Unreported World S13E07 · Libya: My Week with Gunmen

Overview

Six months after its revolution, Libya is still riven by factionalism, militias and violence, as the armed groups who overthrew Colonel Gaddafi cling to territory and power. Tripoli's streets are ruled by the gun. The police have tried to remove roadblocks manned by militiamen and have been driven off in a hail of gunfire. Reporter Peter Oborne and director Richard Cookson talk to fighters from the powerful Zintan militia who have controlled the country's main airport since they seized it from Gaddafi forces. They've been involved in tense negotiations with the government about handing it over but the talks appear to have stalled. Across town, the team finds militiamen streaming into a government compound. The government is offering payments of £10,00 to each fighter in an effort to persuade them to return to civilian life. It has reportedly already paid out around a billion pounds in this way, but that hasn't bought stability. At another roadblock, furious militiamen say they haven't been paid yet and vow to fight on. In the coastal city of Zuwara the team finds another gun battle taking place between two rival militias, with constant gunfire and artillery overhead. One fighter says the battle has been going on for three days and claims his militia are the true representatives of the revolution and are battling Gaddafi loyalists in the militia from the neighbouring town of Regdalin. By dawn, the battle has claimed more than 20 lives, with hundreds wounded. The two sides arrange a truce and Oborne and Cookson cross the line to enter Regdalin. The man in charge of the local military council that rules the town - like most other towns in Libya there is little government authority - denies the townsfolk are Gaddafi loyalists. The conflict, he tells Oborne, is about territory, while others say battles like this are really about who controls nearby smuggling routes. The team moves on to the town of Gharyan, where civilians have formed another private army. A compound built by Gaddafi has been turned into a detention centre. More than 1000 black workers and suspected illegal immigrants are housed in the camp. There has been no functioning court system in Libya since the revolution and many of those locked in the metal cells face the prospect of being detained indefinitely. When western governments backed the revolution in 2011 they hoped to replace the barbarism of Gaddafi with democracy and the rule of law. The revolution freed millions from fear and terror but in the new Libya many of those Unreported World meets have lost everything.

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