:00:12. > :00:15.This is BBC World News Today with me Philippa Thomas.
:00:15. > :00:24.Tripoli is filled with gun fire. Thousands celebrate, but Gaddafi
:00:24. > :00:30.loyalists remain in control in some neighbourhoods.
:00:30. > :00:34.They are now firing rockets. You can hear one going in now.
:00:34. > :00:37.Wanted. Dead or alive. Rebels offer rewards to anyone who captures or
:00:37. > :00:40.kills Colonel Gaddafi. The leader pledges martyrdom or victory.
:00:40. > :00:45.More than 30 foreign journalists trapped in Tripoli's Rixos Hotel in
:00:45. > :00:49.recent days are now free to leave. The rebels are taking the upper
:00:49. > :00:59.hand in the fighting, but who will take political control? We look at
:00:59. > :01:07.
:01:07. > :01:10.in-fighting that could dominate Good evening.
:01:10. > :01:12.Libyan rebels have offered an amnesty and around $1.5 million for
:01:12. > :01:15.anyone who captures or kills Colonel Gaddafi. They have
:01:15. > :01:17.consolidated their grip on the capital Tripoli. Last night they
:01:17. > :01:22.managed to overrun Colonel Gaddafi's compound, but the
:01:22. > :01:25.embattled leader was not there. He has since broadcast a defiant
:01:25. > :01:35.speech, saying his decision to leave the compound was a "tactical
:01:35. > :01:56.
:01:56. > :02:01.retreat" and vowing to return victorious or die a martyr. For all
:02:01. > :02:10.the very latest let's cross live to Lyse Doucet in Tripoli. There had
:02:10. > :02:20.been intense clashes. However, there were some intense
:02:20. > :02:26.
:02:26. > :02:34.celebrations. We were in Martyr Square, a place where many had
:02:34. > :02:39.gathered. We are expecting families together there again to proclaim
:02:39. > :02:43.this is a free Libya. But last night saw one of the most decisive
:02:43. > :02:53.battles in what has been a six- month long battle for the control
:02:53. > :02:56.
:02:56. > :03:03.of Libya. As we enter Gaddafi's compound, it
:03:03. > :03:11.is obvious there is still fighting going on. Yesterday's liberation
:03:11. > :03:19.has not cleared all the diehard loyalists out. And this is about to
:03:19. > :03:22.get a lot more intense. So the rebels were driven back out of the
:03:22. > :03:27.centre of the compound this morning, back out to the outer wall. They
:03:27. > :03:37.have just stormed back in. They are now firing rockets into the middle
:03:37. > :03:51.
:03:51. > :03:55.of the compound. You can hear one To the left. This day! Stay! Once
:03:55. > :04:03.again, the assumption that the fighting is over is premature.
:04:03. > :04:07.Gaddafi's compound is a fortress with lots of tunnels and bunkers.
:04:07. > :04:14.This man believes Gaddafi is hiding underground. Do you think he is
:04:14. > :04:22.still in there? If you asked me about what I think, I do not think
:04:22. > :04:30.he is here. However, there are a lot of tunnels. He built the
:04:30. > :04:35.compound for this day, to stay running away from people. A but
:04:35. > :04:42.until Gaddafi is found, some here still won't dare to believe his
:04:42. > :04:52.dictatorship is really over. So when will you feel free? When I see
:04:52. > :04:53.
:04:53. > :04:59.the blood of Gaddafi on the road. Then I will be Frene! -- free!
:04:59. > :05:04.by the seat, we got a prince inside the life of the Gaddafi clan. This
:05:04. > :05:08.is the summer house of one of his sons. In one bedroom alone we found
:05:08. > :05:12.tens of thousands of pounds worth of designer clothing and shoes.
:05:12. > :05:16.When you see all these expensive things here, this is the problem.
:05:16. > :05:21.This is why the revolution has happened. Seen this will confirm
:05:21. > :05:26.what most Libyans have already expected - that the Gaddafi clan
:05:26. > :05:36.led alight of bulk or luxury and until they are called, this
:05:36. > :05:41.
:05:41. > :05:46.revolution will not be over. -- led a life of vulgar luxury.
:05:46. > :05:52.There was an audio message from Gaddafi this morning. Now there is
:05:52. > :05:57.a bounty on offer - more than �1 million for killing of capturing
:05:57. > :06:07.the man who imposed his politics on this country. Held by the fact that
:06:07. > :06:21.
:06:21. > :06:27.it is an oil-rich state. The hunt is on for the colonel. The rebels
:06:27. > :06:35.say the battle is not over until Gaddafi is found. I will do all I
:06:35. > :06:43.can to put him in a cage. The pro- Gaddafi TV channel was still trying
:06:43. > :06:49.to rally his troops, even as rebels took over his compound. From the
:06:49. > :06:59.man himself another audio message for of defiance and delusion.
:06:59. > :07:00.
:07:00. > :07:05.TRANSLATION: I walk through Tripoli by incognito. Nobody recognised me.
:07:05. > :07:10.The City is not in danger. He even claimed to have walked incognito in
:07:10. > :07:16.the capital where today we found many areas deserted and lifeless.
:07:16. > :07:22.Some believe he made be below ground in a bunker. Others believe
:07:22. > :07:26.he fled Tripoli for his home town. It is clear that Colonel Gaddafi
:07:26. > :07:31.can never have ruled the streets again, but he had an iron grip on
:07:31. > :07:36.this city and this country for more than 40 years and that has left its
:07:36. > :07:42.mark. Even now after everything that has happened, some are still
:07:42. > :07:46.afraid to speak about him. By the sea shore, some were escaping
:07:46. > :07:52.detention. We approached three families here. None were prepared
:07:52. > :07:57.to be interviewed. Then we met this family - professionals who spend
:07:57. > :08:04.half their time in Britain and were not afraid to wear for in Libya's
:08:04. > :08:09.new day. I am celebrating and I am happy because I am thinking about
:08:09. > :08:15.my children. I think about their future and the future of Libya.
:08:15. > :08:21.Everybody's future. There was no future before. The children of the
:08:21. > :08:25.Gaddafi era of finding a new voice. We could speak freely to each other
:08:25. > :08:34.on the phone and we could mention Gaddafi and took against him. It
:08:34. > :08:40.was the first time. Other than that, we have all been talking before in
:08:41. > :08:47.a coded way and not that directly. We evening, Martyr Square downtown
:08:47. > :08:57.becomes a place of celebration. Where ever Colonel Gaddafi may be
:08:57. > :08:58.
:08:58. > :09:08.hiding, he cannot undo this. -- wherever. Another building that
:09:08. > :09:16.
:09:16. > :09:21.came under rebel control was the luxury Rixos Hotel.
:09:21. > :09:31.We seem to have lost contact. We will try to go back to that report
:09:31. > :09:32.
:09:32. > :09:37.to give you the latest from Tripoli. We will try again now. We lost
:09:37. > :09:43.power here. This whole area has been plunged into darkness. There
:09:44. > :09:50.is no electricity. We are being powered by a generator. It is an
:09:50. > :09:53.extraordinary day here in the capital.
:09:53. > :09:56.More than 30 foreign journalists who had been trapped by pro-Gaddafi
:09:56. > :10:06.fighters in a Tripoli hotel since Sunday have been freed. The Rixos
:10:06. > :10:08.
:10:08. > :10:11.Hotel is just a couple of miles from Colonel Gaddafi's compound.
:10:11. > :10:14.Amongst them was a BBC team of five, including our correspondent Matthew
:10:14. > :10:18.Price. He's been speaking to his BBC colleague Wyre Davies about the
:10:18. > :10:23.ordeal. We had no idea this was going on. The TV has been of
:10:24. > :10:27.because of the electricity. We had no idea Tripoli was like this. We
:10:27. > :10:32.even had some newspaper journalist come into the hotel asking why we
:10:32. > :10:36.were still there. The reason we were still there is because we had
:10:36. > :10:41.two gunmen, loyal to Colonel Gaddafi, who still believe the City
:10:41. > :10:45.could be won by a Colonel Gaddafi's forces. They said they had been
:10:45. > :10:49.ordered to keep us inside to keep a safe. I mean, it was remarkable
:10:50. > :10:59.that they still believed all of that, despite what was happening
:11:00. > :11:04.
:11:04. > :11:12.around them. Has the net closed on Gaddafi? Were there are times --
:11:12. > :11:22.were there times with the armed guards where you felt -- Fiat for
:11:22. > :11:32.
:11:32. > :11:35.the words? Yes. -- feared for the worst. The next day was more
:11:35. > :11:45.frightening. On Monday morning we were cut and there were gunmen in
:11:45. > :11:47.
:11:47. > :11:57.the hotel that we had not seen before. -- we were Cup. They mainly
:11:57. > :12:01.
:12:01. > :12:11.left alone. We had to start stockpiling suppliers. We did
:12:11. > :12:11.
:12:11. > :12:20.wonder how safe we were. Organisations like the media, the
:12:20. > :12:24.BBC, they are seen as the enemy. However, we did feel that there
:12:24. > :12:29.might not be a threat... But the government was using the hotel as a
:12:30. > :12:34.cover. They were broadcasting state television from the hotel and
:12:34. > :12:41.monitoring your communications. Did you ever feel that you might be
:12:41. > :12:47.used as human shields as the last defence of a regime is desperate.
:12:47. > :12:51.Yes. The hotel is a B complex. I got a one. On Monday where I
:12:51. > :12:54.thought to have won a second, they are going to use this as a barracks
:12:54. > :13:00.for the Army for one last stand and if they do that, what will happen
:13:00. > :13:04.to Wells? That is when all be journalists started sleeping out in
:13:04. > :13:10.the same corridor, knowing that if we needed to, we could run into a
:13:10. > :13:15.save run. However, we found her we had no viable escape route. We did
:13:15. > :13:24.not know what was going on and that the majority of the streets were in
:13:24. > :13:30.rebel control. Well, Colonel Gaddafi's reign comes to were
:13:30. > :13:36.violent end and a new order has to be built from scratch. The National
:13:36. > :13:43.Transitional Council were meant to come here today, but they have
:13:43. > :13:48.decided to wait. We go to our Correspondent in Benghazi. What was
:13:49. > :13:56.the reason for the delay? opposite - that the obvious one. It
:13:56. > :14:06.is not secured. There has been cautioned from the leadership of
:14:06. > :14:09.
:14:09. > :14:16.the opposition. That is in contrast to the celebrations on the street.
:14:16. > :14:25.In Gaddafi's birthplace, he has got a lot of resources. Many are still
:14:25. > :14:31.loyal to him and are not really under threat from the rebel army.
:14:31. > :14:36.There is a lot of work left to do and today has been an
:14:36. > :14:40.acknowledgement of the over exhilaration of the weekend. The
:14:40. > :14:50.opposition are not quite ready to be the four governments but this
:14:50. > :14:51.
:14:51. > :14:54.country. We understand that there is a conference on September 1st.
:14:54. > :15:04.What will be a rebel leadership be looking for from the outside
:15:04. > :15:13.
:15:13. > :15:23.community? The first thing is cash, frankly. It has been an ironic
:15:23. > :15:33.situation. They need money. In the long-term though, this country is
:15:33. > :15:44.
:15:44. > :15:47.They will have enormous amounts of support and goodwill. They may need
:15:47. > :15:57.technical assistance, for example, the training of the police force
:15:57. > :15:58.
:15:58. > :16:07.and things like that. We have not The sun has set on yet another
:16:07. > :16:11.extraordinary day here. Down in Green Square the rallying cry is
:16:11. > :16:17.free Libya. There have been shouting at Colonel Gaddafi is dead
:16:17. > :16:22.in Arabic. But where is he? There is now a bounty on his head of more
:16:22. > :16:30.than �1 million for capturing the man who has dominated, personalised
:16:30. > :16:35.and abused hip -- abused power here for 42 years. This is a city which
:16:35. > :16:41.is still uncertain and dangerous. The most intense clashes have been
:16:41. > :16:48.taking place -- place through the day. Libyans a weight something new
:16:48. > :16:58.and different now. They are telling us they will be patient. They will
:16:58. > :17:00.
:17:01. > :17:04.clearly expect something different. Robert Hunter is former US
:17:04. > :17:06.ambassador to NATO, and Director of Middle East Affairs in the Carter
:17:06. > :17:10.administration. He's now at the National Defense University in
:17:10. > :17:20.Washington. I asked him if NATO's Libya mission can been called a
:17:20. > :17:22.
:17:22. > :17:26.success. I think you have to say it has been because it did provide air
:17:26. > :17:32.support of the rebels under the guise of simply protecting
:17:32. > :17:38.civilians. But NATO where the air power. But the Libyans themselves
:17:38. > :17:43.on the ground made an effective combination. So this was something
:17:43. > :17:51.to be supported. There were no defections, nobody backed away from
:17:51. > :17:56.it. I think NATO made a definite critical difference. In the past
:17:56. > :17:59.you were critical of European powers within NATO, in Bosnia
:17:59. > :18:05.especially, for doing too little, too late. Have they redeem
:18:05. > :18:09.themselves with Britain and France at the forefront here? -- redeemed.
:18:09. > :18:12.I was critical of the US at the start when we held back and only
:18:13. > :18:18.provided a certain kind of support function rather than active
:18:18. > :18:22.military engagement and left it to the Europeans. But in retrospect I
:18:22. > :18:26.think this will increase the reputation of European allies in
:18:26. > :18:35.this country, including with the Congress and the administration.
:18:35. > :18:40.The Europeans took the lead. Everybody but Germany. They made a
:18:40. > :18:45.success of it and that was used for to the alliance. It is a useful
:18:45. > :18:50.precedent for Washington, isn't it? At a time were it is hard to make
:18:50. > :18:56.the case for intervention overseas. We are still fighting two was
:18:56. > :19:01.directly in Afghanistan, very unpopular. -- walls. It is coming
:19:01. > :19:06.up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11, everybody wants to get out of Iraq
:19:06. > :19:10.as soon as possible, we are still fighting there. The idea of going
:19:10. > :19:15.in with boots on the ground and Libya was very unpopular. So what
:19:15. > :19:18.the Europeans have done on this will go down well, I think.
:19:18. > :19:23.there a sense in which the Europeans have come to the rescue
:19:23. > :19:30.of President Obama? His hands are tied. He was the anti-war candidate,
:19:30. > :19:33.making the case for intervention in Libya, was not a popular one.
:19:33. > :19:38.not think it is very rescuing the President because he was prepared
:19:38. > :19:42.to do things even more than some of his administration. But the fact
:19:42. > :19:47.that the Europeans did this has helped to validate the
:19:47. > :19:54.transatlantic relationship, to validate the use of NATO and show
:19:54. > :19:59.that the US has partners on whom we can rely. To that extent it has
:19:59. > :20:07.been very good for the President. What do you think NATO's role
:20:07. > :20:13.should be post conflict? At this stage it is to continue with air
:20:13. > :20:19.power but the real challenge is when the fighting stops. I think
:20:19. > :20:29.everybody in Europe and the US have to understand that responsibility
:20:29. > :20:30.
:20:30. > :20:36.for what happens in North Africa will go on for a long time. There
:20:36. > :20:44.are problems of immigration, potential violence, terrorism, of
:20:44. > :20:50.instability on the northern shores of North Africa. It means nobody
:20:50. > :20:57.can walk away from this. It will be expensive, time-consuming. We are
:20:57. > :21:00.in it for the long haul. We have no choice. Ghazi Gheblawi is a Libyan
:21:00. > :21:07.writer and blogger, living and working here in London. He joins me
:21:07. > :21:11.now. I can see how happy you are about the news that has come
:21:12. > :21:18.through. Are you now getting a flood of communication from people
:21:18. > :21:24.who were unable to speak? Quite a few. Some of them who have been
:21:24. > :21:28.detained for long periods of time and have been released. And also
:21:28. > :21:38.people we were speaking to but we were not speaking out loud, off
:21:38. > :21:40.
:21:40. > :21:47.really. -- or with any freedom. We were speaking in code. People have
:21:47. > :21:51.started to communicate now. It is amazing that the new government is
:21:51. > :22:01.giving out credit for mobile services for people to contact
:22:01. > :22:03.
:22:03. > :22:08.You get every sense from people you speak to that there is jubilation,
:22:08. > :22:13.a sense of freedom, they can speak out loud with no problem. There is
:22:13. > :22:21.also the psychological factor. You were saying yourself, you get used
:22:21. > :22:28.to having a double personality in this kind of situation. For example,
:22:28. > :22:34.for myself, and other writers, they would write and publish in the
:22:34. > :22:40.state media and sometimes they could not say what they really
:22:40. > :22:43.wanted. Sometimes they could not publish what they wanted so they
:22:43. > :22:49.needed to publish it in the outside world. Some of them would write
:22:49. > :22:52.something that is quite damning to the regime before, and they would
:22:52. > :22:56.publish it outside in a place that the regime could not reach. At
:22:56. > :23:02.least they could get it off their chest. But in the country itself,
:23:02. > :23:12.when you sit with your family there is complete opposition to the
:23:12. > :23:12.
:23:12. > :23:16.regime. I speak from personal experience, we have a family, we
:23:16. > :23:21.are all in opposition for a long time. Libyan people have been
:23:21. > :23:26.unable to speak out and reach out, but there is also the fact that we
:23:26. > :23:32.have not been able to understand as much as we would like to, and now
:23:32. > :23:41.rising look at what the NTC my doing running Libya, there is this
:23:41. > :23:49.they're that be could oversimplify it? -- There is a fear we could
:23:49. > :23:58.It is a normal country but it has a unique culture and history and
:23:58. > :24:06.background. And sometimes the media has been criticised that they
:24:06. > :24:11.sometimes look at things as superficial, as we saw in the
:24:11. > :24:18.tragedy of Rixos Hotel. Many people were fed propaganda from the regime.
:24:18. > :24:28.The media fell into it. We look at East and West with Libya, but it is
:24:28. > :24:29.
:24:29. > :24:34.more than that, it is a mosaic of people. Of course. My father was
:24:34. > :24:40.born in the mountains, I was born in Tripoli, I know lots of families
:24:40. > :24:43.from the east and west. The mother is from Misrata, the father from
:24:43. > :24:48.Benghazi, someone else from Tripoli, but they live in the middle of this
:24:48. > :24:54.country. It is not about East and West, there is no division you can
:24:54. > :25:00.distinguish. For example, Tripoli is a metropolis. All the tribes are
:25:00. > :25:05.there, the people from every place. You're an optimist believe in one
:25:05. > :25:12.government can pull these people together? There is a big hope that
:25:12. > :25:17.will happen. What the regime did was not include all the Libyan
:25:17. > :25:22.people. There was a minority of the people of Libya who were involved
:25:22. > :25:31.in this regime. Now we are trying to make it more exclusive. It is a
:25:31. > :25:34.difficult task. It is a big challenge but at the same time
:25:34. > :25:39.people will be given positions because of their merit, not because
:25:39. > :25:45.of their loyalty to a regime, or a government. An opportunity but a
:25:45. > :25:48.challenge. Thank you for coming to speak with us. Now a look at some
:25:48. > :25:50.of the day's other news... Russian investigators have detained a
:25:50. > :25:53.former police officer on suspicion of organising the murder of Anna
:25:53. > :25:56.Politkovskaya. The reporter, who was renowned for her criticism of
:25:56. > :26:00.the Kremlin and her coverage of the Chechen conflict, was killed five
:26:00. > :26:03.years ago. The former officer was arrested on suspicion of hiring a
:26:03. > :26:05.contract killer. Russia says North Korea is ready to resume
:26:05. > :26:08.international talks on ending its nuclear programme. On his first
:26:08. > :26:18.visit to Russia in almost a decade, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il
:26:18. > :26:21.The talks also covered Russia's plan to build a gas pipeline to
:26:21. > :26:23.South Korea through the North. American and European officials at
:26:23. > :26:25.the UN have drawn up a draft resolution calling for
:26:25. > :26:27.international sanctions against the Syrian government. It condemns
:26:27. > :26:37.human rights abuses by security forces against anti-government
:26:37. > :26:40.protesters. But Russia, which has a Council veto, said it was not the
:26:40. > :26:43.right time to target President Assad with sanctions. Hurricane
:26:43. > :26:47.Irene has strengthened to a major Category 3 storm as it approaches
:26:47. > :26:57.the US east coast. Irene brought torrential rain and strong winds to
:26:57. > :27:00.
:27:00. > :27:03.the Dominican Republic, and cut Thank you for staying with us.
:27:04. > :27:08.After the showers today heavy rain spread up from south-west England
:27:08. > :27:13.through the Midlands, reaching Yorkshire and Lincolnshire later.
:27:13. > :27:17.Once that clears, some sunshine but also heavy showers. Low pressure is
:27:17. > :27:22.the driving force. This weather front is the troublemaker, the
:27:22. > :27:27.energy that runs along that overnight gives the heavy rain.
:27:27. > :27:30.Tomorrow, heavy and thundery bursts of rain. Eventually, by the end of
:27:30. > :27:36.the afternoon most of it has gone. A few lingering showers and
:27:36. > :27:44.thunderstorms. Most places should turn drier. Don't expected to be
:27:44. > :27:51.particularly warm. -- expect it to be. Good sunshine through Central
:27:51. > :27:54.England into the Midlands. But into Wales, slow-moving showers. You
:27:54. > :27:59.could get some storms after another, whereas just down the road you
:27:59. > :28:02.could stay dry. If you get caught in one of these showers you will
:28:02. > :28:09.know about it. A scattering of heavy showers in Northern Ireland,
:28:09. > :28:13.some showers with sunshine in between in Scotland. Thicker cloud