Gadhafi has become history to the Libyans

Major excitement in Libya after the capture of former leader Muammar Gadhafi was announced. The announcement was made by a commander of the troops of the National Transition Council, and the information was disseminated by the press in Tripoli. "Muammar Gadhafi was arrested. He is badly wounded, but he is still breathing", says Mohamed Leith, one of the commanders of the troops of the National Transition Council, and said he saw the former Libyan leader himself. The Free Libya Television said that Muammar Gadhafi was arrested at the same time as his son, Moutassim and as Mansour Daou (the head of the domestic security service) and Abdallah Senoussi" (the head of the lybian intelligence service). The announcement concerning the arrests was made shortly after the transitional Libyan authorities said that they are about to secure full control of the city of Sirt. From that moment on, the news got out of hand, just like it happened when the death of one of the sons of the Libyan leader was announced, and two days later he was seen making statements to the international press.

One commander of the National Transition Council said that the Libyan leader was breathing heavily at the time of his arrest. Sources quoted by Corriere della Sera even claim that the former Libyan leader may be dying. According to Al Arabiya, Gadhafi was taken by an ambulance right way, but his state was very serious. Al Jazeera says that Gaddafi died in Sirte. According to CNN, Gaddafi was sent from from Sirte to Misrata, where he was called dead. Reuters says that Gaddafi died because of his wounds. Without waiting for an official confirmation, people took to the streets, began celebrating. The final message of Gadhafi, broadcasted by a television headquartered in Damascus, is telling for his unyieldingness in refusing to surrender: "All they have left is the psychological warfare and lies. They recently said, that they saw Gaddafi in a convoy headed for Niger. How many convoys of smugglers, merchandise and people go into the desert every day, to Sudan, Ciad, Mali or Algeria? As if it were the only time that a convoy would cross towards the Niger. They want to weaken your morale. NATO will be defeated, because its material abilities do not allow them to continue its intervention. We are ready in Tripoli and all over we are going to intensify the attacks against the rats and mercenaries, who are a pack of dogs".

The self-proclaimed "king of the traditional African kings", "the Guide", who has been in power for 42 years, Gadafi was considered the dean of the African heads of state. Born in a Bedouin tent in the desert of Syrte in 1942, colonel Gadhafi, son of a shepherd in the Gaddafa tribe, received a rigorous education before joining the army in 1965. At the age of 27, on September 1st, 1969, he overthrew the old Idriss kings, without bloodshed. In 1977, he proclaimed the "Jamahiriya", which he defined as a "state of the masses" which govern through elected popular committees and takes on the title of "Only Guide of the Revolution". He shocked the world through his eccentric lifestyle, his traditional garbs, and his eccentric way of exercising his power. In the '90s, Gadhafi pleaded for the creation of the "United States of Africa". Appointed at the helm of the African Union (UA) in the beginning of 2009, the Guide of the Libyan Jamahiriya set the tone of his presidency by asking his peers to call him "The king of traditional kings of Africa", after being "appointed" by the traditional leaders in Libya. After a chaotic year, when his incongruous statements affected the image of the institution, the Libyan leader handed over his position to the president of Malawi. In 2003, to the surprise of the entire world, he announced the destructuring of his secret weapons programs. He acknowledged the responsibility of his countries for the hijacking of the American plane which crashed at Lockerbie, in Scotland (which caused the death of 270 people in 1988), of a French plane in the Niger (170 dead in 1989) and paid damages to the victims" families. Betting on his huge resources of oil, in 2008 he ended the country"s past with Italy, and obtained excuses and compensation from the Rome for the colonial period. Gadhafi has a fortune valued at approximately 120 billion dollars.