GADDAFI, LIBYA, AND AFRICANS ON TRANSIT.

I was in a Banking hall sometime ago, as I waited for my turn on a queue. Something on the television caught my attention. That was in 2011,in October. The image(s) I saw were disturbing, unknown to me, that view was an epoc making event for a country.

Thankfully, the queue was not moving fast, so I stood long enough to gather some details about the incident. The short video clip that was aired was the capture and death of Gaddaffi Muammar of Libya. I did not have a television were I was staying at that time, so I could not watch a repeat of the video. The buzz remained in the news for a long time, and it was celebrated by the Gaddaffi-oppostion as a victory, and an end to times of resistance and oppression. A new era, and a beginning for the people of Libya.

Six years later, the world is still audience to unfortunate happenings in Libya. I still remember how I felt about Gaddaffi's death scene. In my own argument, I said no leader, Head of State  deserved such humiliation, no matter the crime(s). I admit that one thing Gaddaffi got wrong was his longevity in power. He had "served" his people for 46 whole years, yet refused to entertain the advice or thought of stepping down. Unfortunately, in an attempt to retain the status quo, he committed horrible atrocities in an effort to strifle opposition.

In a resolution passed in March 2012 by the Transition Committee,the resolution among other things, prohibits the condemnation of the revolution and the praise of Gaddaffi, his family or his ousted government. So I would resist the temptation of laying side-by-side the state of Libya during the Gaddaffi (long) regime, and the unending chaos it has become since his killing.

Foreign nations were fingered in the uprising that led to the oust and killing of Gaddaffi, and there has been claims that they still continue to fuel the unrest in the country, all for their economic gain. One could say that the nuisance of the fleeing refugee situation towards European countries may be a ripple effect I am not sure they bargained for. Seemingly, Gaddaffi held some sort of wedge against the outflux of migrants, both Libyan citizens and other nationales who would have used the country as a migration port or pass.

Libya had always been a jewel of African nations. During the Gaddaffi era, the country offered employment opportunities for good wages. A lot of Africans from other countries settled there. But since the end of the era and the complete breakdown of law and order that followed, it has become better known as a pass for desperate African migrants, with all sorts of dark tales of the horrible experiences migrants pass through.

Migrants from different countries in Africa, fleeing for different reasons, such as civil war, government instability, poverty and hunger, rise of insurgency and rebels, all posing threat to life and safety of the refugees. The migrants, bracing the risk of the harsh desert to make it to Libya, and facing even greater danger at the Mediterranean in other to make it over to Europe. Costing them large sums of money, valuable properties, and sometimes their very lives.

The unwillingness of European countries to embrace and welcome the refugees has been widely criticized and condemned. But even more worthy of criticism and condemnation is the collapse or failure leadership structures in African countries which directly led to the desperate situation of African nationales having to flee their villages, hometowns and country in order to survive.

Peace is a delicate state, and when put alongside quest for freedom, it becomes even more volatile,and it is always the first casualty in desperate quests. Peace is easy to disrupt, hard to find, and as soon as peace falls apart, everything else would be unable to hold.