The faces of the Libyan uprising

Real stories

Her pained face says it all. This beautiful woman is Galea, or Galia. She was interviewed by the BBC about the uprising in Libya, as she demonstrated in Benghazi, to try to and draw attention to the plight of people in Misurata. She implores the news crew to convey her message to the coalition, she tells them that she has been trying to call friends and relatives for days, but the phone lines are out.

She tells the camera the little of what she knows, there is no water and electricity in Misurata, the people are running out of food and Gaddafi forces continue to bombard the town while snipers continue to try and pick off resistance.

The blurry footage and screen grab does not do justice to the beauty of the woman. As she speaks eloquently and in measured tones, the passion on her face accentuates her good looks. She wears a traditional headscarf, yet from the way she speaks, it is clear that she is educated, possibly a teacher, or a doctor. She tries to keep her emotions under control, but she cannot quite manage it, she gets stuck in what she is trying to say: “I hope, I hope… I hope, the UN bombs him, so we can free Libya”.

“I am a software engineer. I have a wife and kids. Do you really think I want to be here with a rifle, fighting off Gaddafi’s thugs? No, I should be at work, providing for my family. If I lived in the West, I would be trying to work some overtime to save for a summer holiday, or to buy a flat screen TV. But no, I live in Benghazi and it is our time to throw off 41 years of dictatorship”

But like Galia, there are thousands. Their faces are with us today, but they will fade away into obscurity over time. Thousands of young men and women are taking up the struggle. Mohammed, 33, also spoke to the BBC. He tells the news crew that he did not want to take up arms, but cannot stand the sight of more innocents being ripped to shreds by heavy weaponry.

“I am a software engineer. I have a wife and kids. Do you really think I want to be here with a rifle, fighting off Gaddafi’s thugs? No, I should be at work, providing for my family. If I lived in the West, I would be trying to work some overtime to save for a summer holiday, or to buy a flat screen TV. But no, I live in Benghazi and it is our time to throw off 41 years of dictatorship,” he said.

The pleas are the same. The aspirations are the same. The grief is the same. We live just next door, and yet we are curiously detached from it all. Let us be completely frank, for all the declarations by Maltese politicians past and present, the Maltese and the Libyan people are not blood-brothers and sisters. But, we do share common aspirations of a better life, freedom of expression and for fundamental human rights. The woman I decided to use as the face for this article is one of many others with a similar voice and views. She is a proud young Libyan woman, probably aspiring to find a husband and build a family to raise in a free and secure environment. These are the people that deserve our help, our compassion, our support and action.

Boots on the ground have been ruled out, but we owe it to these people to give them a fighting chance to rebuild a free Libya. The fight will be long and hard, but if the Libyan people can retake Adyabijah and hold onto Misurata, then they will have a chance to fulfill their destiny.

The real picture in Tripoli emerges

Gaddafi

As journalists continue to delve deeper into the psyche of Tripoli, it is becoming increasingly more apparent that Gaddafi does not enjoy the support he is attempting to portray through propaganda.

As the vice-like grip on power begins to loosen as a result of the air strikes against him military assets and compounds, ordinary Libyans are daring to speak their mind, albeit anonymously, to Western media.

The consensus is clear: “Gaddafi must go”. Ordinary Tripoli residents are reaching out through shopkeepers who often get a chance to have a quick word with journalists out of sight of their minders. They have told the West that the Green flag-waving youths are either brainwashed and in the inner circle of Gaddafi, or are simply paid thugs.

"While the UN approved action to safeguard the lives of civilians, through the imposition of a no-fly zone and other necessary measures, it is becoming clearer and clearer that the Libyan people are going to need help if they are to push west and overthrow the regime"

It is, however, important to note that Gaddafi, perhaps like David Koresh, is surrounded by a good number of fanatical maniacs who will stick by him till the end. The cracks are also beginning to appear within the core of the regime as senior members of Gaddafi’s entourage begin to make contact outside of Libya to try and go into self imposed exile. The right thing to do morally would be refuse such requests, but if we are truly looking to help Libyans in their cause, then these requests might be accepted as they will hasten the regime-collapse.

There is no way back now. While the UN approved action to safeguard the lives of civilians, through the imposition of a no-fly zone and “other necessary measures”, it is becoming clearer and clearer that the Libyan people are going to need help.

News began to filter out of Misurata yesterday where rebels and the few citizens that remain were given a reprieve as Coalition air strikes pounded artillery and tank positions outside the town. It is not yet clear as to whether the siege has been completely broken, but it has surely evened the odds somewhat in terms of militia fighting with sticks, stones and anything they can scavenge.

Although armed, the Libyan rebels can hardly be described as an army. It is merely a collection of Libyan people, fired up and determined to seek freedom from Gaddafi. Many are worried that the East may become an Islamist State and that the West, with or without Gaddafi might become a puppet nation constantly at risk of incursion by fanatics somewhere down the line. On the other hand, the Benghazi council has told the West’s reporters in Paris that the new Libya will be secular and democratic.

One hopes that the rebels  can take advantage of the corridors of opportunity being afforded to them by the strikes. But what can anyone really expect from a bunch of kids, dads and uncles with only assault rifles and no military training.

Perhaps if the coalition succeeds in destroying all, or the great majority, of Gaddafi’s heavy weapons, then the people of Libya might have a chance to revive the popular movement that initially wrested so many towns and cities from Gaddafi’s sphere of control.

The possibilities are endless, but the reality is that the Libyan people need help. We are sure that there must be boots on the ground in terms of special forces. No one else could plot co-ordinates so well and guide the aircraft and missiles to their targets unless they could get eyeballs on targets in the field.