Colonel Muammar Qadaffy... dictator of Libya since 1969. From 1972, when he relinquished the title of prime minister, he has been accorded the honorifics
Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriyaor
Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution. With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon on 8 June 2009, he became the longest serving of all current non-royal national leaders. He is also the longest-serving ruler of Libya since Tripoli became an Ottoman province in 1551. When Chairman Mao was all the rage and millions of people were flashing his Little Red Book, Qadaffy came out with his own Little Green Book, which didn't do as well. Qadaffy's instability has been an inspiration to the Arab world and to Africa, which he would like to rule...
has dealt with the calls being issued by the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition [NCLO] and Libyan [political] activists for a Libyan "Day of Rage" to take place on 17 February, modeled on similar events in Tunisia and Egypt, by issuing an unprecedented warnings against any attempts to create chaos and instability in Libya.
In the last few days, Qadaffy privately met with Libyan political activists, journalists, and media figures and he issued severe warnings that these professions would be held responsible should they participate in any way in disturbing the peace or creating chaos in Libya. This was a source of frustration to those who attended these meetings and who had expected Qadaffy to inform them of his intention to carry out important political and economic reforms.
| Why on earth would they expect even an "intention"? |
This represents the first official Libyan response to concerns about the opposition's calls for a "Day of Rage" on 17 February 2011, the anniversary of previous anti-Qadaffy protests in 2006. In these meetings which took place amidst a media blackout, Qadaffy -- who has been in power since 1969 -- also spoke about the problems that the cities of Benghazi, Al Bayda, Darna, and Tobruk, are suffering from, particularly those of neglect, the collapse of infrastructure, unemployment, and corruption.
| And whose fault is that, pray tell? |
| A very good question. Perhaps because the US military bases aren't oppressing them? |
Qadaffy also reportedly defended his friend and ally former Tunisian President Zing El Abidine Ben Ali, saying "the Tunisians hate him because his wife is a Trabelsi [maiden name; meaning from Tripoli]." Qadaffy criticized the revolution that was carried out by the people of Tunisia and the toppling of Ben Ali's regime, before moving away form this and stressing his concern at the return of security and stability to Tunisia.
Libyan activists have claimed that the Libyan intelligence service has been carrying out a large-scale campaign to shut down Libyan websites based outside of the country due to their ongoing coverage of the situation in Libya.
The NCLO has called for mass protests to take place inside and outside of Libya on the anniversary of the 17 February 2006 uprisings in the city of Benghazi where protests against the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad were transformed into mass demonstrations against Qadaffy and his regime, resulting in the death of dozens of protestors and the injury of many more.
| What a charmingly passive voice sentence. Nobody actually did the killing or injuring, it just -- somehow -- happened. |