Libya descending into civil war, Indian evacuees say (News Feature)

By Siddhartha Kumar Mar 3, 2011, 3:54 GMT

New Delhi - Libya is descending into a civil war, Indian evacuees have said, recounting atrocities including the cold-blooded killings of protesters at hospitals in the strife-torn country.

Rebels control large parts of Libya outside Tripoli even as embattled Moamer Gaddafi defies international pressure to end his 41-year rule.

Some of the more than 1,000 Indians who return daily via special flights from the North African nation relate tales of lawlessness on the streets and days without fresh food and water.

'We fled for our lives from the hell Libya has become,' said Rajil Paul, a draftsman with an engineering firm in Tripoli.

'I was able to sleep last night after several days of being constantly terrified of the gunfire outside our home.'

Paul is among a group of 150 Indians bound for his home state of Kerala from New Delhi.

But an unnamed nurse at a government hospital in revolt-hit Az-Zawiya town near Tripoli, who witnessed the brutality, still appears traumatized.

'Forces loyal to the colonel [Gaddafi] hunted injured protestors and rebels down to our hospital, took them outside and shot them dead.'

'We saw several such wounded disappear. We could not do anything.'

Many Indians undertake perilous journeys to catch flights to safety from Tripoli, leaving behind their hard-earned possessions.

A teacher, Geetha, who uses only one name, made a 200-kilometre journey from Misurata to Tripoli, and saw arsonists setting fire to police stations and government buildings and protesters in fleets of cars, shooting in the air.

'It was frightening. I chanted god's name and kept calling up my husband on the phone. I made it to Tripoli safe but some of my friends were robbed of money and laptops by gangs en route,' she said.

For another educator, who did not want to be named, Tripoli has been home for 30 years and the sense of displacement is acute.

'You can see I am just carrying my passport. I have not brought any of my belongings. I wasn't even able to withdraw money from the banks which were closed,' he said.

Tripoli resembles a ghost-town, with shops closed and little traffic on the roads. The situation in other cities is worse, with many oil, construction and other businesses shutting down as sites and worker camps were attacked.

'In the night there is firing; there is looting in the daytime. People cannot buy fresh food or get water because of the situation,' said Biru Joseph, a construction worker.

The Tripoli airport where thousands of foreign nationals are camping, presents scenes of war-time chaos.

'Clothes, footwear and luggage discarded by harried passengers lay strewn around as Libyan officials wear masks because of the stench from the toilets,' Joseph said.

At least 12,000 of the estimated 18,000 Indians are still stranded in Libya, sparking criticism that the government has not acted swiftly enough. But officials said they were speeding up the evacuations with special flights and hiring passenger ships.

Meanwhile, the Indian evacuees said they do not plan on returning as they feel the fighting will worsen, leading to a showdown.

'There is a 90-per-cent chance of this turning into civil war because, except Tripoli, protestors hold sway in many cities. All forces will be engaged, turning Libya into a ball of fire,' Geeta said.

The situation will remain unstable in the months ahead, regardless of Gaddafi's downfall, said MT Thomas, a professor at the University of Gharyan, in the north-west of the country.

'They (Libyans) can rid themselves of the despot but do not know how a democracy works,' he said. 'You cannot transplant democracy in the most tribal nation in the Arab world with 150 tribes and clans.'

The unrest may also open the door for the establishment of an Islamic state in Gaddafi's vaguely socialist Libya. 'In a political vacuum, radical Islam would not be a distant possibility but a distinct reality,' he said.

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