Reply #59: Libya liberators battle into centre of Sirte [View All]

[pinboy3niner]

Source: Financial Times

Last updated: October 9, 2011 6:05 pm

Michael Peel in Abu Dhabi


Troops loyal to Libya’s new leaders battled deep into Muammer Gaddafi’s home town on Sunday, moving close to a symbolic triumph that will start the clock ticking towards the country’s first free elections for more than 40 years.

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Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council has said it will declare liberation of the country and start moving towards democracy once Sirte is captured, even though pockets of Gaddafi supporters remain in Libya and the colonel is still at large.

George Joffé, a north Africa specialist at the University of Cambridge, said the fall of the colonel’s birthplace and start of political reforms would test the NTC’s ability to reconcile former loyalists and withstand infighting between its various factions.

He said “This is the real test. Because now is the moment when all of these tensions that have largely been suppressedwill erupt to the surface.”

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NTC forces captured 15 Gaddafi loyalists who had used the hospital to launch mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, Reuters said.

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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/03fa56d8-f280-11e0-824e-00144feab49a.html