8/4/2019 Www.telegraph.co.Uk News Worldnews Africa and Indian Ocean Libya 8802302 Gaddafi Loyalists Stranded as Battle for Sirte Rages

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IN LIBYA NEWS

Gaddafi loyalists stranded as battle for Sirte rages

Dozens of families who remain fiercely loyal to Col Muammer Gaddafi's regime are trapped inthe Libyan dese rt as fighting intensifies in the loyalist str onghold of Sirte.

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8/4/2019 Www.telegraph.co.Uk News Worldnews Africa and Indian Ocean Libya 8802302 Gaddafi Loyalists Stranded as Battle for Sirte Rages

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By Ruth Sherlock in Sirte

3:09 PM BST 02 O ct 2011

Families continue to st ream out of the city, as interim government

forces f ought intense battles f or control o f the city centre. But many

men and women were too t errif ied, angry and mist rust f ul of the

f ighters t hat now control the majority of Libya, to f lee to the next

town.

Crammed 30 people to a ro om, the f amilies live in an abandoned

schoo l building with scant supplies. Others have been taken in by

loyalist homes dot ted in the scrubland surrounding Sirte.

"The rebels are worse than rats. Nato is t he same as Osama bin

Laden," said a resident who did not wish to be named. "We have ten

families staying with us now, there is little f ood, not enough clean

water and no gas. Bef ore we lived wealthy lives, I had two homes, now

we live worse than animals."

Backed by Nato war planes, rebel fo rces batt ling over the last eight

months said they were fighting to oust a brutal dictator that was

loathed by the Libyan population and that suppressed t he basic

human rights and f reedoms of civilians. But f amilies f leeing Col

Gaddafi's home town of Sirte said they longed for Libya to be "just as

it was".

"We lived in democracy under Muammer Gaddafi, he was not a dictator.

I lived in freedo m, Libyan women had full human rights . It isn't t hat we

need Muammer Gaddaf i again, but we want t o live just as we didbefo re," said Susan Farjan.

Despite the living conditions, and her plain dirty clot hes, Susan's

makeup, Chanel perfume, diamond earrings and gold necklace to ld of 

a better life in times past. Sitting on the hard f loor of the school

classroo m that had become her home Susan reminisced: "Lif e was

great in Sirte. I was a television presenter f or Jumareya television,

interviewing pop st ars, and reading the news. Everyone loves Gaddaf i.

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My father loves him so much, the blood is green in his veins," she said

as tears welled in her eyes.

Women and children crowding round interrupted her speech with loud

and passionate cries of the dictum that had rung out at orchest rated

pro- Gaddaf i rallies in Tripoli: 'God, Muammer, Libya, and that's all!"

The desert surroundings of Sirte have become a patchwork of 

loyalties.

Interim f ighters patro lled 'liberated areas' celebrating the new fo und

f reedom of the count ry. But many f amilies in t he area said Nato

bombing and more recently, the attacks by interim government f orces

had turned Sirte into a 'living hell' "I saw missiles and bombs and rebel

f ighters. There were missiles everywhere; that's why we came here,"

said Mabrouka Farjan, 80. "Lif e was goo d under Gaddaf i, we were

never af raid." "The insurance building in the city has collapsed, there

are many dead bodies in there, and you can smell the s tench on t he

st reets," said Mohammed Farjan, 27, speaking of the s ituation inside

the city.

Caught in t he cross f ire as they were fleeing, two children were killed,

and a mother seriously injured on Saturday when their car was hit by a

rocket propelled grenade. Others recounted stories of their homes hit

by rockets.

"They are killing our children. Why are they do ing this? For what? Life

was good before!" shouted anot her elderly lady.

The rebel army has said it would leave unarmed loyalists to their own

devices, but some families reported harassment. "Yesterday men camewith anti-aircraft guns, they surrounded our home, and tried to s teal

our cars.

We hit back, and eventually they left," said Ibrahim, who would not give

his last name f or f ear of recriminations.

The oppos ition f orces have been allowing them to get supplies said

the f amilies, and t here is some medical ass istance. But interaction is

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f raught with tens ion and insults. "They const antly come and demand

our papers, and try to search all our possession f or hours," said an

elderly man.

"Everyone loves Gaddaf i, and we love him because we love Libya. Now

the rebels have taken over. We might have to accept that, but

Muammer will always be in our hearts ," said the mother of one f amily.

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