“Where is Moammar Gadhafi?”, might as well be the 24-dollar question on everyone’s mind, considering the contradicting reports about Gadhafi.
“He’s everywhere, he’s nowhere; he’s negotiating to get out, he will never surrender; who knows?” former United Nations official Mark Quarterman said.
Quarterman however stressed that “how he goes” is the next important question that will influence the reconciliation process in Libya, not just the information that the dictator is on the way out.
“Gadhafi’s mode of leaving is very important,” Quarterman, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Envoy. “If he leaves but aspects of his regime stick around—-people who keep the lights on, and pick up the garbage, and they cooperate with the new transitional authority, that’s a good thing. … But if there’s chaos in his wake,” that would be very bad.
Libyan opposition national Transition Council leader Mustafa Abdel-Jalil said “the Gadhafi era is over”, even as sporadic fighting and pockets of resistance were observed Monday in certain neighborhoods in Tripoli.
The NTC said they had in custody and under house arrest three of Ghadafi’s sons including Mohammed, his eldest son and Seif al-Islam Ghadafi, the heir apparent. They however admitted that they had no idea where Ghadafi, who ruled the nation for 42 years, was.
French and British leaders admitted Monday that they are also in the dark about the whereabouts of Ghadafi. A rumour that the Libyan ruler sought refuge in South Africa was also denied by its officials.
“Bab al-Aziziya and the surrounding areas are still out of our control,” Abdel-Jalil told journalists at a triumphant press conference in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi Monday, the Associated Press reported, referring to the Tripoli neighborhood where the Gadhafi compound in located.
“We have no knowledge of Gadhafi being there, or whether he is still in or outside Libya.”Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said Monday that “Paris did not know where [Gadhafi] was,” Angus McSwan of Reuters reported. “British Prime Minister David Cameron said London had no confirmation of his whereabouts either.”
American official said Ghadafi may still be in Libya.
“I think that’s probably fair to say that we believe he’s still in the country,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan told journalists Monday, ABC News reported. “On what basis can we say that? Just again, it’s a belief. We do not have any information that he has left the country.”
Where is Gadhafi? Guessing game begins as an era ends in Libya
“Where is Moammar Gadhafi?”, might as well be the 24-dollar question on everyone’s mind, considering the contradicting reports about Gadhafi.
“He’s everywhere, he’s nowhere; he’s negotiating to get out, he will never surrender; who knows?” former United Nations official Mark Quarterman said.
Quarterman however stressed that “how he goes” is the next important question that will influence the reconciliation process in Libya, not just the information that the dictator is on the way out.
“Gadhafi’s mode of leaving is very important,” Quarterman, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Envoy. “If he leaves but aspects of his regime stick around—-people who keep the lights on, and pick up the garbage, and they cooperate with the new transitional authority, that’s a good thing. … But if there’s chaos in his wake,” that would be very bad.
Libyan opposition national Transition Council leader Mustafa Abdel-Jalil said “the Gadhafi era is over”, even as sporadic fighting and pockets of resistance were observed Monday in certain neighborhoods in Tripoli.
The NTC said they had in custody and under house arrest three of Ghadafi’s sons including Mohammed, his eldest son and Seif al-Islam Ghadafi, the heir apparent. They however admitted that they had no idea where Ghadafi, who ruled the nation for 42 years, was.
French and British leaders admitted Monday that they are also in the dark about the whereabouts of Ghadafi. A rumour that the Libyan ruler sought refuge in South Africa was also denied by its officials.
“Bab al-Aziziya and the surrounding areas are still out of our control,” Abdel-Jalil told journalists at a triumphant press conference in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi Monday, the Associated Press reported, referring to the Tripoli neighborhood where the Gadhafi compound in located.
“We have no knowledge of Gadhafi being there, or whether he is still in or outside Libya.”Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said Monday that “Paris did not know where [Gadhafi] was,” Angus McSwan of Reuters reported. “British Prime Minister David Cameron said London had no confirmation of his whereabouts either.”
American official said Ghadafi may still be in Libya.
“I think that’s probably fair to say that we believe he’s still in the country,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan told journalists Monday, ABC News reported. “On what basis can we say that? Just again, it’s a belief. We do not have any information that he has left the country.”
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