, and he was allowed few visitors. But as the years dragged on,
he was increasingly viewed as a martyr (one who suffers for a cause) in
South Africa and around the world, making him a symbol of international
protests against apartheid.
In 1988 Mandela was hospitalized with an illness, and after his recovery
he was returned to prison under somewhat less harsh conditions. By this
time, the situation within South Africa was becoming desperate for the
ruling white powers. Protest had spread, and international pressures for
the end of apartheid were increasing. More and more, South Africa was
isolated as a racist state. It was against this backdrop that F. W. de
Klerk (1936–), the president of South Africa, finally responded
to the calls from around the world to release Mandela.
Freedom
On February 11, 1990, Mandela walked out of prison. He received joyful
welcomes wherever he went around the world. In 1991 he assumed the
presidency of the ANC, which had been given legal status again by the
government.
Both Mandela and deKlerk realized that only a compromise between whites
and blacks could prevent civil war in South Africa. As a result, in late
1991, a multiparty Convention for a Democratic South Africa met to
establish a new, democratic government that gave people of all colors
rights to determine the country's future. Mandela and deKlerk led
the negotiations, and their efforts gained them the Nobel Peace Prize in
1993. In September 1992, the two leaders signed a document that created
a freely elected constitutional assembly to draft a new constitution and
to act as a transition government (a government that functions
temporarily while a new government is being formed). On April 27, 1994,
the first free elections open to all South African citizens were held.
The ANC won over sixty-two percent of the popular vote, and Mandela was
elected president.
Presidency and retirement
As president, Mandela worked to ease the dangerous political differences
in his country and to build up the South African economy. To a
remarkable degree he was successful in his aims. Mandela's skill
at building compromise and his enormous personal authority helped him
lead the transition to democracy. In an effort to help the country heal,
he also backed the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation
Commission which offered amnesty (exemption from criminal prosecution)
to those who had committed crimes during the apartheid era. This action
helped to promote discussion about the country's history.
Mandela retired in June 1999, choosing not to challenge Thabo Mbeki, his
vice president, in elections. Mbeki won the election for the ANC and was
inaugurated as president on June 16, 1999. Mandela quickly took on the
role of statesman after leaving office, acting that year as a mediator
in the peace process in Burundi, where a civil war had led to the
killing of thousands.
In late 2001, Mandela joined the outcry against terrorism when he
expressed his support for the American bombing of Afghanistan after
terrorist attacks against the
United States on September 11, 2001. By January 2002, however, Mandela
had modified his support somewhat after South African Muslims criticized
him for appearing to be insensitive to the sufferings of the Afghan
people. As quoted by the Associated Press, Mandela called his earlier
remarks supporting the bombings an "overstatement" and
urged caution against prematurely labeling Osama bin Laden, the man
suspected of plotting the attacks, as a terrorist.
For More Information
Benson, Mary.
Nelson Mandela: The Man and the Movement.
New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1986.
Harwood, Ronald.
Mandela.
New York: New American Library, 1987.
Hughes, Libby.
Nelson Mandela: Voice of Freedom.
New York: Dillon Press, 1992.
Johns, Sheridan, and R. Hunt Davis Jr., eds.
Mandela, Tambo, & the African National Congress: The Struggle
Against Apartheid, 1948–1990: A Documentary Study.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Mandela, Nelson.
Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela.
Boston: Little, Brown, 1994.
As Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama prepares to speak next to
Berlin’s Victory column, a team of Telegraph writers has compiled what we
believe are the most significant addresses of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Great speakers: Enoch Powell, Mikhail Gorbachev, Barack ObamaPhoto: PA, AP and EPA
1:39AM BST 23 Jul 2008
25 Barack Obama, July 27, 2004
When he spoke to the Democratic National Convention in support of Senator John
Kerry, the party’s presidential nominee against George W. Bush, Barack Obama
was an obscure state senator running for the US Senate. His soaring speech
made the case for putting aside partisan differences and bringing Americans
together; it also introduced him to the country and meant that he was
instantly tipped to become a future president.
“We worship an awesome God in the blue states and we don’t like federal agents
poking around in our libraries in the Red States.”
As Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Gen Eisenhower announced the D-Day
landings at Normandy to the people of France and Western Europe. Warning
them of further loss and tragedy ahead, he advised the Resistance to be
patient and wait for orders. Eleven months later, the Germans surrendered.
“Great battles lie ahead. I call upon all who love freedom to stand with us.
Keep your faith staunch - our arms are resolute - together we shall achieve
victory.”
Full
speech: D-Day broadcast to the people of Western Europe 23 Nikita Khrushchev, February 25, 1956
Delivered in secret before a rapt audience of Communist apparatchiks, this
remarkable speech by a Soviet leader helped destroy Stalin’s reputation.
Khrushchev launched a full blooded attack on the pillar of the Soviet
system, who had been venerated for much of his life. Speaking three years
after Stalin’s death, Khrushchev dwelt on his paranoia and brutality.
“Stalin became even more capricious, irritable and brutal; in particular,
his suspicion grew. His persecution mania reached unbelievable dimensions.”
Full
speech: Kruschev's Secret Speech 22 Konrad Adenauer, July 12, 1952
No sooner had Europe ended the Second World War, than leaders on the continent
seemed resigned to what French Europeanist Jean Monnet described as “a war
that is thought to be inevitable”. But Adenauer, West Germany's first
chancellor, espoused the renunciation of nationalistic fury for a common
European dream. “I believe that for the first time in history, certainly in
the history of the last centuries, countries want to renounce part of their
sovereignty, voluntarily and without compulsion, in order to transfer that
sovereignty to a supranational structure,” he said.
21 George W. Bush, September 20, 2001
Nine days after the worst terrorist attack on American soil in the history of
the United States, George W. Bush addressed both houses of Congress and a
stunned nation. Inexperienced in foreign policy and narrowly elected, his
country initially rallied behind his leadership, which was to take America
to war against Afghanistan and Iraq. "We are a country awakened to
danger and called to defend freedom."
Full speech:
We are a country awakened to danger 20 Kwame Nkrumah, July 10, 1953
Nkrumah inspired the anti-colonial movement at a time when almost every
African country was under European rule. Moving a motion in parliament for
the independence of his native Ghana, then the British colony of Gold Coast,
Nkrumah declared that every nation was entitled to self-government. “The
right of a people to decide their own destiny, to make their way in freedom,
is not to be measured by the yardstick of colour or degree of social
development. It is an inalienable right.”
19 Bill Clinton, April 23, 1995
Until September 11, 2001, the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City
was the worst terrorist attack on US soil. Clinton gave an address at a
memorial service for the 168 victims that movingly embraced their suffering
and their place in the nation’s heart. “You have lost too much, but you have
not lost everything. And you have certainly not lost America, for we will
stand with you for as many tomorrows as it takes.”
Full
speech: Oklahoma bombing memorial address 18 Golda Meir, January 17, 1957
In the aftermath of Israel’s abortive invasion of Egypt in 1956, Meir, then
foreign minister, rose to address the UN General Assembly. Her country had
been criticised across the world for attacking Egypt, along with British and
French forces. Meir skilfully argued that Israel’s actions had been
defensive and in the interests of long term peace. “My delegation will bend
every resource of heart and mind in the days that lie ahead.”
Full speech: For the attainment for
peace 17 Charles de Gaulle, June 18, 1940
In his brief but intense appeal, the Free French leader rallied the country in
support of the Resistance by declaring that the war for France was not yet
over. The battle of France may have been lost, he said, but France was not
alone. She and Britain would be able to “draw unreservedly on the immense
industrial resources of the United States.”
"The destiny of the world is at stake", he declared.
16 Gerald Ford, September 8, 1974
A month after Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal, his
vice-president and successor announced a full pardon. His decision meant
Nixon would not stand trial, and made Ford’s own re-election highly
unlikely. In 1976 he lost to Jimmy Carter. “My conscience tells me clearly
and certainly that I cannot prolong the bad dreams that continue to reopen a
chapter that is closed.”
Full speech: Pardoning
Richard Nixon
15 Adolf Hitler, December 11, 1941
Following the attack on Pearl Harbour, Hitler declared war on America,
engaging the Third Reich in battle with both post-war superpowers and making
victory all but impossible. “As for the German nation, it needs charity
neither from Mr Churchill nor from Mr Roosevelt, let alone from Mr Eden. It
wants only its rights! It will secure for itself this right to life even if
thousands of Churchills and Roosevelts conspire against it.”
Full
speech: Hitler declares war on the US 14 Enoch Powell, April 20, 1968
Powell, the Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West, caused outrage when
he warned of the dangers of enforced multiculturalism in Britain.
“As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding…I seem to see the River Tiber
foaming with much blood.”
Full
speech: Rivers of Blood 13 Mikhail Gorbachev: December 7, 1988
After explaining the concepts of Perestroika and Glasnost to an international
audience, he shocked delegates by announcing the withdrawal of tank
divisions from East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary and a unilateral cut
of 500,000 soldiers from the Soviet military. Relations with the West would
never be the same. “Today we have entered an era when progress will be based
on the interests of all mankind. Force and the threat of force can no longer
and should not be instruments of foreign policy.”
Full
speech: Gorbachev's UN speech
