22/08/2011 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today. The Gaddafi era draws to a close:

Libyan rebels say they now control 95% of the capital Tripoli. He has

played his last card, his last game. And even his army have lost control.

The whereabouts of Gaddafi is unknown, but three of his sons,

including his heir, Saif Al-Islam, are detained by rebels in Libya.

Who will fill the power vacuum in post-Gaddafi Libya? We talk to a

key member of the National Transitional Council who is

spearheading reconstruction efforts. And world leaders welcome the

rebels' progress in their battle to topple Gaddafi and urge a peaceful

Hello and welcome to the programme, devoted today to the historic and

fast-moving events in Libya. Rebels now control nearly all of the

capital Tripoli, except for a few pockets of fierce resistance by

diehard supporters of Colonel Gaddafi. It has not been much of a

battle either. Opposition to the rebels seems to have mostly just

melted away in Tripoli. Gaddafi's most powerful sons are under arrest

and the state TV station is off-air. But the rebels won't declare

victory until Gaddafi himself is captured. With the latest from

Tripoli, here's Matthew Price. On the streets of Tripoli, a

revolution. They chanted their new Libyan national anthem, and flew

the fact -- flew the flag of what they believe is the new, free Libya.

Gaddafi, your time is up, they cried. The burbles sped into the

capital with astonishing speed. -- the rebels. Moving into Green

Square, they tore down his posters and flags. Three miles to the south,

in a hotel, it we watched as Colonel Gaddafi's spokesman held

what may be his last press conference. Tripoli is well

protected, and we have thousands of professional soldiers who are ready

to defend the city. But even as he was speaking, the

rebels were celebrating, trampling the leader they have come to

despise. Today, rebel forces continued to stream into Tripoli,

believing they were on the verge of a victory. This is a city of

checkpoints, of men protecting their neighbourhoods, wary of what

Gaddafi's forces may do next. In areas, there has been fierce

fighting. Battles have raged around Gaddafi's compound. Gunfire and

explosions can be heard. The Gaddafi family is under pressure

like never before. Last night, news came off another son, Saif Al-Islam,

being arrested. Then, on Al-Jazeera, another Gaddafi son was live on air

when rebels seized him. I am being attacked right now. This is gunfire,

inside my house. They are inside my house!

But what of Colonel Gaddafi himself? He made a radio address

last night, calling on supporters to rise up. Is he in Tripoli? His

home town? And what is he planning? 's this city is not under

opposition control. Here in the hotel, where journalists have

stayed, Gaddafi supporters are in charge both inside and on the

streets. It is hard to determine how much of the city this still

hold, but the battle for Tripoli is not yet over.

NATO has continued its air strikes. Without its air support, the rebels

would not be in the strong position they find themselves now. And

Libyan state television, has now fallen off their. Still, opposition

supporters are confident to be freely talking about the new Libya.

-- fallen off air. He has played his last card, his

last game. And even his bigger army, they have lost control. All the

army of Gaddafi now, they fight without any order or anything.

If he is, it will his supporters laid down their guns, or fight to

the last? -- laid down. In six months, the conflict in

Libya has been characterised by swings in the fortunes of the

rebels. But in the past few days, the rebels have advanced at a rapid

pace. From the west, they have been approaching from the strategic town

of Zawiya, which fell at the weekend, just a 30 minute drive

from the capital. On the eastern front, they have been moving in

from Zlitan, nearly 100 miles from Tripoli. And in the south, another

rebel convoy has been making swift progress. Our correspondent is with

a convoy of rebels which earlier today managed to enter the centre

of Tripoli. This morning, as we have come into

Tripoli, very quiet. The few sides -- few sounds of shooting in the

background. This is all we are seeing, groups of young men at

celebrating. So far, no signs of fighting in the city. Everything

looks very quiet. We have just come into the centre

of Tripoli. We have come up against this roadblock. They say there is

still fighting going on up ahead. They are bringing up rebel fighters.

They have just past us in the car here. Where is Gaddafi? Nobody

knows! He maybe in the earth! Maybe here. He is hiding somewhere?

scared. Although it appears very quiet in

Tripoli this morning, it is also very tense, and they are still

parts of the city not under rebel control, and still resistance going

on. Then we came across a convoy heading into the city. Little do

these fighters know what lay in store ahead. We decided to follow

them as they headed along the seafront towards the city centre.

Up ahead, there are still signs of fighting. But then we ran straight

into an ambush. We saw a 20mm anti- aircraft cannon firing into the

It is clear that despite the celebrations, this is still a city

that is far from safe also cure. We can cross live to our

correspondent. Misrata, to the east of Tripoli,

has been the scene of very fierce fighting. Last night, there were

celebrations in the streets. We can talk to our correspondent in

Misrata. There is jubilation here. They have been through an

extraordinary ordeal here. I don't think anybody expected to see their

forces breaking into the capital this soon. It has been planned a

long time, the military committee here who led the battle to force

Gaddafi's forces are out of the city, they helped to plan this

uprising. It was a joint uprising in Tripoli. Forces going from here,

they cannot get here by road. The road is blocked. But several

hundreds of them went by boat instead, and joined the uprising in

Tripoli. They are pleased that operation has gone well, they are

planned it was better organised than previous opposition attempts.

There is also a realisation that it is not yet over. They are not yet

Pope -- not yet to be able to open the road. When that road has open,

they can say western Libya is in opposition hands.

As the Gaddafi regime crumbles, it is by no means certain that peace

and stability will follow. After four decades of repression and one-

man rule, the challenges of transforming Libya into a free and

democratic country are tremendous. Many of the tribal, ethnic and

ideological divisions in Libya are reflected within rebel ranks. And

though the goal of removing Gaddafi has unified them, that unity could

unravel once he is gone. Some of the prominent rebel leaders, like

the chairman of the National Transition Council, Mustafa Abdel

Jalil, were senior members of Gaddafi's government before they

defected and are viewed with suspicion by some Libyans. The

mysterious death last month of the rebels' military commander, Abdel

Fattah Younes, suggests there are fractures amongst their ranks.

General Younes, who was an interior minister under Gaddafi, is believed

to have been killed by rebel fighters. One of the key members of

Libya's National Transitional Council is Ahmed Jehani, who serves

as the National Transitional Council's minister for

Reconstruction and Infrastructure. He joins me now from Dubai, where

the National Transitional Council has established its headquarters

outside Libya. Tell me, do you speak with one voice? We know the

existence of divisions and factions within your movement. We are

learning to be democratic, so we are allowing 100 flowers to bloom.

But we do speak with one voice on the basic and main challenges

facing us. A do you believe you have the confidence and authority

of the Libyan people to do what you believe needs to be done? Yes, the

Libyan people have spoken so loudly, that they want to express their

views, and reach their objective of having a democratic state. We are

helping at this process. As Libyans, most of us are volunteering to

bring about a stable, secure all and just framework and environment

within which democracy will express itself. The mandate is the Libyan

people wanting what we want. We are all part of that. Our institutions

are evolving to deal with different phases. This phase is transitional.

Many of the ideas for transitions are geared towards nation-building,

such as reconciliation, and hopefully this will lead to the

constitutional live we are aiming for. If you look at post conflict

Egypt, we can see there is a political uncertainty, crime has

risen substantially. How can you restore order and minimise unrest?

There are huge fears about reprisals, obviously. We have been

thinking hard for the last few months on the day when our lives

were taken away from us. Now we are reclaiming it with a very serious

and hard headed attitude. There are issues of security, of course. We

are seeking help from the international community, and we are

addressing the operational side of bed, making sure there is no

destabilisation of the security aberrations -- security apparatus

that exists. We are dealing with different countries here. Libya is

smaller than Egypt. Libya is also fast. On this building security

apparatus, we understand they are specially trained forces trained

outside Libya. When will they go in to restore order, and do you want

for some -- do you want help from the international community?

Briefly, please. We are training at work people in Libya. We are

seeking the help of countries friendly to us. They it will be

training our people, and we are getting equipment and cars and

uniforms. That is the story. Very quickly, how do you fill with

today's events? -- How do you feel. It is the first day of our lives.

We are taking things very seriously, In a statement today, the Prime

Minister here David Cameron said Colonel Gaddafi's regime is "in

full retreat", but he added that the challenges ahead should not be

underestimated. Our Diplomatic Correspondent James Robbins reports

on the international reaction to today's events and looks towards

Libya's future. As rebels swept into Tripoli, they have much to

celebrate. Dislodging Colonel Gaddafi was extraordinarily

difficult and dangerous. It required outside help and then the

talk air campaign. The future for Libya remains uncertain and full of

risk, so well David Cameron peeled the achievement he did not hide

from the future challenges. There will be difficult you might, K.

Transition is never smooth or easy. But today, the Arab spring is one

step further away from repression and dictatorship and one step

closer to freedom and democracy, and the Libyan people are closer to

their dream of a better future, Lady from the terror of Gaddafi.

Can that dream up better future be made real? Rebels have been

persuaded not to take revenge on Gaddafi loyalists. By Colin all

Libyans to exercise self-restraint, and to respect of property and

lives of others, said they head of the rebel cows have. It is the

memory of Iraq after the toppling of Saddam Hussein which is the

nightmare, looting, Naeem and the descent into sectarian killing. But

Libya is not Iraq, but your position can 0.2 cities they hold

where law and order have not broken down. Rebels failed to prevent the

murder of General Abdul Younis, and accusations that he was the victim

of a power struggle. Looking further into the future, the number

one priority is transforming dictatorship into democracy. The

rebel opposition has drafted a new constitution. It promises a

democratic state based on law rather than tribal or personal

loyalty. It promises freedom of opinion, demonstration and mass

media. These are now just once, but the opposition NTC says that it is

committed to deliver. The NPC has, within its power, to show the West,

including showing members of ambivalent tribes that it is going

to move in line with professed liberal values. If it does that

early on and persuades people it has an excellent chance of avoiding

what happened MIraq. As the opposition celebrate in Benghazi,

its opposition will now come under intense scrutiny. Prospects are far

better than in Iraq because the Arab world was largely united

against Gaddafi, but still, it risks remain. With the battle for

Libya in its final stages, the whereabouts of Colonel Gaddafi is

still not known. There's speculation that he's under siege

in a part of Tripoli under his control. The White House has said

it believes Gaddafi is in Libya. Colonel Gaddafi himself has always

maintained he'll remain in Tripoli. With his four decades in power

drawing to a close, Allan Little looks at the man who's inspired

fear at home and funded terrorism abroad. Is there something in the

mind set of dictators that makes them blind to their own impending

downfall? This bizarre moment came in February, as rebel forces had

reportedly seized half his country. He seemed to imagine himself in --

invincible. They love me and would die to protect me, the Libyan

people. Gadaffi seized power in a coup d'etat in 1969, aged 27. Soon

his regime was marked by brutal repression at home and violence

abroad and Libya became isolated and fear. He back armed groups

around the world, and he helped arm the IRA. In 1984, someone opened

fire from inside the Libyan embassy in that London and policewoman

Yvonne Fletcher was killed. Nobody was ever brought to justice. Two

years later the United States blamed Libya for a bomb attack on a

Berlin nightclub that was full of US servicemen. The Americans born

his compound. He survived, defiant, strengthened in his own sense of

himself as heroic defender of the week against a strong. -- there are

strong. 270 died when a Pan Am jet en route to New York was bowled

over Lockerbie. The investigation is let to two Libyan agents and

Gadaffi refused to hand them over, but in 1999 he began a process that

would change his relationship with the outside world, first sending

the Lockerbie suspects for trial, then he announced he was renouncing

weapons of mass destruction to become an ally in mind the war on

terror. Western leaders embraced him. A for a country is prepared to

say that we're going to give up chemical and nuclear weapons

capability and we want a ceasefire, deceased ties with terrorist groups,

then we should open up to that. This required the diplomatic blind

eye to his continuing brutality at home, where he and his family were

feared and reviled. A popular uprising began in February and NATO

intervened in March, but he seemed to still believe in his impregnable

hold on power. Tonight, his personal fate remains undecided.

But his 42 year regime, his ability to rein through terror, is surely

now over. Andrew Mitchell is the International Development Secretary

in the UK. The Secretary of State said that everyone is mindful of

Iraq, our new also taking the lead in but post conflict planning here?

We are not taking the lead, but we will seek to learn lessons from a

rack. When I say we're not taking the lead, because the ownership of

the post gauntlet stabilisation must rest with the people in Libya.

What are you doing to support the n t see? We are heavily engaged and

have been for some months. We deployed a large team of

stabilisation experts into Benghazi. They were there for two weeks,

working with other coalition allies on stabilisation issues,

interacting with the rebels, and heavily engaged in workshops with

them to help develop the plan. But stabilisation, which will always be

complex and difficult is something in which Britain has some

experience, and I am proud and pleased about the leadership we

have shown on that, but at the end of the day, it has to be owned and

run and organised by the end T C. We have provided a service to them

to try and achieve that. Would that service extent to British forces

supporting, training, inside Libya, Libyan forces, to maintain

stability? That is extremely unlikely, not least because the NTC

has not asked for that sort of support. We are engaged in other

areas of security and justice, with providing technical assistance, and

a significant workshop with the NTC is going on today in Dubai. There

are several civil -- stabilisation expires across Whitehall who are

working with the n t c in a post conflict situation to develop

justice and security. In terms of support like that, Britain will be

significantly engaged. Are you confident that the National

Transitional Council does not have divisions within it, because there

are concerns that it is mostly made up of Libyans from the east and

that the Western rebels are not so well represented? The National

Transitional Council has been discussing with leaders of the free

were being forces in Tripoli. Its leader said in his press conference

today that this is a group that is both national and transitional.

What we will see in the next few days is a commitment to a process

that will last about eight months, that will produce a new

constitution and free elections at the end of that. The rebels swept

into many areas of Tripoli with speed that took many by surprise.

There were big celebrations in the opposition stronghold of Benghazi

in the east but the capital still faces an uncertain few days. Here

are some of Tripoli's residents with their own story of the past 24

hours. The Freedom fighters arrived and by evening the were in Green

Square in Shipperley, it is a great moment for us, a beautiful day for

us. -- in Tripoli. The rebels are prepared. They are not looking to

hire people. -- hurt people. Will local people in naturally and in

control of their neighbourhoods and control their memories. But it is -

- they are under fire from moment to moment. We cannot feel peace, we

cannot feel victory, until we see Gadaffi toppled. The future is

freedom, and not everyone gets this chance, to start on a new blank

Things are changing overnight. We are looking to the south. We're

getting some thundery downpours spilling into someone areas. We

have been watching developments in northern France, where there have

been some intense downpours. Some of these will appear from the north

on Tuesday morning. Whilst at risk for torrential thundery downpours

for the washer is an area from East Anglia down through the South East,

and central southern England. Rainfall amounts will be variable.

Some places will get 50 mm or more. That could cause some local

flooding. South West England will be dry, but we have won the of rain

running into eastern parts of South West England, in two wheels

although Western Wales should avoid the worst. It will be dry and

bright in Northern Ireland, some showers in Scotland, and showers

will be heavy and were frequent compared to today. We're seeing the

worst of the thundery, potential downpours cleaning into the North