US$1.7 Million Bounty For Muammar el-Qaddafi: Dead or Alive

By: EW News Desk Team   Date: 25 August 2011

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25 August 2011

Libyan rebels have offered a 2 million dinar (US$1.7 million) bounty on the head of Muammar el-Qaddafi, with his whereabouts remaining unknown despite Libyan rebels claims that 95 percent of Libya was under their control.

In a public move designed to entice members of el-Qaddafi’s inner circle, the chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC) Mustafa Abdel Jalil, announced that any individual from within the colonel’s camp would be granted amnesty or pardon if he/she killed or captured the former Libyan leader.

"The matter won't come to an end except when he's captured dead or alive," said Mr. Abdul Jalil as quoted by the Wall Street Journal. "We fear mayhem and destruction from him because these are his values, upbringing and practices."

Mr. Abdul Jalil added that he had extended the offer to members of el-Qaddafi’s inner circle because “maybe a lesser evil prevents a greater evil."

The money is said to have been put together by an association of businessmen located in the rebels’ unofficial capital of Benghazi. Mr. Abdul Jalil has also not ruled out the possibility of accepting a surrender from the disposed Libyan dictator, though Col. Qaddafi will have to leave Libya immediately to the rebel forces. Col. Qaddafi's arrest warrant for crimes against humanity, issued by the International Criminal Court in June, would then become a matter for the international community.

In a recorded audio address from an unknown location on Wednesday, Qaddafi called on the people of Tripoli to rise up and liberate the city from the rebels, who he described as “devils and traitors”.

‘Why are you letting them wreak havoc?’ he said, adding that he would fight “the aggression with all strength until either victory or death.”

According to The Telegraph, a spokesman for the former Libyan leader has also claimed that Qaddafi was ready to resist the rebels for months, or even years. Moussa Ibrahim told a pro-Gaddafi television network: “We will turn Libya into a volcano of lava and fire under the feet of the invaders and their treacherous agents.”

But the hunt for Qaddafi resumes as Libyan rebels have moved base operations from Benghazi to Tripoli in order to facilitate a quick capture.

“It will take a few days or a week to liberate all of Libya, including the south,” told rebel council member Fathi Baja to Bloomberg. “Qaddafi will win only in his dreams. If he wants martyrdom, let him seek martyrdom.”
 


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