SIRTE, LIBYA // Forces for the interim government of Libya hoisted their flag over the centre of Bani Walid yesterday, signalling that one of the last bastions of support for Col Muammar Qaddafi may soon be subdued.
Yet few were making any predictions when the liberation of Libya would be complete.
There were still pockets of resistance in Bani Walid and in the deposed Libyan leader's hometown of Sirte, where Qaddafi loyalists have been under siege for weeks. There was little or no sign of the disorganised forces of the interim National Transitional Council (NTC) making any progress yesterday.
Libya's new leaders say they will only begin the move to democracy after they capture the city.
This fight long ago gave way to exhaustion. Last week, NTC fighters leaned against the pockmarked walls of buildings in Sirte, silent and weary.
They sprinted across alleyways to avoid sniper fire and chanted "God is great" to passing television cameras.
But there was a sense of futility in the fighting. For each round of sniper fire from pro-Qaddafi loyalists, NTC forces retaliated with tank fire, rockets, and anti-aircraft guns.
Some fighters had already lost too much for questions about the end of the war to matter much.
"This war is supposed to be over soon," said Muftah Musbah, 27, from Ajdabia, before joining a group of scouts heading into enemy neighbourhoods. "But it's too late. They killed my cousin yesterday."
Few thought the conquest of Sirte would be easy. Yet no one thought just how prescient Seif el-Islam was in late August when the most well-known of Col Qaddafi's sons declared: "If you think entering [Sirte] is a sea cruise, you're dreaming."
One reason for the intensity of the pro-Qaddafi resistance here may be the sheer beneficence that the Libyan leader showered on his hometown.
Before he came to power in 1969, Sirte was a backwater. With the aid of the billions ploughed into it, it became a major port, with a luxurious conference centre, acres of new housing and several palaces built to the colonel's specifications.
"Yes, he was very humble," said an NTC officer, Ahmed El-Zlitny, with a wink as he surveyed the colonel's edifices.
That the former Libyan leader's largesse was enjoyed by only a few of his people is obvious in the Ouagadougou Conference Centre, a facility named after the capital of Burkina Faso and where the self-proclaimed "King of Africa" kept a private office and bedroom, and staged showcase events.
One torn banner, left over from a summit of African leaders, read: "We are Here … Arabs and Africans Making Our Common Future". Placards with slogans such as "Shame on agents" and "Sirte is the summit of high hopes" adorn the centre's marble walls.
Crouching in the centre's dark conference hall and smoking a cigarette, Ahmed Ismail Mahmoud, a 25-year-old NTC fighter, marvelled at the plush chairs, the giant projection screen and the arrays of translation headsets.
"It makes me feel that I didn't even live my life in Libya," he said.
While the interim government portrays the winding-down war as a conflict between good and evil and darkness and light, the protracted battles for Sirte and Bani Walid indicate that neither side in this conflict has a corner on virtue.
There have been persistent but unconfirmed reports of pro-Qaddafi fighters executing suspected supporters of the revolution and burying them in secret graves. NTC fighters manning checkpoints along the roads to Misurata and Benghazi taunted suspected Qaddafi loyalists, arresting men with as little evidence as one soldier's claim that the man had supported Col Qaddafi or was an enemy fighter.
At Checkpoint 50, the main gateway into Sirte on its eastern edge, a young man from Sirte was forced to clean up rubbish around the checkpoint building. A large, baby-faced soldier wearing an orange shirt oversaw the man's efforts, slapping him again and again on the back of the head.
The fighters looking on explained how the casual cruelty was a case of tables being turned - while in custody earlier this year, they claimed, the soldier had been tortured by the man now collecting trash. The only evidence was the soldier's insistence it was true. Later, the prisoner was carted away in the back of a pickup truck to one of dozens of makeshift detention centres holding Qaddafi loyalists.
If this and other incidents during a brief wait at the checkpoint were any indication, the paranoia and fear that characterised life under Col Qaddafi will not dissipate soon.
The thorough search of every vehicle passing through the checkpoint revealed in one case was a diaper bag disguising a collection of pro-Qaddafi propaganda, pictures of the former leader and a partially burnt diary that recounted how the young woman author had been worried about the coming battle in Sirte. The bag was seized and the owner was allowed to continue on to Benghazi after the commander at the checkpoint, Farag Sheiter, decided the possession was not criminal enough to warrant her arrest.
A dark-skinned man from Tawurgha, a city from which Qaddafi's troops launched attacks on Misurata, may have not been so lucky.
He was teased and harassed for more than an hour because pro-Qaddafi songs were discovered on his mobile phone. The man earlier had said he was on the side of the revolutionaries.
As the man pleaded with the soldiers to let him through, one said ominously in Arabic: "What would I do with you if there wasn't a journalist present."
As the soldier's voice trailed off, it was unclear whether he was asking a question or issuing a threat. The pleading man was escorted away, his fate unclear.
bhope@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Reuters
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
UAE v Zimbabwe A, 50 over series
Fixtures
Thursday, Nov 9 - 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Saturday, Nov 11 – 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Monday, Nov 13 – 2pm, Dubai International Stadium
Thursday, Nov 16 – 2pm, ICC Academy, Dubai
Saturday, Nov 18 – 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.
The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.
The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.
The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The Baghdad Clock
Shahad Al Rawi, Oneworld
'Saand Ki Aankh'
Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
What is safeguarding?
“Safeguarding, not just in sport, but in all walks of life, is making sure that policies are put in place that make sure your child is safe; when they attend a football club, a tennis club, that there are welfare officers at clubs who are qualified to a standard to make sure your child is safe in that environment,” Derek Bell explains.
Film: In Syria
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How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
