Libyan families move into remains of Gaddafi fortress
Tripoli, 19 Feb – (ANA) - It used to be the impenetrable fortress of Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Only workers or members of the toppled Libyan leader's inner circle could see inside.
Now, six months after Tripoli fell to Western-backed rebels, dozens of families have moved into the few buildings still standing in the charred remains of Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound, setting up homes amid the rubble.
Their move, largely for economic reasons they say, highlights the collision between two parts of Libyan society.
On one side are the pro-Gaddafi elite who benefited from his largesse, and on the other are ordinary people who, while not poor by regional standards, only saw a small share of Libya's huge energy wealth.
Rebels forced Gaddafi to abandon his Tripoli stronghold, a huge complex of houses, offices and storage buildings which was targeted by NATO warplanes several times during the war. They burned, looted and defaced what for years was a forbidding symbol of the autocratic leader's power.
Days after the walls of the Bab al-Aziziya compound came tumbling down in late August, school chemistry teacher Majid moved his wife and seven children into one of its villas believed to be once occupied by one of Gaddafi's officers.
"Before, when I would drive past Bab al-Aziziya, I wouldn't even dare to look at it, we were afraid to even talk in the car," the 50-year-old said as he walked around his new large four-bedroom house with its separate guest quarters.
"We never imagined we would even enter this place; now I am living here."
Majid said he found the house in disarray when he arrived and has since been working to restore it. He has repainted walls but a corridor is still charred. (ANA)
FA/ANA/19 February 2012------