Although the Western media continue publishing dreadful details about the situation in Libya, according to the recent data received by Saint Petersburg Centre of Middle Eastern Studies (meast.ru), the situation in Tripoli and the western part of Libya remains stable.
The latest data was received by the Centre on Feb. 28, 2011. It was provided by Russian and Ukrainian specialist who currently stay in Libya.
According to their information, the situation in Tripoli and the western region remains calm. Life of the city came back to normal. Starting Thursday, Feb. 24, banks were operating as usual. Yesterday (Feb. 28) there were especially many clients as the leader of the country Muammar Gaddafi ordered to provide all Libyans with the financial assistance one time in the amount of 500 dinars (about U.S. $ 400). People started receiving it on Feb. 27. Many stores have already opened. Schools and kindergartens as well as other public institutions reopened too.
Mobile connection and the Internet continue to work. To provide users with better connection, mobile operators put considerable amount of money on their accounts – first 10 dinars, then 20, then 100. Some of the foreigners even got unlimited connection. All these actions were taken not only to help people, but also to fight misinformation disseminated by Al-Jazeera and Western media. These measures helped to stabilize the situation in the country as people can freely call each other to find out whether everything is fine.
On Sunday (Feb. 27) afternoon, one of the specialists, who is currently in Libya with his family, went to visit his friends in Tajura. On Saturday it was reported that the city became the place for fighting between protesters and troops. However, the city was quiet. There were no traces of collision. The authorities consider the situation in the area as completely normal.
It was previously reported that the city of Zavia went under the control by the opposition leaders. However, Ukrainian doctors who work there said everything was still calm. So we face another provocation by the Western media.
It was also said by the doctors who work in a town located about 70 km away from Tripoli towards Tunisia that people return the weapons. And as it was promised by Gaddafi, there are no sanctions applied to them.
Thousands of “refugees”, which according to the media are crossing the borders with Egypt and Tunisia, do exist. There are still several thousands of people on the Tunisian border. But these people are NOT Libyans. They are immigrant workers returning to their homeland. They lost their jobs as the work on many construction sites and foreign companies has stopped and decided to go back home. Most of them are from Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and other neighbouring African countries.
Contrary to the statements by the media, Libyan army still remains true to Gaddafi – with the exception of some deserters, who are sometimes shown on TV. It should be noted that Russian (and not only Russian) experts who are going to leave the country are protected by the army and they are not threatened by an angry crowd, contrary to some media reports.
There is no military in the cities. It only carries out patrols and checks transport on the entrance to Tripoli and some other cities.
It was once again highlighted that the army was ordered not to fire at demonstrators, and only in the extreme cases, fire at their legs. There were no taking cities by storm.
Nobody has really seen the snipers who according to the western media were hired by Gaddafi and received two thousand dollars per day as well as 400 euros for each killed Libyan. It was another myth.
The most complex and ambiguous situation is currently in the East of the country. Disorder started there earlier than in Tripoli, on Feb. 15. However, they were over by Feb. 21 as in the rest of the country.
A Ukrainian doctor-anesthesiologist clearly stated that the wounded people began to arrive to the hospitals on Feb. 17. That continued for 4 days and then it was all over. During the first two days people arrived with limb wounds. Later on, on third and fourth day, people with head wounds were delivered to hospitals. This is fully consistent with the information received from the military that the army was ordered not to fire on protesters, and the weapons could be used only in case of attacks on protected objects. They followed the order to shoot at the legs. The only threat to their own lives and the inability to stop young people who, according to many reports were on drugs, forced the military to finally use weapons.
Libyans in Tripoli said that the opposition in the East, having failed to arrange proper management and security, appealed to Gaddafi to start negotiations, and that such negotiations are in the process at present. They are agreeing on the conditions under which the East will agree to re-admit the power of Tripoli.
All this explains the massive information attack on Gaddafi by Al-Jazeera, and Western media. It is done to create the illusion that the leader is left alone and his “regime” is in agony. According to the same Western media it has already been reported that Gaddafi left for Venezuela. Pro-American Al-Jazeera is the only source of information about the situation in the region.
After the creation of the myth about thousands of victims and the suppressed opposition, the West started preparing sanctions against Libya. The U.S. President Barack Obama has proclaimed Gaddafi a very big threat to the U.S. national security. This could justify a possible NATO intervention. U.S. aircraft-carriers are already moving closer to the Libyan shores. If the worst happens, Libya could become the next Iraq. The only hope is that the people of Libya will be able to reach ears of the world community with the truth about the situation in their country.
For your information, see the following related articles one from Xinhua News Agency: “Libya blames Western powers, al Qaida as wire-pullers of its chaos,” which is also posted on our web under Voices from China Section.
The other is from today’s AP story as in the following:
“In Washington, the Pentagon said it was moving some naval and air forces closer to Libya in case they are needed. The U.S. has a regular military presence in the Mediterranean and farther to the south has two aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf area.
The U.S. Treasury Department said that at least $30 billion in Libyan assets have been frozen since President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Libya last week.
France promised to send two planes with humanitarian aid the eastern opposition stronghold city of Benghazi, hoping to give it the momentum to oust Gadhafi. The aid to included medicine and doctors, would be the first direct Western help for the uprising that has taken control of the entire eastern half of Libya.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said it was the start of a “massive operation of humanitarian support” for the east and that Paris was studying “all solutions” — including military options. The EU slapped its own arms embargo, visa ban and other sanctions on Gadhafi’s regime, following sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the U.N. in the past week.
And Europe was also considering the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent any air attacks by the regime on rebellious citizens. Clinton met in Geneva with foreign ministers from Britain, France, Germany and Italy to press for tough sanctions on the Libyan government.”
AP correspondents Paul Schemm in Benghazi, Libya; Hamza Hendawi, Bassem Mroue and Ben Hubbard in Cairo; and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.”
See also my related article on today’s 4th Media Politics Section: “‘Libya Uprising,’ is it really?: Questioning Role of Al-Jazeera and US/West Media.”
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The author Anna Varfolomeeva is an international reporter at the 4th Media. She is also a candidate for master’s degree from Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication in Beijing, China.