Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Libyan Rebels Try to Stabilize Tripoli as Weapons from Gaddafi Compounds Go Missing


Democracy Now!

"In Libya, rebel forces say Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s stronghold of Bani Walid is ready to come under the National Transitional Council’s authority, despite pockets of resistance. Meanwhile, rebel troops say they have advanced about five miles towards Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte in heavy fighting today. Reuters reports the U.S. government has urged Niger to detain senior officials from the Gaddafi government who it believes crossed into the country in a convoy from Libya. Niger officials say the convoy carried several senior members of Gaddafi’s government, but gave no indication that Gaddafi himself was among them. We go to Tripoli for an update from Peter Bouckaert, the emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, who has recently discovered that Gaddafi’s warehouses, which were formerly full of assault rifles and anti-aircraft missiles, have been looted. "We have been warning the U.S. and other Western countries that these weapons are floating around all over the country," Bouckaert says. "Every time a city falls, they end up being looted... Every facility we go to where there were surface-to-air missiles, they’re gone."...."

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