Halifa Sallah: History is confirming my worst fears

Halifa Sallah has said that history is confirming his worst fears and he hope Gaddafi will bow down to reason, common sense and justice by accepting that the time has come for his departure and do so without presiding over more destruction and deaths.

The Secretary General of the People for Democratic Independent and Socialism (PDOIS) said the sovereignty of states resides in the people. This is the fundamental lesson of political science that should be acknowledged by all peoples and leaders.

He said never could he have imagined that a leader like Gaddafi would wait for even his neighbours or the African Union to mediate between him and the Libyan people. “In the same vein, never could I have imagined that he would go into armed conflict with the Libyan people to the point of provoking reaction from Arab League and the UN Security Council that is welcomed by some quarter in Libya,” he said.

“Gaddafi should have read the mood in the street and draw the lesson that all one party states have drawn, that our Republics are not homogeneous entities. They comprise sovereign citizens with equal rights.”

However, he said each of them has the right to determine who should manage their affairs. This could only be done through the ballot and not through bullet. This requires the birth of a Republican Constitution which safeguards the sovereignty of the individual citizen and his or her freedom of expression, assembly and association and the birth of political parties with principles, policies, programmes and normative practices that would facilitate the holding of multiparty contest to enable the people to decide who could serve their interest.

He suggested that this is the reform Gaddafi needed to make to save Libya from destruction and the Libyan people from civil war and death. It is futile for Africans to discuss the motives of states that are implementing the resolution of the Security Council. Instead, he said “our focus should be the liberty, prosperity and general welfare of the Libyan people”.

Mr. Sallah also stressed that if the African Union is to be relevant it should prevail on Gaddafi to understand that he is no longer in a position to preside over a unified country. He should issue a statement indicating that in the interest of the Libyan people he would order the unilateral cessation of all armed action and would hand over Executive power to a person like the former President of the UN to organise a National Conference of all stakeholders to prepare the ground for political reform.

“He could then leave Libya for Uganda to convince the Libyan people that he will no longer order for a search and kill policy against his opponents,” Mr. Sallah suggests.

In our view this is the way to bring sanity to Libya.

Since 25 February 2011, I issued a statement indicating that “a correct reading of the situation would reveal that it is the attitude of his son in particular who is not elected by the Libyan people to be their head of state and his own attitude towards the protesters which has eroded the internal and external sovereignty of Libya.

In short, the Government of Tunisia and Egypt were besieged by protesters but the internal and external sovereignty of the two countries remained intact once the armies of the two countries remained loyal to the people and refused to take opposite sides and cause civil war.

Today Libya is unable to conduct normal international diplomacy. His ambassadors are outraged by the turning of guns against the people. Hence Gaddafi could no longer guarantee the external sovereignty of Libya and its enormous external investments.

I added that “no government could win by fighting her own people. It is Gaddafi who is losing the battle and his integrity.

There is no honor to die fighting unarmed protesters. All that Gaddafi has to do to attain peace is to encourage the people to march and state their minds on the way forward for Libya. This should be followed by a National Conference of all stakeholders to prepare a new way forward for the country.

Gaddafi will not be remembered in an honorable light if he goes to his death by killing and maiming the people he claims to want to liberate”.

I urged that “once a government cannot provide protection to a population irrespective of their differences and ensure the normal operation of service such country must be classified as ungovernable. This confirms that the internal sovereignty of Libya has also been negated.

In our view Gaddafi is not reading the situation in Libya correctly. His last chance to minimize the damage instead of fueling the carnage is slipping away with unparallel rapidity”.

History is confirming my worst fears and I hope Gaddafi will bow down to reason, common sense and justice by accepting that the time has come for his departure and do so without presiding over more destruction and deaths.