- Title: LIBYA: Former Gaddafi stronghold feels abandoned by Libya's new rulers
- Date: 29th February 2012
- Summary: SIRTE, LIBYA (FEBRUARY 28, 2012) (REUTERS) SIRTE STREET/DESTROYED BUILDINGS MORE OF DESTROYED BUILDINGS HEAD OF SIRTE LOCAL COUNCIL MOHAMMED ALI KABLAN BEHIND DESK IN OFFICE CLOSE MOHAMMED ALI KABLAN HANDS REVIEWING PLANS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF SIRTE LOCAL COUNCIL MOHAMMED ALI KABLAN SAYING: "The situation in Sirte is tragic. We consider it a devastated city, honestly, and we have called upon all the international organisations to stand up for Sirte." DESTROYED BUILDING (SOUNDBITE (ARABIC) HEAD OF SIRTE LOCAL COUNCIL MOHAMMED ALI KABLAN SAYING: "The people of Sirte feel depressed and disappointed, and feel they are being over looked and not taken care of. The Libyan government, may God bless them, have made some efforts and promised that they will visit, but because there is not enough money yet and no budgets, they have said their visit now will be just a waste of time. They assured us that when there is a budget they will participate in the reconstruction of Sirte." VARIOUS OF YOUNG MEN STANDING OUTSIDE DESTROYED BUILDING DESTROYED BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SIRTE RESIDENT AHMED MAHMOUD AL-ABDLI SAYING: "The national transitional council is just ink on paper. They have done nothing. It is just a name that people say but the problem is there is nothing on the ground. Where is the reconstruction of Sirte? Have you seen the universities and buildings here? Do you see the buildings? They talk about freedom, but freedom is not like this." CLOSE OF DESTROYED BUILDING MORE OF SIRTE STREETS AND DESTROYED BUILDINGS
- Embargoed: 15th March 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Libya, Libya
- Country: Libya
- Topics: Conflict,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAF38MCBFT2R11YKK2FPOYEOVQN
- Story Text: Under Muammar Gaddafi, it was a town that had aspirations to be the "capital of Africa." But for Gaddafi's hometown Sirte, those dreams now lie in ruins, along with much of the city where the former strongman was born and killed.
Two months of relentless bombardment from Libyan interim government forces laid waste to the city which had once played host to foreign leaders and housed all of Libya's government offices and the country's toothless parliament.
Even as the rest of Libya fell to the now former rebels, and most of the country seemed to embrace them, the people of Sirte remained resolutely loyal to the hometown boy. And for that they paid a heavy price.
Hatred for the triumphant rebels ran high following the ousting of Gaddafi, the abuse after his capture and the indignities his body was subjected to before its secret burial.
Residents said anti-Gaddafi fighters went on looting and burning their properties even after the war was over and Gaddafi was dead.
Such feelings may have dampened for now, but the people of Sirte still feel aggrieved with what they see as a lack of support from the ruling National Transitional Council to rebuild their shattered city.
"The situation in Sirte is tragic. We consider it a devastated city, honestly, and we have called upon all the international organisations to stand up for Sirte," Sirte's local council leader Mohammed al-Kablan told Reuters Television on Tuesday (February 28).
"The people of Sirte feel depressed and disappointed, and feel they are being over looked and not taken care of. The Libyan government, may God bless them, have made some efforts and promised that they will visit, but because there is not enough money yet and no budgets, they have said their visit now will be just a waste of time. They assured us that when there is a budget they will participate in the reconstruction of Sirte," added al-Kablan.
As it struggles to prepare a free election in June while hundreds of armed groups of varying local, tribal or religious affiliation jockey for a slice of the oil-rich desert state, the interim government has disappointed many Libyans and raised doubts it can even hold the sprawling country of six million together.
Many in Sirte feel the revolt against Gaddafi's 42-year rule has brought only chaotic paralysis.
"The National Transitional Council is just ink on paper. They have done nothing. It is just a name that people say but the problem is there is nothing on the ground. Where is the reconstruction of Sirte? Have you seen the universities and buildings here? Do you see the buildings? They talk about freedom, but freedom is not like this," said Sirte resident Ahmed Mahmoud al-Abdli.
After the war hundreds of families whose houses had been demolished were forced to seek refuge in villages around the city, while others lived in tents in the desert, deserted shacks and old school buildings.
Most, according to the council, have now returned and Sirte is no longer the ghost town it resembled in the immediate aftermath of the war.
But a sense of frustration and and foreboding about the future still weighs down on the residents of this battered town. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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