Lévy Explains the Tribal Rejection of Gaddafi

May 10 2011

Below is a French to English translation of Bernard-Henri Lévy's explanation of his supposed joint letter by the trines of Libya. The wonky text is presented in full and in order, but broken up with comments.

Call of Benghazi

April 27, 2011

Read the appeal: All the tribes of Libya are one.

Read below decryption Bernard-Henri Levy.

The publication of this text is in many ways an event.

Signed by leaders or representatives of all tribes that make up Libya, he said the country's unity, he demolishes the idea, too often accepted as a matter of course, a nation divided into as many segments as tribes, it argues against the prejudice of Tripoli, and to a lesser extent, of Fezzan, which remain the bastions facing the rebel Cyrenaica, Gaddafi still a powerful

Again, plese note - there are about 140 tribes in Libya, something like 1,000 or more clans. The "appeal" in question was signed by 61 people. Even if they were all chiefs of 61 tribes (they weren't), that would be 42% of the tribes.

Also, the letter was two weeks old by the time it was published. Perhaps that was time to secure the 29 signatures to add to the original 32 to get the final 61.

On 12 April evening in a suburb of Benghazi during a meeting organized by Dr. Almayhoub, member of the National Transition Council and Chairman of the Council of Elders and dignitaries, that the idea of this call is born.

A text was then drafted and ratified soon by the 32 tribal leaders present or represented - basically, and that evening, the tribes of Cyrenaica martyrs and cities of the West.

Then, within days, contacts have been made , messages were launched, emissaries were dispatched towards all the other tribes of the country - the very ones which is assumed to Gaddafi or living under the terror of his army.

The result is there.

Indeed - they only had 32 representatives at the time of drafting. But a number signed later, to which Mr. Levy returns, providing some suspiciously impressive details I cannot yet vouch for or de-bunk - in particular, one man is claimed for the largets tribe, Warfalla, another one standing in for all southern tribes, one from "Lockerbie bomber" al-Megrahi's tribe swears off the regime, as does a "leader traditionnel" of the al-Gaddafa tribe, the Libyan leader's own!

The text has gathered signatures from Mouftah Al Matouk Werfali, chief of the tribe Warfalaa, located Baniwalid, is one of the largest tribes in western countries.

He considered the comments received and the signature of Al Nasr Sharif Sayfal, traditional leader of the tribes Al Gaddafi (Qadhafi's tribe) and Oulad Suleiman (present in Fezzan but whose center is Hrawi, near Sirte, city Gaddafi's birthplace and is considered one of its bases).

All the tribes of the city of Sabha in the South, all these tribes Al Fazazouna

was believed, too, acquired or not daring to disavow Gaddafi, are represented by Al Hajj Ali Al Fazan which we specify in a message accompanying that many leaders in his region who were unable, for security reasons, to ratify the manifesto. are with him through the heart and mind.

Similarly, the tribe Al Maguarhaa in the south: one of its leaders, Abdullah Sanusi, is the brother-in-law of Gaddafi and a pillar of his regime, but the signature of Al Hajj Moussa Al Magurahi, representative of one of the oldest and most influential families in the region is denied the claims of Tripoli to have his full support.

The presence among the signatories, Abd Al Kader Al Targi which is one of the leaders of the tribe Tawarik Al is also a major indication: Al Tawarik tribe, which has links with the Tuareg of Niger Algeria and Mali, is deemed Gaddafi - from today, it should not be.

There is also the coastal tribe Sourman: it is the birthplace of General Kheildi Al Hamed, mate Gaddafi, but here it is that, through Al Hajj Al Mabrouk Soumana says brightly that she chose the camp of insurrection.

Mohamed Al Dhmani Al Agilé represents the tribe Al Agilé, west of Tripoli.

Ashour Al Bou Krisse Wershefani Wesrhefanaa represents the tribe Wesrhefanaa, which is another tribe of the west of the capital, in the Al Azizia which is considered a stronghold of the most loyal and strongest of the Guide.

And there's still the case Khalifa Saleh Al-Qadhafi, leader of the tribe Al Gaddafi is, again, the tribe of Gaddafi: Khalifa Saleh Al Gaddafi was able to sign this text as it is nowadays, but its in Benghazi Announces Signing of others who can still be done openly.

From the sound of it, this Benghazi-origin document was signed by everyone near and dear to the regime itself. It would take some serious finding out to verify this interpretation. And again, it was only five dozen names, east and west, that were gathered at the end of it. Yet Levy continues and closes:

All the tribes of Libya, I repeat, present here.

All have, through one of their chiefs, ratified the manifesto.

The myth of Libya cut in half has lived.

The cuts, more accurately, no longer geographically separating the free tribes of the East than in West always be based on which the regime: it is political, internal to the tribes themselves, which when not clear to have or be on track to have an allegiance to the National Transitional Council, at least, outstanding leaders are here.

There will, very soon, that Libya - expressed through the text I am pleased and honored to make public today.

Bernard-Henri Levy