NEWS & REPORT

Pro-Gaddafi forces capture Bani Walid

Fighters loyal to late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have clashed with revolutionary forces in the former-regime stronghold of Bani Walid, taking control of the city in the process. Some say the country is heading towards another civil war. 


The clashes came after mass protests in the city of Benghazi over the weekend and the subsequent resignation of NTC deputy chief Abdel Hafiz Ghoga.

 Witnesses say the new clashes erupted on Monday after Gaddafi loyalists angry over the arrest of one of their men attacked pro-revolution fighters.
 It is reported that at least five NTC troops were killed and 30 others injured in the violence.
The town of Bani Walid was one of the last bastions of pro-Gaddafi forces in Libya's eight-month civil war.
Meanwhile, the head of Libya’s National Transitional Council Mustafa Abdel Jalil has said the country will find itself in civil war if NTC resigns.
RT talked to Sabah al-Mukhtar, president of the Arab Lawyers Association, who says a new civil war in the country is highly possible.
“Reason number one is that the arms are still in the hands of the various militias in various areas," in addition to competing tribes in those areas, he explained.
“At the same time, the political views of the people are in conflict. You have a situation when people want Islam to be a part of the constitution, while you have others that are liberals who do not.”
“So you have the conflict on policies as well as the availability of arms,” he concluded.
Sabah al-Mukhtar also says there are dramatic divergences in what the NTC says and what it actually does.
“Many of them are actually from the old regime – including the leader who was a Minister of Justice under Gaddafi – and there are many other people like his deputy, like many others, who were men of Gaddafi and at the same time now they say, 'we will not allow those who benefited from Gaddafi`s regime to stand for elections.'"
The lawyer pointed out that the head of NTC himself served as a Minister of Justice under Gaddafi and turned blind eye to many injustices in the country.