LIBYA: Anti-colonial resistance hero Omar al-Mukhtar, a symbol for those rising up against Muammar Gaddafi revered in Al Bayda region

Record ID: 785516

  • Title: LIBYA: Anti-colonial resistance hero Omar al-Mukhtar, a symbol for those rising up against Muammar Gaddafi revered in Al Bayda region
  • Date: 27th April 2011
  • Summary: WADI AL-KUF, LIBYA (APRIL 25, 2011) (REUTERS) CAVES ON JABAL AL-AKHDAR MOUNTAIN WHERE LIBYAN RESISTANCE HERO, OMAR AL-MUKHTAR WAS BASED GRAFFITI ON ROAD, READING: " THE FREE PEOPLE OF BENGHAZI" VARIOUS OF CAVES BRIDGE NEAR CAVES/ SIGN ON IT WITH TRIBUTE TO AND PICTURE OF OMAR AL-MUKHTAR VARIOUS OF PICTURE OF OMAR AL-MUKHTAR ON SIGN VARIOUS OF FAMILY HAVING A PICNIC NEAR CAVES
  • Embargoed: 12th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: War / Fighting,History
  • Reuters ID: LVA4T0KL08H36DE92II848YILKNC
  • Story Text: The name of Omar al-Mukhtar, the Libyan resistance leader who fought the Italian occupation in the early twentieth century, still echoes throughout Libya and has taken a special significance to the Libyan rebels who now seek to end the rule of longtime autocrat Muammar Gaddafi.
    The Libyan uprising began in the east of the country, in the towns where al-Mukhtar waged his most fearsome battles and nowhere does his name resonate more than in the Valley of the Caves (wadi al-kuf), which runs along Libya's northeast coast.
    It was here, deep inside the Green Mountain (jabal al-akhdar), in the long stretch of natural caves that al-Mukhtar and the resistance based themselves.
    Towns like nearby al-Badya are now in rebel hands but as the battle for Libya rages on to the west, al-Mukhtar, the "Lion of the Desert" who led his warriors against Italian colonial rule and was executed in 1931, has become a potent symbol for the rebels.
    His name is a rallying cry in slogans used by the rebels who call themselves his 'grandchildren', and his picture adorns posters and badges and the red green and black flags waved by the rebel army.
    He is particularly identified with the Benghazi region where he was born in 1858 and died at the hands of the Italians.
    Family's now picnic near the caves where the fighters once made their home, and Mohamed Mahmoud Agila, says al-Mukhtar continues to be an inspiration.
    "To the Libyans, Omar al-Mukhtar means Jihad (struggle), and fighting to force the occupier out of our Libyan Land. But Muammar Gaddafi has erased this from the memory of the people and made himself the only hero. Our demand is freedom, no more and no less, and we are calling for the departure of Gaddafi and his family," he said.
    Agila's wife says that the doggedness shown by al-Mukhtar, who was outmatched by Italian armor in ways the rebels see as similar in their unequal fight against Gaddafi, is the rebels guide in their struggle.
    "He is a symbol for all of the Libyan people. He is a model for them. There is a quote by Omar Al Mukhtar which the Libyan rebels are repeating after him - "We do not surrender. We will fight and we win or we die," he said.
    Mohamed Agila says he hopes the high cost of the war will be worthwhile.
    "This valley witnessed battles between the Libyans and the Italians. And we were able to win. Muammar Gaddafi has oppressed the Libyan people and they have not experienced freedom. But now we say with God's will, and with efforts of our rebels that we will free Libya and will go forward towards freedom," he said.
    Agila said he hoped that the next generation would know a better life than the generations that grew up under Gaddafi's reign.
    "We have experienced only oppression, slaughter, executions and we entered wars that had no purpose. We hope that this generation will have a better life, education and experience freedom and democracy like people in other parts of the world, God willing," he said.
    The streets of nearby al-Bayda are now quiet, but fierce battles were fought here at the start of the uprising, as the rebels sought to expel Gaddafi's troops.
    The memory of al-Mukhtar is strong in the city, which boasts a university named for the ubiquitous anti-colonial hero.
    In response to the Italian occupation that began in the first decade of the twentieth century, Omar Al-Mukhtar brought together Libya's tribes and led them in a guerrilla war against Mussolini's troops that lasted 10 years.
    The Italian counter-insurgency campaign led by Marshal Rodolfo Graziani was a brutal affair, including depopulation tactics. An estimated 80,000 people are thought to have died in Italian concentration camps in the desert.
    Still fighting at age 73, al-Mukhtar was captured in an ambush and brought to Benghazi. After a one-day show trial on September 15, 1931, he was hanged at the prison camp in Suluq, 55 km (34 miles) south of Benghazi, in front of his detained followers.
    A grainy black-and-white photo of him in Arab robes being brought to court while Italian officials in splendid uniforms gloat over him can be seen on the walls of many Benghazi establishments today.
    His memory has presented a problem for Gaddafi, who has fostered his own personality cult during his rule but could not entirely ignore a national hero.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register