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

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.Advertisement

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.Advertisement

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.Advertisement

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.

The Libya is suffering from her mistakes

And now they regret

Hard man.

Africa not only Libya did watch and praised when the west descrated Africa and Libya and killed the most forsight Africa leader
Now Africa will bleed for a long time for this to be atoned

Gadaffi is a prophet, his people never knew who was until he was killed. Libya is the only country in the world where the citizens are nou working but entitled to monthly wages. All Libyans are entitled to accommodation, no Libyans paid for electricity, water, they only paid little for gas. Every new born in libya bith citizens and immigrants are entitled to 5000 dinners. Food is necessity in Libya. Libya has been a shadow of itself since the death of Gadaffi. It will take Libya another 42-47 years before they can manage to put things together, it's a curse on them, I hope they will be forgiven.

There was UN flight embargo to stop air attacks, but this did not stop Western nations from using drones and rockets to attack Gadaffi and his loyalists.

The useless African leaders did not formulate one action plan or sanctions to halt the crises and ensure all concerned parties abide with the UN resolution.

From Africa to Europe, nations are now paying dearly for the collapse of Gadaffi's effort.

Today, libyans are filled with regrets. Gaddafi was a visionary leader.

Gaddafi's Sins are forgiven him IJN AMEN.

aremuforlife:
Gadaffi is a prophet, his people never knew who was until he was killed. Libya is the only country in the world where the citizens are nou working but entitled to monthly wages. All Libyans are entitled to accommodation, no Libyans paid for electricity, water, they only paid little for gas. Every new born in libya bith citizens and immigrants are entitled to 5000 dinners. Food is necessity in Libya. Libya has been a shadow of itself since the death of Gadaffi. It will take Libya another 42-47 years before they can manage to put things together, it's a curse on them, I hope they will be forgiven.

hmmm my bro u re right nt 45 -47 yrs ooo is 4ever no african leader can do all this for is country unborn child will cry for it

Na man e be

My boss quote after Gadaffi was killed

“Libya is finished “

I remember every street in Tripoli having pictures of Gadaffi running with Libyans money because AJ news, BBC, CNN and DW started massive anti-Gadaffi news.
That’s the reason I wish Qatar, UAE and Saudi to suffer the same thing that happen to Libya because they are the one who are responsible for bringing terror to Libya.

RT and Press TV are the only stations that talked about Gadaffi as the best thing to happen to Libya and the whole Africa.
RT refused to travel with the so called rebels that overthrew Gadaffi

How can one man rule for 42 years.?

That alone nullifies any good he may have claimed to have done.

Good riddance..

The US really made a mess of Libya and Africa in general with the whole Gaddafi debacle.

Just see how they can't even come to a concensus on exactly who killed him after he was already captured.

Cover-ups upon cover-ups.

Unnerve:
The US really made a mess of Libya and Africa in general with the whole Gaddafi debacle.

Just see how they can't even come to a concensus on exactly who killed him after he was already captured.

Cover-ups upon cover-ups.

U mean Obama really make a mess of libya and Africa

pharmagba:
Africa not only Libya did watch and praised when the west descrated Africa and Libya and killed the most forsight Africa leader
Now Africa will bleed for a long time for this to be atoned

Some African countries like South Africa stood alongside Gaddafi. Jacob Zuma really tried back then, In fact, he wanted Gaddafi to stay in SA, but he refused. The day he died, I was watched the video on CNN, BBC and Aljazera. The foolish guy that shot him dead was even happy!! One of Africa best leader ever was killed like a common criminal. What a pity

Originality007:


U mean Obama really make a mess of libya and Africa

Lol..
Obama was the US, Trump is the US and whatever foreign policies any sitting president gets involved in, it is a US foreign policy NOT personal policy.

TruthDefender:
How can one man rule for 42 years.?

That alone nullifies any good he may have claimed to have done.

Good riddance..

well does it mean that this is what's best for them eg Libya and other countries (the Pictures below) definitely not, so just try and be more reasonable.

letu:
well does it mean that this is what's best for them eg Libya and other countries (the Pictures below) definitely not, so just try and be more reasonable.

Terrible

People think Nigeria is bad now, just wait and see what will become of the precious Ikoyi and Banana Island, say God forbid, the US and its NATO allies decide to invade under the excuse of fighting Boko Haram.

You even have the time to reply him

letu:
well does it mean that this is what's best for them eg Libya and other countries (the Pictures below) definitely not, so just try and be more reasonable.

Killing ghadafi was a mistake

He should have been killed earlier.. Leaving 1 man in power for 42 years is insanity

mysticwarrior:
Killing ghadafi was a mistake

TruthDefender:
He should have been killed earlier.. Leaving 1 man in power for 42 years is insanity

Libya was in peace for the 42 years ghadafi was in power, since the death of Ghadaffi Libya has been completely engulfed by Urban warfare.

That's because he stayed in power too long. When you cling on to power, the country doesn't groom future leaders because you stifle all opposition. The difference between developed societies is that they build institutions so that the country can continue developing, while transitioning from one president to another. Institutions are what develops a country not sit-tight leaders.

mysticwarrior:
Libya was in peace for the 42 years ghadafi was in power, since the death of Ghadaffi Libya has been completely engulfed by Urban warfare.

tommy589:

The useless African leaders did not formulate one action plan or sanctions to halt the crises and ensure all concerned parties abide with the UN resolution.

They tried their best. The South Africans, Zimbabweans, and many other Africans tried but Obama ( USA) , Sarkozy (FRANCE)
and David Cameron ( UK) used the military might of NATO to overrule African nations.

This is one of the reasons I detest Obama till today..... fvcking hypocrite.Now the same same man is championing BLM

TruthDefender:
That's because he stayed in power too long. When you cling on to power, the country doesn't groom future leaders because you stifle all opposition. The difference between developed societies is that they build institutions so that the country can continue developing, while transitioning from one president to another. Institutions are what develops a country not sit-tight leaders.

Libya was far more developed in the 42years of Gaddafi's reign than Nigeria with all our transitioning from one leader to another.

Everything that Libya has become today is a direct result of the interference of the US and NATO, because they could not stand having a nuclear power in Africa that was not loyal to the west.

Stop feeding off information you get from western propaganda.

Hogwash.
I insist he should have been killed earlier. I guess you believe one person should also rule Nigeria for 42 years so Nigeria can develop Your position doesn't hold water. Every nation ruled by autocratic sit-tight dictators regress. That's a fact. You also don't know if Libya would have developed more than Qaddafi left it if he had left power 30 years earlier.

Think outside the box. Your mind is too shallow..

Unnerve:

Libya was far more developed in the 42years of Gaddafi's reign than Nigeria with all our transitioning from one leader to another.

Everything that Libya has become today is a direct result of the interference of the US and NATO, because they could not stand having a nuclear power in Africa that was not loyal to the west.

Stop feeding off information you get from western propaganda.

TruthDefender:
Hogwash.
I insist he should have been killed earlier. I guess you believe one person should also rule Nigeria for 42 years so Nigeria can develop Your position doesn't hold water. Every nation ruled by autocratic sit-tight dictators regress. That's a fact. You also don't know if Libya would have developed more than Qaddafi left it if he had left power 30 years earlier.

Think outside the box. Your mind is too shallow..

No I don't believe that, I only responded to you within the context of your comment.

Your opinion that transitioning leadership is what makes a country develop is absolutely false... so if you're looking for shallow thinking, hold up a mirror to your face.

In the entire time that Libya was being ruled by Gaddafi, they developed far more than Nigeria with changing leadership. This is the only comparison I made.

And Gaddafi was not a dictator, this is what western propaganda wants you to believe because you're a puppet.

Vladimir Putin has being ruling Russia for sometime now and will probably continue to do so for a long time to come, let's see how this your so-called "fact" about how sit-tight leaders cause regression, will be valid in Russia.

Even our African brothers in Rwanda that have experienced a devastating war which tore the country apart, are experiencing better development than Nigeria, and Paul Kegame has been president since 2000.

Again, I'm not proposing the same thing for Nigeria, only responding to you within the context of your false facts.

You like the sound of your voice perhaps.. You love sit-tight leaders but mention Rwanda and Russia to buttress your points (those countries run some kind of democracy with periodic elections to confer legitimacy on their leaders), unlike Qaddafi's Libya. You are confused. You have no facts.

Tell me how the following countries with sit-tight leaders are faring.

Cameroon, Uganda, Chad,Iran DR Congo,Cambodia,Kazakhstan and the rest.. All the mentioned countries have been ruled by one man for more than 25 years

The developed countries all got where they are by building institutions. If you do not build solid institutions, what happens is that one man will turn state apparatus to his personal use. The police, army, judiciary and everything else will be beholden to one man. That has never helped any country to grow.

Anyway, i am done doing back and forth with you. I have lived in developed countries most of my life, so we may obviously see things from different angle..

Enjoy you day

Unnerve:

No I don't believe that, I only responded to you within the context of your comment.

Your opinion that transitioning leadership is what makes a country develop is absolutely false... so if you're looking for shallow thinking, hold up a mirror to your face.

In the entire time that Libya was being ruled by Gaddafi, they developed far more than Nigeria with changing leadership. This is the only comparison I made.

And Gaddafi was not a dictator, this is what western propaganda wants you to believe because you're a puppet.

Vladimir Putin has being ruling Russia for sometime now and will probably continue to do so for a long time to come, let's see how this your so-called "fact" about how sit-tight leaders cause regression, will be valid in Russia.

Even our African brothers in Rwanda that have experienced a devastating war which tore the country apart, are experiencing better development than Nigeria, and Paul Kegame has been president since 2000.

Again, I'm not proposing the same thing for Nigeria, only responding to you within the context of your false facts.

TruthDefender:
You like the sound of your voice perhaps.. You love sit-tight leaders but mention Rwanda and Russia to buttress your points (those countries run some kind of democracy with periodic elections to confer legitimacy on their leaders), unlike Qaddafi's Libya. You are confused. You have no facts.

Tell me how the following countries with sit-tight leaders are faring.

Cameroon, Uganda, Chad,Iran DR Congo,Cambodia,Kazakhstan and the rest.. All the mentioned countries have been ruled by one man for more than 25 years

The developed countries all got where they are by building institutions. If you do not build solid institutions, what happens is that one man will turn state apparatus to his personal use. The police, army, judiciary and everything else will be beholden to one man. That has never helped any country to grow.

Anyway, i am done doing back and forth with you. I have lived in developed countries most of my life, so we may obviously see things from different angle..

Enjoy you day

Lol @sound of my voice when I'm not speaking but typing.

A sit-tight leader is a sit-tight leader, whether he keeps getting reelected to the same position or not. Lol

I'm quite sure you're stuck in one house somewhere within Nigeria

Unnerve:

Libya was far more developed in the 42years of Gaddafi's reign than Nigeria with all our transitioning from one leader to another.

Everything that Libya has become today is a direct result of the interference of the US and NATO, because they could not stand having a nuclear power in Africa that was not loyal to the west.

Stop feeding off information you get from western propaganda.

great analysis