Gaddafi Captured, Killed In Sirte …Libyans Have Won Their Revolution – Obama

Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, the most wanted man in the world, has been killed, Libyan Prime Minister, Mahmoud Jibril said yesterday.

The flamboyant tyrant who terrorised his country and much of the world during his 42 years of despotic rule was reportedly cornered by insurgents in the town of Sirte, where he had been born and a stronghold of his supporters.

“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Gaddafi has been killed,” Jibril said at a news conference in Tripoli.

He added that the rebel government will wait until later today to officially declare what it calls a state of liberation.

The National Transition Council (NTC) earlier yesterday said that its fighters found and shot Gaddafi in Sirte, which finally fell to the rebels yesterday after weeks of tough fighting. Rebels now control the entire country.

News of Gaddafi’s death triggered celebrations in the streets of Tripoli with insurgent fighters waving their weapons and dancing jubilantly.

In his reaction, US President, Barack Obama said Libyans had won their revolution, and assured that America would support the rebuilding of a democratic, stable and strong Libya. Addressing journalists at the Rose Garden, White House, Washington, Obama congratulated the NTC on their bravery and success in battle, and urged all Libyans to see the challenges posed by the success of their revolution as a task for all.

Al Jazeera aired video of what appeared to be the dead leader, which showed Gaddafi lying in a pool of blood in the street, shirtless, and surrounded by people.

Libya’s Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam told the newsmen that Gaddafi was in a convoy when he was attacked by rebels.

NATO said that its jet fighters struck a convoy of Gaddafi’s loyalists fleeing Sirte yesterday morning, but could not confirm that Gaddafi was in the convoy.

Gaddafi had been on the run for more than two months after being chased out of the capital Tripoli by NATO bombers and rebel troops.

He had been believed to be hiding in the vast Libyan desert while calling on his supporters to rise up and sweep the rebel “dogs” away, but his once fearsome power was scoffed at by Libyans who had ransacked his palace compound and hounded him into hiding.

Gaddafi, 69, ruled Libya with an iron fist for almost 42 years. He seized control of Libya in Sept., 1969 in a bloodless coup when he was just 27 years old. The then young and dashing army captain and his small band of military officers overthrew the monarch, King Idris, setting up a new Libyan Arab Republic that over the years became increasingly isolated from the rest of the world.

Gaddafi took over the top spot as the world’s most wanted man after Osama bin Laden was killed by US troops in Pakistan.

At the height of his ability to threaten terrorism, President Ronald Reagan dubbed Gaddafi the “mad dog of the Middle East.”

He was accused of backing the 1986 bombing of a Berlin disco popular with American soldiers, reportedly funding the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985, and the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which resulted in the UN and United States imposing sanctions on Libya.

For years, Gadhafi refused to take responsibility for the bombing, but that changed in 2003 when he acknowledged his role and tried to make amends.

The eccentric leader, who amassed power and wealth by controlling the nation’s oil industry, held the title of being the longest-serving leader in Africa and the Arab world.

Over the years, Gadhafi earned an international reputation for his outlandish apparel and much-ridiculed phobias and proclivities.

In U.S. diplomatic cables recently released by WikiLeaks, Gadhafi was described as a “mercurial and eccentric figure who suffers from severe phobias, enjoys flamenco dancing and horse racing, acts on whims and irritates friends and enemies alike.’

He was “obsessively dependent on a small core of trusted personnel,” especially his longtime Ukrainian nurse Galyna, who has been described as a “voluptuous blonde,” according to the cables.

Among his other unusual behaviours, the Libyan leader reportedly feared flying over water, didn’t like staying on upper floors and travelled with a “pistol packing’ posse” of female bodyguards.

Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and World Bank Vice President, Africa Region, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili during a sub-national forum on Public Procurement in Nigeria, in Port Harcourt, yesterday.