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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Aug 24 2011 - 10:01:12 EDT
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20110824/API/1108240608?p=3&tc=pg
'Die, Gadhafi': Libya's embassies abroad defect
By JIM GOMEZ
Associated Press
Last Modified: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 7:33 a.m.
Libyan diplomats and students smashed portraits of Moammar Gadhafi, shouted
"Game over!" and raised the rebel flag at their Manila embassy Wednesday as
part of defections at missions worldwide underscoring the leader's rapid
fall.
As rebels stormed the Libyan capital and Gadhafi's power crumbled, Libyan
consul Faraj Zarroug in the Philippine capital said at least 85 percent of
his country's 165 diplomatic missions now recognized the interim rebel
government, the National Transitional Council.
"It's game over for Mr. Gadhafi!," Zarroug told The Associated Press.
"Probably in a few days, everything will be over, hopefully. I'm very
happy."
Libyan diplomats abroad have been pledging allegiance to the rebels
gradually for months, but defections surged this week. The missions to
Switzerland and Bangladesh, for example, switched soon after the rebellion
erupted nearly six months ago, and Libyan embassy officials in Japan and
Ethiopia replaced the government flag with the rebel's tricolor on Monday.
A spokesman for the rebels in Dubai, Edward Marques, said Wednesday the
defections had turned into a "cascade," but declined to list the locations
of rebel supporters. The Libyan government could no longer be reached for
comment.
"The situation is very, very fluid," Marques said.
At the Manila mission, diplomats in business suits pulled down Gadhafi's
green flag and raised the rebel one, while young expatriates rampaged
through the compound.
AP journalists were invited in to watch and film them smashing glass
portraits and ripping up copies of Gadhafi's slogan-filled Green Book
outlining his political philosophy.
Students spat on the ripped pages, and shouted "Die, Gadhafi, Die!" or
"Leave, Ghadafi, Leave!" or "Game over!"
"We can say what we want. Noone can stop us!" said Mahmoud Binhafa, a
29-year-old student who was nearly breathless with excitement. "We want
like, you know, freedom to be happy, to say whatever we want."
Asked how they wanted Gadhafi to be punished, Libyan Elyosa Fathi Elgadag
said each family that suffered during the Libyan leader's long oppressive
rule should be allowed to "do to him" what his regime did to many victims of
human rights violations.
For decades, the world has only equated Libya with Gadhafi and not known
anything about its people because his regime "didn't let any Libyan to open
his mouth," Elgadag said. Now, he said, all Libyans can speak out and
proudly tell the story of their North African nation to the world.
In a Libyan broadcast Wednesday, a defiant Gadhafi vowed to fight on "until
victory or martyrdom" but his whereabouts were unknown a day after hundreds
of rebels stormed his fortress-like compound in the capital. They had poured
into Tripoli on Monday in a stunning breakthrough in the conflict.
In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Libyan ambassador to the African Union, Ali
Awidan, said he raised the new rebel flag Monday, changing sides at the last
moment.
"I was not serving Gadhafi. I have been serving Libya," he said.
Rebel supporters barged into a Libyan consulate and adjoining school earlier
this week in Athens, throwing hundreds of posters of Gadhafi into the
courtyard and ripping them up. They hung a giant rebel flag from the
balconies of the school and hoisted one atop the consulate. Both were still
there Wednesday.
A statement by the Greek foreign minister recognizing the interim rebel
government as Libya's legitimate leadership was posted on the consulate's
gate. Police stood guard at the nearby Libyan Embassy, which had no flags.
All its windows are shuttered.
---Associated Press writers Brian Murphy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Frank Jordans in Geneva, Luc Van Kemenade in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Elena Becatoros in Athens and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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