São Paulo – Arab governments call for unity among the Libyan people after the death of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, on Thursday (20) in Sirte, his hometown. According to the site of Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram, the secretary general of the Arab League, the organisation that includes the 22 Arab countries, Nabil Al Arabi, called for the Libyans to “overcome the wounds of the past and to look to the future with no grudges or sentiments of revenge, warding off all that could disrupt national unity and peace.”
He called for all political forces to “close ranks” to build “a new Libya which would fulfil the hopes and ambitions of the Libyan people for freedom.” The Arab League, of which Libya is part, had suspended the country after the violent repression of the Gaddafi regime to the protests that started in February and supported the establishment of an air exclusion area over the country at the Security Council of the United Nations.
The decision of the council, made in March, opened way for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) air strikes that changed the route of the Libyan conflict in favour of the opposition to the regime and was determinant to the deposition of the dictator. In August, the rebels took the Libyan capital city, Tripoli.
Arabi added that the organisation would “pursue efforts to support the Libyan people’s journey and stand by them in this fateful transitional phase.”
According to Al Ahram, the government of Egypt, which recognised the National Transitional Council (NTC) as legitimate representatives of Libya in August, informed that it is ready to support the efforts for reconstruction of the neighbouring country. Egypt hopes for Gaddafi’s death to open a new chapter for the people of Libya and offer support to the NTC to “a free democratic system to meet the Libyan people’s aspirations and achieve the revolution’s goals."
Before the fall of Gaddafi, popular protests had ousted Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, who had been in power for almost 30 years. The same took place in Tunisia, a country that showed “deep satisfaction with the total liberation of Libya”, according to an article by the official news agency of Tunisia, Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP).
According to a press statement by the Ministry of Foreign Business of Tunisia, the Tunisian people congratulate the people of Libya “for this glorious victory”, express “confidence in the future of the new Libya, in its capacity to re-establish safety and stability in its territory and to promote the desires of its people for liberty, prosperity and development in a scenery of social cohesion and national union.”
Tunisia offers to help Libya “in this historic and decisive phase” and offers “its best resources and potential to aid the brotherly Libyan people to reach their noble national objectives.” The Arab Spring begun in Tunisia, with a wave of protests in December 2010. The country was the first to knock down its dictator through protests. Zine El Abdine Ben Ali escaped and sought refuge in Saudi Arabia. On Sunday, Tunisia should also become the first Arab country to promote elections after the revolutions.
More incisive, however, were the statements published by the official news agency of Morocco Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP). According to MAP, “the elimination of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, after his capture on Thursday in Sirte, ends 42 years of dictatorship and often tense, or even detestable, relations with many neighbouring countries and the West.”
Morocco accuses Gaddafi of being the “mentor” of the polisario separatist movement that opposes Moroccan presence in Western Sahara, a region of the Atlantic coast of North Africa. MAP said that “since the beginning of the popular movement of protest against the despotic regime of Gaddafi, Morocco has showed its sympathy with the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people for democracy and reform.” To the agency, the defeat of the dictator opens a new era in relation between both nations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Algeria, in turn, issued a press release in which it says it hopes for “the new era that is being opened in Libya to consecrate reconciliation, peace and unity between the Libyan brothers,” according to state-owned news agency Algérie Presse Service (APS).
The government of Kuwait, in turn, congratulated the people of Libya “on the victory of their revolution and ouster of the tyrant Muammar Gaddafi and his regime”, according to the country’s official Kuwait News Agency (Kuna). The Kuwaitis call for the Libyans “to unite and back the Transitional Council in its efforts for establishing a new ruling system, based on justice, equality and respect for legitimate rights of the people”.
*Translated by Mark Ament
