Browse content similar to 24/08/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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This is BBC World News Today with me Philippa Thomas. | :00:12. | :00:15. | |
Tripoli is filled with gun fire. Thousands celebrate, but Gaddafi | :00:15. | :00:24. | |
loyalists remain in control in some neighbourhoods. | :00:24. | :00:30. | |
They are now firing rockets. You can hear one going in now. | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
Wanted. Dead or alive. Rebels offer rewards to anyone who captures or | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
kills Colonel Gaddafi. The leader pledges martyrdom or victory. | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
More than 30 foreign journalists trapped in Tripoli's Rixos Hotel in | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
recent days are now free to leave. The rebels are taking the upper | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
hand in the fighting, but who will take political control? We look at | :00:49. | :00:59. | |
:00:59. | :01:07. | ||
in-fighting that could dominate Good evening. | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
Libyan rebels have offered an amnesty and around $1.5 million for | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
anyone who captures or kills Colonel Gaddafi. They have | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
consolidated their grip on the capital Tripoli. Last night they | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
managed to overrun Colonel Gaddafi's compound, but the | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
embattled leader was not there. He has since broadcast a defiant | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
speech, saying his decision to leave the compound was a "tactical | :01:25. | :01:35. | |
:01:35. | :01:56. | ||
retreat" and vowing to return victorious or die a martyr. For all | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
the very latest let's cross live to Lyse Doucet in Tripoli. There had | :02:01. | :02:10. | |
been intense clashes. However, there were some intense | :02:10. | :02:20. | |
:02:20. | :02:26. | ||
celebrations. We were in Martyr Square, a place where many had | :02:26. | :02:34. | |
gathered. We are expecting families together there again to proclaim | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
this is a free Libya. But last night saw one of the most decisive | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
battles in what has been a six- month long battle for the control | :02:43. | :02:53. | |
:02:53. | :02:56. | ||
of Libya. As we enter Gaddafi's compound, it | :02:56. | :03:03. | |
is obvious there is still fighting going on. Yesterday's liberation | :03:03. | :03:11. | |
has not cleared all the diehard loyalists out. And this is about to | :03:11. | :03:19. | |
get a lot more intense. So the rebels were driven back out of the | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
centre of the compound this morning, back out to the outer wall. They | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
have just stormed back in. They are now firing rockets into the middle | :03:27. | :03:37. | |
:03:37. | :03:51. | ||
of the compound. You can hear one To the left. This day! Stay! Once | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
again, the assumption that the fighting is over is premature. | :03:55. | :04:03. | |
Gaddafi's compound is a fortress with lots of tunnels and bunkers. | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
This man believes Gaddafi is hiding underground. Do you think he is | :04:07. | :04:14. | |
still in there? If you asked me about what I think, I do not think | :04:14. | :04:22. | |
he is here. However, there are a lot of tunnels. He built the | :04:22. | :04:30. | |
compound for this day, to stay running away from people. A but | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
until Gaddafi is found, some here still won't dare to believe his | :04:35. | :04:42. | |
dictatorship is really over. So when will you feel free? When I see | :04:42. | :04:52. | |
:04:52. | :04:53. | ||
the blood of Gaddafi on the road. Then I will be Frene! -- free! | :04:53. | :04:59. | |
by the seat, we got a prince inside the life of the Gaddafi clan. This | :04:59. | :05:04. | |
is the summer house of one of his sons. In one bedroom alone we found | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
tens of thousands of pounds worth of designer clothing and shoes. | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
When you see all these expensive things here, this is the problem. | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
This is why the revolution has happened. Seen this will confirm | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
what most Libyans have already expected - that the Gaddafi clan | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
led alight of bulk or luxury and until they are called, this | :05:26. | :05:36. | |
:05:36. | :05:41. | ||
revolution will not be over. -- led a life of vulgar luxury. | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
There was an audio message from Gaddafi this morning. Now there is | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
a bounty on offer - more than �1 million for killing of capturing | :05:52. | :05:57. | |
the man who imposed his politics on this country. Held by the fact that | :05:57. | :06:07. | |
:06:07. | :06:21. | ||
it is an oil-rich state. The hunt is on for the colonel. The rebels | :06:21. | :06:27. | |
say the battle is not over until Gaddafi is found. I will do all I | :06:27. | :06:35. | |
can to put him in a cage. The pro- Gaddafi TV channel was still trying | :06:35. | :06:43. | |
to rally his troops, even as rebels took over his compound. From the | :06:43. | :06:49. | |
man himself another audio message for of defiance and delusion. | :06:49. | :06:59. | |
:06:59. | :07:00. | ||
TRANSLATION: I walk through Tripoli by incognito. Nobody recognised me. | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
The City is not in danger. He even claimed to have walked incognito in | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
the capital where today we found many areas deserted and lifeless. | :07:10. | :07:16. | |
Some believe he made be below ground in a bunker. Others believe | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
he fled Tripoli for his home town. It is clear that Colonel Gaddafi | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
can never have ruled the streets again, but he had an iron grip on | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
this city and this country for more than 40 years and that has left its | :07:31. | :07:36. | |
mark. Even now after everything that has happened, some are still | :07:36. | :07:42. | |
afraid to speak about him. By the sea shore, some were escaping | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
detention. We approached three families here. None were prepared | :07:46. | :07:52. | |
to be interviewed. Then we met this family - professionals who spend | :07:52. | :07:57. | |
half their time in Britain and were not afraid to wear for in Libya's | :07:57. | :08:04. | |
new day. I am celebrating and I am happy because I am thinking about | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
my children. I think about their future and the future of Libya. | :08:09. | :08:15. | |
Everybody's future. There was no future before. The children of the | :08:15. | :08:21. | |
Gaddafi era of finding a new voice. We could speak freely to each other | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
on the phone and we could mention Gaddafi and took against him. It | :08:25. | :08:34. | |
was the first time. Other than that, we have all been talking before in | :08:34. | :08:40. | |
a coded way and not that directly. We evening, Martyr Square downtown | :08:41. | :08:47. | |
becomes a place of celebration. Where ever Colonel Gaddafi may be | :08:47. | :08:57. | |
:08:57. | :08:58. | ||
hiding, he cannot undo this. -- wherever. Another building that | :08:58. | :09:08. | |
:09:08. | :09:16. | ||
came under rebel control was the luxury Rixos Hotel. | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
We seem to have lost contact. We will try to go back to that report | :09:21. | :09:31. | |
:09:31. | :09:32. | ||
to give you the latest from Tripoli. We will try again now. We lost | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
power here. This whole area has been plunged into darkness. There | :09:37. | :09:43. | |
is no electricity. We are being powered by a generator. It is an | :09:44. | :09:50. | |
extraordinary day here in the capital. | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
More than 30 foreign journalists who had been trapped by pro-Gaddafi | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
fighters in a Tripoli hotel since Sunday have been freed. The Rixos | :09:56. | :10:06. | |
:10:06. | :10:08. | ||
Hotel is just a couple of miles from Colonel Gaddafi's compound. | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
Amongst them was a BBC team of five, including our correspondent Matthew | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
Price. He's been speaking to his BBC colleague Wyre Davies about the | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
ordeal. We had no idea this was going on. The TV has been of | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
because of the electricity. We had no idea Tripoli was like this. We | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
even had some newspaper journalist come into the hotel asking why we | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
were still there. The reason we were still there is because we had | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
two gunmen, loyal to Colonel Gaddafi, who still believe the City | :10:36. | :10:41. | |
could be won by a Colonel Gaddafi's forces. They said they had been | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
ordered to keep us inside to keep a safe. I mean, it was remarkable | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
that they still believed all of that, despite what was happening | :10:50. | :10:59. | |
:11:00. | :11:04. | ||
around them. Has the net closed on Gaddafi? Were there are times -- | :11:04. | :11:12. | |
were there times with the armed guards where you felt -- Fiat for | :11:12. | :11:22. | |
:11:22. | :11:32. | ||
the words? Yes. -- feared for the worst. The next day was more | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
frightening. On Monday morning we were cut and there were gunmen in | :11:35. | :11:45. | |
:11:45. | :11:47. | ||
the hotel that we had not seen before. -- we were Cup. They mainly | :11:47. | :11:57. | |
:11:57. | :12:01. | ||
left alone. We had to start stockpiling suppliers. We did | :12:01. | :12:11. | |
:12:11. | :12:11. | ||
wonder how safe we were. Organisations like the media, the | :12:11. | :12:20. | |
BBC, they are seen as the enemy. However, we did feel that there | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
might not be a threat... But the government was using the hotel as a | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
cover. They were broadcasting state television from the hotel and | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
monitoring your communications. Did you ever feel that you might be | :12:34. | :12:41. | |
used as human shields as the last defence of a regime is desperate. | :12:41. | :12:47. | |
Yes. The hotel is a B complex. I got a one. On Monday where I | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
thought to have won a second, they are going to use this as a barracks | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
for the Army for one last stand and if they do that, what will happen | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
to Wells? That is when all be journalists started sleeping out in | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
the same corridor, knowing that if we needed to, we could run into a | :13:04. | :13:10. | |
save run. However, we found her we had no viable escape route. We did | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
not know what was going on and that the majority of the streets were in | :13:15. | :13:24. | |
rebel control. Well, Colonel Gaddafi's reign comes to were | :13:24. | :13:30. | |
violent end and a new order has to be built from scratch. The National | :13:30. | :13:36. | |
Transitional Council were meant to come here today, but they have | :13:36. | :13:43. | |
decided to wait. We go to our Correspondent in Benghazi. What was | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
the reason for the delay? opposite - that the obvious one. It | :13:49. | :13:56. | |
is not secured. There has been cautioned from the leadership of | :13:56. | :14:06. | |
:14:06. | :14:09. | ||
the opposition. That is in contrast to the celebrations on the street. | :14:09. | :14:16. | |
In Gaddafi's birthplace, he has got a lot of resources. Many are still | :14:16. | :14:25. | |
loyal to him and are not really under threat from the rebel army. | :14:25. | :14:31. | |
There is a lot of work left to do and today has been an | :14:31. | :14:36. | |
acknowledgement of the over exhilaration of the weekend. The | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
opposition are not quite ready to be the four governments but this | :14:40. | :14:50. | |
:14:50. | :14:51. | ||
country. We understand that there is a conference on September 1st. | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
What will be a rebel leadership be looking for from the outside | :14:54. | :15:04. | |
:15:04. | :15:13. | ||
community? The first thing is cash, frankly. It has been an ironic | :15:13. | :15:23. | |
situation. They need money. In the long-term though, this country is | :15:23. | :15:33. | |
:15:33. | :15:44. | ||
They will have enormous amounts of support and goodwill. They may need | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
technical assistance, for example, the training of the police force | :15:47. | :15:57. | |
:15:57. | :15:58. | ||
and things like that. We have not The sun has set on yet another | :15:58. | :16:07. | |
extraordinary day here. Down in Green Square the rallying cry is | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
free Libya. There have been shouting at Colonel Gaddafi is dead | :16:11. | :16:17. | |
in Arabic. But where is he? There is now a bounty on his head of more | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
than �1 million for capturing the man who has dominated, personalised | :16:22. | :16:30. | |
and abused hip -- abused power here for 42 years. This is a city which | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
is still uncertain and dangerous. The most intense clashes have been | :16:35. | :16:41. | |
taking place -- place through the day. Libyans a weight something new | :16:41. | :16:48. | |
and different now. They are telling us they will be patient. They will | :16:48. | :16:58. | |
:16:58. | :17:00. | ||
clearly expect something different. Robert Hunter is former US | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
ambassador to NATO, and Director of Middle East Affairs in the Carter | :17:04. | :17:06. | |
administration. He's now at the National Defense University in | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
Washington. I asked him if NATO's Libya mission can been called a | :17:10. | :17:20. | |
:17:20. | :17:22. | ||
success. I think you have to say it has been because it did provide air | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
support of the rebels under the guise of simply protecting | :17:26. | :17:32. | |
civilians. But NATO where the air power. But the Libyans themselves | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
on the ground made an effective combination. So this was something | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
to be supported. There were no defections, nobody backed away from | :17:43. | :17:51. | |
it. I think NATO made a definite critical difference. In the past | :17:51. | :17:56. | |
you were critical of European powers within NATO, in Bosnia | :17:56. | :17:59. | |
especially, for doing too little, too late. Have they redeem | :17:59. | :18:05. | |
themselves with Britain and France at the forefront here? -- redeemed. | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
I was critical of the US at the start when we held back and only | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
provided a certain kind of support function rather than active | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
military engagement and left it to the Europeans. But in retrospect I | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
think this will increase the reputation of European allies in | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
this country, including with the Congress and the administration. | :18:26. | :18:35. | |
The Europeans took the lead. Everybody but Germany. They made a | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
success of it and that was used for to the alliance. It is a useful | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
precedent for Washington, isn't it? At a time were it is hard to make | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
the case for intervention overseas. We are still fighting two was | :18:50. | :18:56. | |
directly in Afghanistan, very unpopular. -- walls. It is coming | :18:56. | :19:01. | |
up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11, everybody wants to get out of Iraq | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
as soon as possible, we are still fighting there. The idea of going | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
in with boots on the ground and Libya was very unpopular. So what | :19:10. | :19:15. | |
the Europeans have done on this will go down well, I think. | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
there a sense in which the Europeans have come to the rescue | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
of President Obama? His hands are tied. He was the anti-war candidate, | :19:23. | :19:30. | |
making the case for intervention in Libya, was not a popular one. | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
not think it is very rescuing the President because he was prepared | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
to do things even more than some of his administration. But the fact | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
that the Europeans did this has helped to validate the | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
transatlantic relationship, to validate the use of NATO and show | :19:47. | :19:54. | |
that the US has partners on whom we can rely. To that extent it has | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
been very good for the President. What do you think NATO's role | :19:59. | :20:07. | |
should be post conflict? At this stage it is to continue with air | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
power but the real challenge is when the fighting stops. I think | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
everybody in Europe and the US have to understand that responsibility | :20:19. | :20:29. | |
:20:29. | :20:30. | ||
for what happens in North Africa will go on for a long time. There | :20:30. | :20:36. | |
are problems of immigration, potential violence, terrorism, of | :20:36. | :20:44. | |
instability on the northern shores of North Africa. It means nobody | :20:44. | :20:50. | |
can walk away from this. It will be expensive, time-consuming. We are | :20:50. | :20:57. | |
in it for the long haul. We have no choice. Ghazi Gheblawi is a Libyan | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
writer and blogger, living and working here in London. He joins me | :21:00. | :21:07. | |
now. I can see how happy you are about the news that has come | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
through. Are you now getting a flood of communication from people | :21:12. | :21:18. | |
who were unable to speak? Quite a few. Some of them who have been | :21:18. | :21:24. | |
detained for long periods of time and have been released. And also | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
people we were speaking to but we were not speaking out loud, off | :21:28. | :21:38. | |
:21:38. | :21:40. | ||
really. -- or with any freedom. We were speaking in code. People have | :21:40. | :21:47. | |
started to communicate now. It is amazing that the new government is | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
giving out credit for mobile services for people to contact | :21:51. | :22:01. | |
:22:01. | :22:03. | ||
You get every sense from people you speak to that there is jubilation, | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
a sense of freedom, they can speak out loud with no problem. There is | :22:08. | :22:13. | |
also the psychological factor. You were saying yourself, you get used | :22:13. | :22:21. | |
to having a double personality in this kind of situation. For example, | :22:21. | :22:28. | |
for myself, and other writers, they would write and publish in the | :22:28. | :22:34. | |
state media and sometimes they could not say what they really | :22:34. | :22:40. | |
wanted. Sometimes they could not publish what they wanted so they | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
needed to publish it in the outside world. Some of them would write | :22:43. | :22:49. | |
something that is quite damning to the regime before, and they would | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
publish it outside in a place that the regime could not reach. At | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
least they could get it off their chest. But in the country itself, | :22:56. | :23:02. | |
when you sit with your family there is complete opposition to the | :23:02. | :23:12. | |
:23:12. | :23:12. | ||
regime. I speak from personal experience, we have a family, we | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
are all in opposition for a long time. Libyan people have been | :23:16. | :23:21. | |
unable to speak out and reach out, but there is also the fact that we | :23:21. | :23:26. | |
have not been able to understand as much as we would like to, and now | :23:26. | :23:32. | |
rising look at what the NTC my doing running Libya, there is this | :23:32. | :23:41. | |
they're that be could oversimplify it? -- There is a fear we could | :23:41. | :23:49. | |
It is a normal country but it has a unique culture and history and | :23:49. | :23:58. | |
background. And sometimes the media has been criticised that they | :23:58. | :24:06. | |
sometimes look at things as superficial, as we saw in the | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
tragedy of Rixos Hotel. Many people were fed propaganda from the regime. | :24:11. | :24:18. | |
The media fell into it. We look at East and West with Libya, but it is | :24:18. | :24:28. | |
:24:28. | :24:29. | ||
more than that, it is a mosaic of people. Of course. My father was | :24:29. | :24:34. | |
born in the mountains, I was born in Tripoli, I know lots of families | :24:34. | :24:40. | |
from the east and west. The mother is from Misrata, the father from | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
Benghazi, someone else from Tripoli, but they live in the middle of this | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
country. It is not about East and West, there is no division you can | :24:48. | :24:54. | |
distinguish. For example, Tripoli is a metropolis. All the tribes are | :24:54. | :25:00. | |
there, the people from every place. You're an optimist believe in one | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
government can pull these people together? There is a big hope that | :25:05. | :25:12. | |
will happen. What the regime did was not include all the Libyan | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
people. There was a minority of the people of Libya who were involved | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
in this regime. Now we are trying to make it more exclusive. It is a | :25:22. | :25:31. | |
difficult task. It is a big challenge but at the same time | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
people will be given positions because of their merit, not because | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
of their loyalty to a regime, or a government. An opportunity but a | :25:39. | :25:45. | |
challenge. Thank you for coming to speak with us. Now a look at some | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
of the day's other news... Russian investigators have detained a | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
former police officer on suspicion of organising the murder of Anna | :25:50. | :25:53. | |
Politkovskaya. The reporter, who was renowned for her criticism of | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
the Kremlin and her coverage of the Chechen conflict, was killed five | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
years ago. The former officer was arrested on suspicion of hiring a | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
contract killer. Russia says North Korea is ready to resume | :26:03. | :26:05. | |
international talks on ending its nuclear programme. On his first | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
visit to Russia in almost a decade, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il | :26:08. | :26:18. | |
The talks also covered Russia's plan to build a gas pipeline to | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
South Korea through the North. American and European officials at | :26:21. | :26:23. | |
the UN have drawn up a draft resolution calling for | :26:23. | :26:25. | |
international sanctions against the Syrian government. It condemns | :26:25. | :26:27. | |
human rights abuses by security forces against anti-government | :26:27. | :26:37. | |
protesters. But Russia, which has a Council veto, said it was not the | :26:37. | :26:40. | |
right time to target President Assad with sanctions. Hurricane | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
Irene has strengthened to a major Category 3 storm as it approaches | :26:43. | :26:47. | |
the US east coast. Irene brought torrential rain and strong winds to | :26:47. | :26:57. | |
:26:57. | :27:00. | ||
the Dominican Republic, and cut Thank you for staying with us. | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
After the showers today heavy rain spread up from south-west England | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
through the Midlands, reaching Yorkshire and Lincolnshire later. | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
Once that clears, some sunshine but also heavy showers. Low pressure is | :27:13. | :27:17. | |
the driving force. This weather front is the troublemaker, the | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
energy that runs along that overnight gives the heavy rain. | :27:22. | :27:27. | |
Tomorrow, heavy and thundery bursts of rain. Eventually, by the end of | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
the afternoon most of it has gone. A few lingering showers and | :27:30. | :27:36. | |
thunderstorms. Most places should turn drier. Don't expected to be | :27:36. | :27:44. | |
particularly warm. -- expect it to be. Good sunshine through Central | :27:44. | :27:51. | |
England into the Midlands. But into Wales, slow-moving showers. You | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
could get some storms after another, whereas just down the road you | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
could stay dry. If you get caught in one of these showers you will | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
know about it. A scattering of heavy showers in Northern Ireland, | :28:02. | :28:09. | |
some showers with sunshine in between in Scotland. Thicker cloud | :28:09. | :28:13. |