PRESS STATEMENT ON THE LIBYAN POLITICAL SITUATION BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE LIBYAN AMBASSADOR TO GHANA, DR. ALI GHADBAN

PRESS STATEMENT ON THE LIBYAN POLITICAL SITUATION BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE LIBYAN AMBASSADOR TO GHANA, DR. ALI GHADBAN-11/03/201

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, I welcome you on behalf of the gallant people of the Great Socialist People of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to this very crucial press conference where I am seeking to tell through your medium, the unfortunate political situation in my country, Libya.

It is known to all of us that there is a political whirlwind that is ferociously blowing across the Northern part of the continent of Africa and the Arab world. The violent protests which have characterised the demands of the people in Tunisia and Egypt have been largely viewed by detractors as a revolution by people who are asserting their rights as enshrined in the universal Human Right Declaration of the United Nation. In less than six weeks, the world has witnessed the fall of two powerful governments in Africa. Surprising in its swiftness and scope, it was not unexpected though; the twin-principle of conquest and domination maintains itself by any means necessary. The crises stem from the necessity for enlarging and deepening the control of the West over the resources of our world. This has been the thread that ties the colonial and the neo colonial eras into one undifferentiated fabric.

THE LIBYAN SITUATION

The unfortunate political crisis in Libya began in the middle of last month (15/2/2011) when a known anti-revolutionary and secessionist Fathi Tabril incited families of prisoners to storm Abu Sulaim Prison because the Prison had been set ablaze. The natural reaction by the families of the convicts was obvious; panic, fear, anxiety and hostility against the prison authorities. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, Fathi Tarbil’s claim was furthest from the truth. It was naked deceit intended to incite animosity and rancour against the authorities.

As you all know, the natural consequence of such a misguided and reckless act is for the law to take its course. Fathi was invited by the Security in Benghazi where he and his relatives met with the Benghazi Security authorities. He was let go after the family had apologised on his behalf and had sworn to the authorities in the presence of his family not to misconduct himself any more.

In spite of this, Fathi Tarbil took to the street with a group of hooligans who attacked passers-by with clubs, machetes and stones amidst the burning of car tires across major roads disrupting activities of law abiding peaceful citizens. The following day saw a demonstration by youth pledging support for the revolution and its leader-Brother Muamar Gadhafi. Upon reaching the precinct of the State Electricity Corporation the pro-revolutionary demonstrators were greeted with a hail of gun fire from assault automatic rifles and sub-machine guns stolen from the military garrisons which had been broken into. Thirteen people lost their lives.

As if that was not enough, ladies and gentlemen, these hooligans acting as terrorists invaded and ransacked not less than four military bases and installations within and around Benghazi. On all occasions they made away with guns and heavy ammunition. Ladies and gentlemen, you would by now be asking how well-equipped is the national army of Libya if civilians could pick weapons as if they were in a candy shop? In the face of theses provocations and attacks at the initial stages, the leader of the revolution said the arms were for the people and no one should harm them. My fellow Africans, which government in Africa or on the planet earth would look on unconcerned when civilians attack military bases and ransack its armories? You may consider the Libyan situation as an absurdity but we believe that our socialist principles enjoin us to respect the people at all times. After all, all resources embedded in the soil of Libya belong to them.

The event which led to 22 people losing their lives occurred when the terrorists launched a surprise attack on al-fudail Bu Omar Base. The base came under heavy bombardment from the terrorists even though there were several military personnel trapped in the base waiting to be freed by Special Forces. On the night of the same day of the Bu Omar Base incident, the terrorists marched onto two other military establishments including Banina Airport. Some foreigners from Algeria joined forces with the terrorists in the attacks. Ex-Guatanamo convicts and personal driver of the notorious international terrorist Bin Laden were neck deep in the armed insurrection against Libyans and their African brothers and sisters.

Ladies and gentlemen, these despicable acts fly in the face of democratic principles. How on earth does one conclude that brigands wielding guns in the street corners and killing innocent people are pro-democracy activists? Can the hoisting of a strange piece of cloth for a flag be considered an expression of democratic rights as we are being asked to accept by the servile Western media?

Under which government in the world would a sitting president allow a group of disgruntled citizens substitute the national flag with another of their choice? You would be surprised to know that five out of the seven reported dead at the Misrata Hospital had hoisted the flag of Zionist Israel. My brothers and sisters of the media, do you think that it is possible for a head of state to sit down unconcerned for a region of this beautiful country to take up arms and secede? Remember that every leader, be it Western or African has sworn to protect the territorial integrity of his or her country. It is on that basis that Brother Leader Muamar Gadhafi decided to use the security forces to restore the territorial integrity of Libya.


WESTERN CONSPIRACY AND HYPROCRISY

Ladies and gentlemen, it is unfortunate and heart rendering that the fifty-two nations of Africa cannot have their own media network to project their perspectives and promote their interests both national and international. I am very sad about this situation we found ourselves as a people where outside forces would be telling us our own story from their perspective. The West has, once again, deployed their media propaganda weapons against Africa and Libya in particular. The irony is that they keep contradicting themselves each and every day because they always fake out the stories they tell you about the Libyan situation.

The records of casualties have been fabricated just because they want to give the leader of the revolution a bad name so that they (West) can hang him. For every news bulletin a story is told about wholesale murder by nationalist forces as if the leader of the revolution is a sort of macabre person whose desire is to kill his own compatriots. I am sorry this is far from the truth. You may also wonder why the Western media is silent about killings by the rebels. As for them they have the legitimate right to kill and change the flag of the country. The unprincipled and hypocritical stance of the West portrayed in their media has undoubtedly exposed their conspiratorial and instigatory role in the situation in Libya.

It smacks of double standard for Western leaders to project rebels and their terrorist allies as pro-democracy and freedom fighters. What action has the rebels taken that is congruous with the principles of Western style democracy. Is it the stolen arms, killing of defenseless civilians or the changing of the national flag of Libya? Not long ago, about a week, the British High Commissioner to Libya was caught discussing military support for the “rebels”. Guess who he was talking to; the former Minister of Justice who has succumbed to Western manipulation and joined the secessionists in Benghazi.

The mounting media warfare and collaborationist actions and statements of support such as asking for the imposition of a no-flight zone clearly confirm the suspicion that the so-called “uprising” in Libya is not devoid of foreign interference in the internal affairs of the North African nation. Why would any body with a clear conscience and goodwill support a terrorists group fighting to dismember a peaceful developing nation?

The West is not a neutral arbiter in the Libyan situation. They have clearly taken position and therefore cannot be fair in any thing they would do regarding the political conflagration in the eastern part of Libya. Now that the West has openly identified with the terrorists the whole world has come to understand that the rebellion is their project of “regime change”.

THE PAN AFRICAN CONNECTION TO THE POLITICAL SITUATION

There are many who are still in limbo about what has actually caused the crisis. It is an undisputable fact that Brother Qadhafi over the years has pushed further the frontiers of African unity. His efforts achieving a true union of Africa have been making some success to the chagrin of the imperialists and internal detractors. The path that Brother Qadhafi has followed was not his but that of the great Pan Africanist revolutionary leader, Osagyfo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah whose inspirational activities and vision Brother Qadhafi is pursuing towards the eventual unification of the good people of Africa. Obviously, his involvement in continental affairs has been very much significant; as a result, the parent body Organisation of African Unity (OAU) has been transformed to the African Union (AU) just to give impetus to the struggle for continental unity.

The very imperialists who thwarted the genuine efforts of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah are at it again. This time when they miserably failed to effect regime change by covert action they have resorted to crude antiquated violent method inciting miscreants, terrorists and rogues to topple the revolution. Ladies and gentlemen, Dr Kwame Nkrumah admonished us to “unite or perish” as a continent. He was prophetic in his independent declaration that “the independent of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with total liberation of Africa”.

Now we can all comfortably say that we are out of the colonial confines and for that matter a free people. But that is not what the great Pan Africanist revolutionary leader meant. He had foreseen the threat of another form of colonialism which he called neocolonialism. He warned us that the latter is more devious, dangerous and debilitating because it operates latently. According to Osagyefo, neocolonialism uses Africans to achieve the same effect as classical colonialism did about 100 years ago.

Seeing Africa unite is what the West cannot stomach simply because our unity would automatically stop the process of resource drain both natural and human. The Western world which depends on Africa to feed its industrial machines and people are paranoid and would have to act either by covert or overt means to prevent the realisation of the dream of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Brother Qadhafi is being targeted because he is on the same track with Osagyefo.

Ladies and gentlemen, apart from Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah you would bear with me that no leader has been able to hold aloft the vision of African unity except Brother Muamar Qadhafi. Various attempts have been made to stop him from continuing with the unfinished mandate of Dr. Kwamen Nkrumah. You are all aware that Brother Qadhafi has been accused of habouring the desire to rule Africa. It was the same allegation against the visionary leader, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Yet, Europe has succeeded in bringing to fruition political union. What hypocrisy.

LIBYA, INTERNAL DYNAMICS

We the people of Libya can confidently say that we have successfully escaped the machinations of the neocolonial forces whose preoccupation is to plunder the resources of the people for the betterment of the West. The socio-economic development under the leadership of Brother Qadhafi is one of the best. The poverty experienced in the Third world as a result of the rapacious pillaging of resources and economic exploitation by capital around the world has being kept out of the Great Socialist Peoples Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. The oil resource is not left in the hands of the greedy multinationals as is being done all over the world. We in Libya determine what share we want to take from the revenue of the oil.

Ladies and gentlemen, whereas others are given between ten (10%) to eighteen (18%) percent as share of the oil revenue in Africa and the Gulf we under the leadership of Brother Qathafi are raking a whooping eighty (80%) to ninety (90%) percent of the oil revenue. This is the crux of the problem we have with America and its colonial allies. We have refused to accept the imposition of neocolonial policies under the tutelage of World Bank and IMF who are the financial arms of Western capitalism. Libya is rich. We have all social and economic amenities for free; a system that never exists in the West. From crèche to university, medicare, accommodation, water and electricity are all virtually free for all citizens of Libya.

What is happening in Libya has nothing to do with democracy or human rights as is being portrayed by the West. It is essentially a tribalist separatist and Al-Qaeda terrorist organisation to destabilise the country. This is being remote controlled by the imperialist forces who are supervising the terrorists to stage the so-called “uprising” to oust the progressive and the revolutionary government of the people and eventually replaces it with a puppet regime that would be dancing to the tune of Western capitalism.

The people of Libya are not afraid to fight in the defense of the revolution. We are on this occasion calling for Africans to speak out in support of their kith and kin and most importantly to defend the sovereignty of the continent from rapacious and fiendish capitalist.

Events on our Continent, particularly Libya, more than ever, point to the need for African unity. The dismemberment of the continent at Berlin in 1884-85 was intended to persist in various forms through time with the object of keeping us powerless. Let us rise up, close our ranks and march on to Continental Union.

May Alah bless us all.
Long live Great Socialist People of Libya Arab Jamahiriya!
Long live Pan Afrikan Council!
Long live Africa Unity!