PRO-FRENCH FEELING:France's decision to recognise the rebel Libyan National Council has been very popular
AS THOUSANDS arrived for Friday prayers here in rebel-held Benghazi, a large French tricolour billowed against the graffiti-covered courthouse that has become the headquarters of the opposition movement seeking to overthrow Muammar Gadafy.
The flag was draped alongside the pre-Gadafy Libyan standard which can be seen everywhere in Libya’s eastern flank since the uprising began more than three weeks ago.
France’s decision earlier this week to recognise the rebel Libyan National Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people has bolstered confidence here in the city where the revolt was born.
Though few would admit it, there had been a noticeable sapping of morale in Benghazi as Gadafy’s forces pummelled rebel positions further west along Libya’s Mediterranean coastline.
“Thank you France,” read one banner held aloft by a heavily bearded man as he waited for the prayer to begin in the square next to the courthouse. In the crowd, which numbered some 15,000, many waved French tricolours alongside the red, black and green of the monarchy-era flag.
“When will the other countries follow France?” asked Ibrahim Ali, who had brought his children along. “We are tired of waiting. People are dying.”
Dr Fathiya Geith, an English lecturer at Benghazi university, gestured towards the nearby photographs of hundreds killed since anti-regime protests developed into a full-blown rebellion against Gadafy’s 42-year dictatorship.
“Have there not been enough martyrs? So many deaths and yet no one is moving to help us internationally,” she said. “We are grateful for the French decision but what we desperately need is assistance in the form of a no-fly zone. Don’t believe those who say this is a civil war – it is not. This is one person killing the Libyan people and he has to be stopped.”
Those who assembled at the seafront courthouse for the open-air prayer and the hours of speeches that followed had ignored a warning from Tripoli telling them not to gather outside. A state television announcement directed at Libyans in the east cautioned them “not to go to Friday prayers in public squares and open spaces” as their lives were in danger from “mercenaries and criminal gangs”.
Libyan mobile phone subscribers got text messages saying Benghazi and the town of Ajdabiyah to the west would soon be recaptured by Gadafy’s forces.
“Do they think they can frighten us like this now after everything we have witnessed over the past three weeks, not to mention the past 42 years,” said Salim, a businessman, with a shrug. “We are past the point of fear.”
Nevertheless, security around the courthouse had been stepped up for the prayers, with many approach roads blocked by armed volunteers. Fears that attacks could be instigated by Gadafy loyalists lying low in the city are ever-present.
Members of the Libyan National Council again repeated calls for a no-fly zone to protect the rebels from Gadafy’s air strikes. In an interview with the BBC, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who leads the council, also called for a naval embargo and said the opposition needed weapons and humanitarian assistance.
“Eventually [Europe and the US] will have to intervene on behalf of the Libyan people,” said Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the council. “This is not an overnight revolution. But if we get the help of a no-fly zone and tactical air strikes then (Gadafy) won’t last two or three days.”
Meanwhile, the head of Libya’s national assembly excoriated the council and said foreign powers should not back it.
“This council represents no one. It is basically a group of armed gangs,” said Mohamed Abdul Quasim al-Zwai, secretary of Libya’s General People’s Congress.
“How can Europe allow itself to interact with an imaginary council? … How can any self-respecting country interact with a council of gangs?”
Zwai repeated Col Gadafy’s claims that the uprising was an-al Qaeda plot to gain a foothold in Libya: “They want to establish a presence here so al-Qaeda can be near Europe.”
Such allegations have been met with derision and even amusement in eastern Libya, where the opposition is made up of lawyers, judges, business people, former regime officials and army officers who defected in the early days of the uprising.
“We are neither al-Qaeda nor extremists,” read one of several similarly themed banners at yesterday’s gathering. “We are freedom fighters.”