Time to give up the game, Colonel

In his latest speech on February 25, Libyan despot Moammar Qaddafi said: “People who don’t love me don’t deserve to live.” If Qaddafi is true to his word, very few Libyans will be allowed to survive. Even as the dictator has lost control over much of the country and as his diplomats, including his ambassador to the UN, desert him in droves, he has stayed bull-headed and refused to concede the obvious. There has been further state-sanctioned violence in Tripoli over the last few days, with over a thousand protesters believed to have been killed. It appears Qaddafi has regained some measure of control over the capital but it is an illusion; the last gasp of a dying regime.

After a week of dithering, US President Barack Obama has finally announced wide-ranging sanctions against Libya while the UN secretary-general has also pleaded with the international community to take action. The UN appears ready to prosecute Qaddafi for war crimes. Ironically, these actions, while necessary, may serve only to box him in. The simple fact is that, apart from Venezuela and Cuba, no country wants to provide the Libyan dictator with safe passage. He has no way to get his considerable wealth out of Libya and few countries would host him in any place other than a prison. Even at the height of his unpopularity, former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak was on friendly terms with many world leaders who would provide him sanctuary. Qaddafi’s eccentric and erratic behaviour over the years has left him alone.

But there is no country less willing to host Qaddafi than Libya itself. After the massacre of protesters, Qaddafi has absolutely no credibility left. Many are urging the UN to stop the violence by enforcing no-fly zones in Libyan airspace to prevent Qaddafi’s air force from indiscriminately bombing its own citizens. The opposition is slowly taking over Libya piece-by-piece, including territory, the airwaves and newspapers. The emperor has no clothes but he refuses to recognise that Libya is liberating itself from his rule. Qaddafi has been boxed in. It is time for him to give up the game.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2011.