Divided by war, Libyans split over slain rebel
Fri, 29 Jul 2011 20:00 GMT
Jul 29 (Reuters) - * Gunfire, tears as rebel military chief laid to rest
* Tripoli residents call former minister a traitor
By Rania El Gamal and Missy Ryan
BENGHAZI/TRIPOLI, July 29 (Reuters) - As mourners carried the body the slain Libyan rebel military chief to his funeral, fighters fresh from the front unleashed volleys of gunfire into the air and vowed Abdul Fattah Younes had not died in vain.
Far away from the grieving rebel stronghold Benghazi, supporters of Muammar Gaddafi, whose 41-year rule the rebels are struggling to end, Tripoli residents on Friday said the man they labelled a traitor merely got what he deserved.
The loss of a former Gaddafi strongman-turned defector has dealt the rebels and their Western backers a blow and will do little to inspire hope for a swift end to five months of war.
The details of Younes's death remain murky but rebel minister Ali Tarhouni said on Friday night that rebel fighters who were sent to bring him from the frontline near Brega to Benghazi for questioning had killed him and dumped his body outside the city.
A militia leader had been arrested and had confessed that his subordinates had carried out the killing, Tarhouni said.
At the funeral, the Benghazi graveyard resembled a battlefield as AK47, machinegun and anti-aircraft gun fire showered bystanders with empty casings and filled the air with the stench of gunpowder.
"General Abdul Fattah Younes was our father. He was a symbol of the revolution," said Colonel Ali Ayad, who returned from the frontline on hearing of Younes's death.
Crowds chanted "Allahu Akbar", "To heaven leader of the free" and "Your blood, general, will not go in vain" as Younes's coffin, draped with the rebels' red, black and green flag, was carried between a line of fighters and lowered into his grave.
Some held up photos of Younes, while others waved rebel flags.
"We must avenge for him and the least revenge is the head of Gaddafi," Ayad added.
He accused Gaddafi loyalists in the rebel-controlled east of having assasinated Younes. Others spoke of traitors among the rebels as rumours and conspiracy theories spread through the eastern city, the heart of a rebellion that has seized about half of Libya but struggled to unseat Gaddafi.
Analysts say Younes collected enemies from his previous role as a Gaddafi enforcer and had not won over some rebels. He had also been embroiled in a power struggle for the military leadership with Khalifa Heftar, another former Gaddafi officer.
SELL OUT
While Younes's relatives and those leading Friday prayers in Benghazi called on Libyans to unite in avenging the slain general, residents in the capital Tripoli shed few tears for the man they said had failed his country.
"In the end, he's a Libyan and his death is hurtful to us," said Mohamed Amin, who sells clothes in a market in Tripoli's Abu Salim area.
"But what can I say? In the end he sold out his country and his people, and caused many people's deaths," Amin added.
Libyans interviewed by foreign journalists, who are accompanied at all times by government minders, said life was going on normally despite the airstrikes and shortages of fuel.
They expressed support for Gaddafi and echoed the official pronouncements in describing the rebels as thugs, Islamist extremists and foreigners.
"From the first moment that Abdel Fattah Younes defected, we stopped seeing him as Libyan," said Murad Naji Ahmed.
(Writing by David Lewis; editing by Angus MacSwan)
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