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2011-09-08
Bani Walid standoff continues
By Essam Mohamed for Magharebia near Bani Walid – 08/09/11
Libya's revolutionary forces are converging on the town of Bani Walid as talks over the city's fate continue to drag on ahead of the Saturday (September 10th) surrender deadline for forces loyal to ousted-Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
At the town of Washtata, south of Tarhouna on the road to Bani Walid, rebel leaders and loyalist forces are meeting at a mosque to debate conditions for surrender. The area is located roughly 70 kilometres from the residential area of Bani Walid and just 30 kilometres from the frontline where revolutionaries have stationed their heavy weapons, including 14.5mm and 12.5mm machine guns.
Rebel forces are preparing to attack the city, with some saying that that negotiations are only a waste of time. However, the fighters still respect the deadline set by the National Transitional Council (NTC).
![[Essam Mohamed] Rebels and reporters gather outside the mosque where negotiations over Bani Walid's surrender are taking place.](/awi/images/2011/09/08/110908Feature2Photo1-650_429.jpg)
Negotiators at the mosque hail from the Warfalla tribe, one of the largest in Libya. Revolutionaries hope to convince Bani Walid elders to surrender the city peacefully and avoid bloodshed, on the condition that Kadhafi forces with blood on their hands are arrested.
"There are still peaceful attempts to enter the city peacefully without any fighting," said engineer Mohamed Issa, a member of the negotiating committee and an official responsible for the revolutionaries' logistics. "There is a 90% possibility that this will happen to prevent any bloodshed and the use of civilians as human shields."
"We're still waiting for the end of the deadline given by the NTC, and if we had a peaceful way to enter the town, we will enter it even before the end of the NTC's deadline, which will end next Saturday," he added.
Some rebel commanders claim that Kadhafi's sons Seif al-Islam and Muatasim are in town based on movements they've observed. In addition, Kadhafi's official spokesperson Moussa Ibrahim is reportedly in the town with a group of mercenaries.
"The remnants of Kadhafi's battalions don't outnumber us, and there are mercenaries among them. If they don't turn themselves in by Saturday, there will be a battle," said Walid al-Moataz Bellah, a revolutionary fighter from Bani Walid. "However, we still hope to enter the city peacefully."
Milad Herisha also expects that revolutionaries will enter Bani Walid peacefully. He said that "the remnants of former regime's forces will not have a presence at its streets and will disappear from the town. It is said that the Eagles Legion now consists of 130 fighters after there were about 1,500 fighters. This is because many of them were killed and volunteers returned home."
Magharebia witnessed additional revolutionaries arriving from the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura to reinforce the forces that are now besieging Bani Walid from three sides. To the east is Misrata, with Tarhouna located to the north and the Nafusa Mountains to the west.
Field hospitals were prepared at the front, supplied with ambulances, medicines and other medical supplies. Doctors specialising in accidents, bone and neurological surgeries were also gathering outside the town. In addition to the specialists, volunteer medical crews were seen ready to provide assistance should it become necessary.
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POST YOUR COMMENT 8
Yidir 2011-9-21
to Mahfoudh-Tarabolis: We have a berber saying in Morooco that goes: Only snakes move on their bellies....having lots of food and cheap cars and oil is not enough to make mankind happy and feeling usefull and satisfied about their lives.You need more than that and i even think that the fat bellies and the shiny cars are the reason for the Lybians to rise against their vampires: The introduction of the market economy and globalisation has led to mega corruption and produced huge gaps of wealth between poeple. During the so called socialist days only the state owned things like the phone company, gasfields and TV stations.Poeple didn't have much but they were still happier than nowadays. Now u have people with political connections owning whole coutries and poeple want a new smartphone every week and new girlfriend every weekend, a new car every month.Plus the alienation: Modest beduins were raced on a roller-coaster into the information age of the 21th century.Sheikhs who got their african slaves on camels are now ordering charter planes from Indonesia and the Philippnes, chinese,turks and indian young men feeling the streets...cars from Japan, spoons from china, phones from Korea, bananas from Equador,Vodka from Russia,hash from India...etc...that made poeple feel like strangers in their own country and they didn't got the time to understand it all and adjust to it ..etc...that corruption, greed and alienation were the reasons and the sparks that lighted the fire. Ghdaffi and his sons like the Mobaraks and the Bin Ali's and the poeple around them were so gready and arrogant that they thought they were untouchables...well that wasn't the case...they had to look to the moroccan monarchy and see how the king there is playing hardball but tactfully and anonymously.
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الصياد 2011-9-15
Bani Walid will remain free.
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Mahfoudh-Tarabolis 2011-9-13
Continuation to Abouelqassim- My question is what the International Community calls dictatorship if the Queen of England, King of Belgium, Emperor of Japan and so on have to die in power before being replaced? Anyone who can throw an Efferalgan seltzer tablet in the sea and find it ten minutes later will be able to convince me that Kadhafi is a dictator. You can always give it a try. You do not kill an idea by cutting the head off the person who has it. Kadhafi is a revolutionary! The fight has only begun.
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Mahfoudh-Tarabolis 2011-9-13
In response to Abouelqassim- Here is a small description of what it was like to live in Libya before NATO’s assault. (1) Electricity for household consumption was free! (2) Water for household consumption was free! (3) The price of a litre of gasoline was 0.08 euros! (4) The Libyan banks gave interest-free loans! (5) The citizens did not have to pay any taxes and there was no VAT! (6) Libya is the least indebted country on the list! The public debt is 3.3% of the GDP! In France, it is 84.5%! In the US, 88.9! In Japan, 225.8%! (7) The purchase price for a car (Chevrolet, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, Renault, etc.) is the same as the factory price for cars imported from Japan, South Korea, China, the United States, etc.! (8) For any student wanted to study abroad, the -government- gave a grant of 1,627.11 euros per month! (9) Any student with a degree received the average salary for their chosen profession if they could not find a job! (10) When a couple married, the -state- paid for the first apartment or house (150 sq. metres)! (11) Every Libyan family received aid of 300 euros per month upon presented family registration! (12) For any public employee needing to relocate, the state provided a car and a house for free. And a short time after, his possession would arrive. My question is what the International Community calls dictatorship if the Queen of England, King of Belgium, Emperor of Japan and so on have to die in power before being replaced? Anyone who can throw an Efferalgan seltzer tablet in the see and find it ten minutes later will be able to convince me that Kadhafi is a dictator. You can always give it a try.
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Fakhri 2011-9-12
The Libyan tragedy will never be a “model” to follow, but exactly the opposite. A revolution is the work of the people, never of foreign and imperialist forces. The future will confirm what the world already knows.
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libyan girl 2011-9-12
god with you all
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sonia ben salah 2011-9-9
God willing, God will grant us a relief!
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abou el qassim 2011-9-9
The Libyan people’s revolution showed the courage and level-headedness of these people, who have been deprived of their freedom for 42 years. I hope that the uprisings of the peoples of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Syria will be a model to follow so that the other governments respect the rights of their peoples to live in a democracy and with human respect.
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