Editorial
Why kill a captured Gaddafi?
The opportunity of making him face justice has been lost
The killing of Colonel Gaddafi, after the fallen Libyan leader was captured, whatever explanations might have been offered for that 'extra-judicial killing' by those currently in authority, is a palpable mistake. We therefore endorse the UN Human Rights Commission demand that the National Transitional Council probe the circumstances leading to the fallen dictator's death. For one thing, he was seen captured alive, even though in injured conditions and getting
manhandled, and bundled on to a vehicle and then killed. For another, in a war-ravaged anarchic situation, words should have gone around from the NTC to all rebel forces to have made it a point to capture Gaddafi alive so as to bring him to trial.
That would have ensured three vital gains for his country and humanity at large. First, by his standing trial and facing conviction, justice would have been done to the victims of his four decades of iron-fisted rule. Second, his example could serve as a reference point for rulers who are either already despotic or are in the process of being so. Third, he was a repository of information being himself a participant in history howsoever dark a chapter he himself scripted into it. Much of that information may have been lost.
The end of Gaddafi's tyranny is good news and not debatable but the manner in which he was treated in his last moments was as uncivil as it was uncalled for.
However, the end of Gaddafi's rule in Libya brings forth many other issues to the table. There are many tribes, militias and extremists within Libya, all of whom want a share in the country's vast oil wealth. The way huge caches of weapons have fallen into the hands of all manner of people raises the spectre of countless problems of law and order. Disarming and assimilating them into the mainstream of normal economic and national life is the first challenge before the NTC. Then a political process would have to be set in motion to empower the people with democratic and participatory rights. The process and the outcome should be fully indigenous.
We wish the people of Libya stability, peace and prosperity after the horrific times they have been through.
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