Libya's rebel chief Mahmoud Jibril issued a statement to Libyans in the early hours of Monday asking fighters to treat Gaddafi loyalists with dignity and respect.
MAHMOUD JIBRIL : [translated] Today, there is no difference between cities. Today, there is no difference between Libyans. We will create history all together, as we were all equal in suffering from a dictatorship for 42 years. We need to be equal now in democracy. Today, all Libya's people are allowed to participate in the building of a future, to build institutions with the aid of a constitution that does not differentiate between a man and a woman, sex or ethnicities. Libya is for everyone and will now be for everyone. Libya has the right to create an example that will be followed in the Arab region.
AMY GOODMAN : Three of Muammar Gaddafi's sons are reportedly in custody.
To discuss the developments in Libya, we're joined by a number of guests, but we're going to go first to Tripoli, to the capital. We want you to listen carefully, because the phone line isn't great, as you could imagine. Robin Waudo is the International Red Cross spokesperson in Tripoli.
Welcome to Democracy Now! Can you tell us what has happened over the weekend? Describe what Tripoli, the capital of Libya, looks like and feels like.
ROBIN WAUDO : Thank you very much.
Since Saturday night, there's been heavy fighting between the armed opposition and government forces within the city. We are living not very far away from the port, just along the road that's on the coast. And since Saturday night and throughout Sunday, last night, there was heavy fighting, explosions and gunfire between the two forces. Yesterday, it was almost impossible to come to the office because of this, but we had a small team that was able to get through and pick up some things that we needed from the office. Today there is relative calm, though you still hear bursts of gunfire, but it's much less than what we had on the weekend. And we are able to come to the office and begin to distribute some medical assistance to help health facilities so that they can be able to assist the wounded casualties.
AMY GOODMAN : Can you talk about the numbers of wounded? The spokesperson for Muammar Gaddafi said, in the last few days, something like 1,300 people were killed, 5,000 wounded. Are these reports accurate? Do you have any sense of this?
ROBIN WAUDO : At this juncture, it's difficult to confirm this, because we were only able to begin moving today, so we don't have a global picture. And with a very small team, our most urgent activity is to be able to deliver medical aid, than to begin doing this kind of assessment. So, the difficulty still remains the fragile security situation, given that the armed opposition is still fighting with the government in various places.
AMY GOODMAN : And reports, as a representative of the International Red Cross, of who is in custody--for example, the three sons of Muammar Gaddafi?
ROBIN WAUDO : We have had reports. Of course, we usually--at the IRC , we visit detained persons, so that we can have them contact their families or so that we can ensure that their conditions of detention are humane. But we are not doing this right now. We are considering maybe something that will do not just for those who have been mentioned, but also for people who may be detained in the aftermath of the conflict, as well.
AMY GOODMAN : Robin Waudo, we are going to turn now to our guest in Cairo, who has just recently been in Libya. Khaled Mattawa is an acclaimed Libyan poet and scholar, associate professor at the University of Michigan, returned to Cairo last week after weeks in Libya. Your response to what has taken place, Professor Mattawa? In this last hours, in the last weekend, the surprise ease with which the rebels came into Tripoli yesterday, on Sunday?
KHALED MATTAWA : It's astounding, absolutely astounding, the speed at which events turned. It was reminiscent of the period in the middle of March when Gaddafi was about to roll into Benghazi, and it seemed he got a taste of his own medicine, in a way, of seeing his regime collapse very quickly. It was very difficult to keep up with the news--within 10 days, coming down from the mountain, Zawiyah returning to revolution hands, Zlitan also falling to the revolutionaries, mostly, very quickly. Gaddafi yesterday was making his speeches, and he was rattling off the names of tribes that he thought had belonged to him. I think he absolutely lost count and lost sense of who was with him. And it just fell apart last night, and Tripoli is in the hands of the revolutionaries. And it's astounding and amazing, and not a minute too soon.
AMY GOODMAN : And can you talk about what we're seeing right now: the three sons in custody, the whereabouts of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi unknown, reports of tanks loyal to Gaddafi opening fire on rebel fighters, and yet it seems that the rebel fighters have control of most of the capital?
KHALED MATTAWA : My understanding is that there--the two hot spots are near the Rixos Hotel, where potentially the world media, members of the world media are held sort of hostage, at least kept in by the fighting, and near the Bab al-Azizia compound, which is Colonel Gaddafi's compound. He may have decided to make a last stand there. I'm not sure. There have been reports of him being near the Algerian border or near Chad. It is not very clear. But clearly there are people still fighting. There might be some snipers around.
I don't think these people have much of a chance, and I hope some patience will be awarded to them to change their minds, and I hope that they don't continue to make a mess of things and force, you know, a greater force to be thrust upon them to eliminate them. That would be really shameful. I don't know what these people are fighting for. I have no idea what they're fighting for at this point. It had always been confusing to most Libyans why people are fighting for Gaddafi. It might be money. It might be belief. It might be the cult of personality. But now, the reality is at hand, and these people have fought for what they believed for their best interest, and I think if they were to surrender, I imagine that they would be granted safe passage, in the same way that Gaddafi's sons have been granted that passage.
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