The embarrassing confusion over what to do with Muammar Gaddafi‘s body deepened with the emergence of a will appearing to indicate that the dictator’s final wish was to be buried in Sirte. Libya‘s new leaders were unable to agree on how to dispose of Gaddafi’s remains after he was captured by rebel fighters.
The dithering undermined celebrations in Benghazi at the weekend, from where the National Transitional Council proclaimed an end to Libya’s eight-month civil war and an official day of liberation.
Gaddafi’s will appeared on his website, Seven Day News. In it, he expresses the desire to be buried next to his “family and friends” in his birthplace, Sirte which was the centre of loyalist resistance and fierce fighting. Gaddafi also allegedly wrote a letter to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Bellusconi, sounding desperate for a last-minute truce with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and assistance.
The copy of the will was one of three entrusted to relatives; one of them was killed, the second arrested, and the third escaped, according to reports.
In his testament, Gaddafi urges supporters to go on resisting. He alludes to choosing to fight and die inside Libya rather than picking the easier but, in his view, dishonourable route of exile abroad – from where, he implies, he would receive “many offers” of support.
The document, in English translation, says: “This is my will. I, Muammar bin Mohammad bin Abdussalam bi Humayd bin Abu Manyar bin Humayd bin Nayil al Fuhsi Gaddafi, do swear that there is no other God but Allah and that Mohammad is God’s Prophet, peace be upon him. I pledge that I will die as Muslim.
“Should I be killed, I would like to be buried, according to Muslim rituals, in the clothes I was wearing at the time of my death and my body unwashed, in the cemetery of Sirte, next to my family and relatives.
“I would like that my family, especially women and children, be treated well after my death. The Libyan people should protect its identity, achievements, history and the honourable image of its ancestors and heroes.
“The Libyan people should not relinquish the sacrifices of the free and best people. I call on my supporters to continue the resistance, and fight any foreign aggressor against Libya, today, tomorrow and always.
“Let the free people of the world know that we could have bargained over and sold out our cause in return for a personal secure and stable life.
“We received many offers to this effect but we chose to be at the vanguard of the confrontation as a badge of duty and honor.
“Even if we do not win immediately, we will give a lesson to future generations, that choosing to protect the nation is an honor and selling it out is the greatest betrayal that history will remember forever, despite the attempts of the others to tell you otherwise.”
Gaddafi has since been buried in an unmarked grave in the Libyan Desert. However, there are strong indications that he made last-minute overtures to some western European countries, especially Italy.
Muammar Gaddafi wrote to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in August begging him to halt a NATO-led intervention that was helping a rebel uprising drive him from power, French weekly Paris Match reported.
If authentic, the missive reveals Gaddafi’s desperation as, days after going on the run, he reached out to a man who had been a close friend and his most solid ally in Europe until Italy joined the West’s campaign to back Libyan rebels.
The magazine’s website showed a copy of the letter, dated Aug. 5 and in printed Arabic, with handwritten lines scrawled on it, purportedly by Gaddafi and marked to the attention of his aide Abdallah Mansour.
It read: “Send on this message as coming from me, by means of this document, after correction.”
The words “new friends” at the bottom were then crossed out and “friends and allies” written above it in the same hand.
In the missive, Gaddafi reproached Berlusconi, with whom he had developed a warm and jovial friendship over several years, for not intervening to help him and reminds him of the pact of friendship between the two countries.
“I have been surprised by the attitude of a friend with whom I have sealed a treaty of friendship that benefits both our nations,” the letter read.
“I would have hoped that at least you would have been concerned at the facts and would have attempted mediation before adding your support to this war.”
Berlusconi said in a speech to supporters in September that had felt “very bad” about switching sides in April and joining the NATO campaign to oust his old friend from power.
He said he had even considered resigning over the issue.
It is not clear whether the letter ever reached Berlusconi, who appealed to Gaddafi on Aug. 22 to end his resistance to avoid further bloodshed in Libya.
There was no immediate comment available from Berlusconi’s office on Friday.
Paris Match magazine said the letter had been delivered to Berlusconi’s office by an Italian couple that had become friends of Gaddafi as they run an agency that provided personnel for conferences Gaddafi held on his trips to Rome.
The letter went on to say that it was not too late for Italy to change direction and protect Gaddafi, and that he and his supporters were ready to turn the page on relations with Italy.
“I do not blame you for things you are not responsible for because I am well aware that you were not in favour of this disastrous action which honours neither you nor the Italian people,” the letter read.
Courtesy Reuters