Libyan Who Helped Capture Gaddafi is Killed

One of the men who captured Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was buried Wednesday in Libya.

Omran Ben Shabaan was caught on camera last year, grabbing the fallen dictator as he emerged from a drain hole.

Gaddafi was killed later the same day.

Shabaan also died violently, from injuries he received at the hands of Gaddafi loyalists still active in Libya.

He had been kidnapped in July and tortured, then shot and wounded in an escape attempt.

The Libyan government negotiated his release earlier this week and he was rushed to Paris, France, for medical treatment.

But he died of his injuries on Tuesday.

Shabaan’s brother runs a militia in Misrata, and has vowed to take justice into his own hands, if the government fails to do so.

Dirk Vandewalle, associate professor of government at Dartmouth College, says that could trigger a new round of instability and violence in Libya.

The incident coincides with attempts by citizens groups to disarm the militias, following the death of US ambassador, Chris Stevens, earlier this month, in an attack by a pro-al-Qaeda Salafist militia.

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Marco Werman: While Egypt’s first post-uprising president spoke in New York, another of the Arab Spring’s revolutions was marking a somber moment. In Libya, a former rebel fighter who was hailed as a hero was laid to rest today. Omran Ben Shabaan was just 22 years old. His hero status came from the fact that he was there when the toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi was captured last year. Shabaan was one of the rebels who grabbed Gaddafi as he emerged from a drain pipe. A couple of months ago though the tables turned; Shabaan was kidnapped by Gaddafi loyalists and tortured. He was eventually released, but died from his wounds this week. Dirk Vandewalle is an associate professor of government at Dartmouth College and an expert on Libya. Professor Vandewalle, what was Shabaan’s role in the capture of Gaddafi exactly, do you know?

Dirk Vandewalle: As far as we know, there was a number of militia men on the morning that Gaddafi was discovered, and he had fled into a pipe and a number of the militias, including this young man, discovered him in that pipe and he indeed was one of the young men then that grabbed Gaddafi as he came up from the drainage pipe.

Werman: And is it known whether he was one of those people who either abused the dictator or helped in the actual killing of him?

Vandewalle: It’s really not known. There was so much confusion and chaos at the time that the video that we’ve seen, and there are multiple versions of these videos, show an enormous amount of confusion and chaos, and several men surrounding Gaddafi. So it’s not that absolutely clear what exactly happened, who abused Gaddafi and who ultimately pulled the trigger that killed him.

Werman: And then two months ago Shabaan was captured by presumably Gaddafi loyalists and tortured. Did the kidnappers know who he was? Is that why they went after him?

Vandewalle: Again, it’s not very clear and Libya of course, there is this kind of lingering chaos. There is this tit for tat that several militias are engaging and toward each other. And so he may have been known or he may have not been know, really no one really knows at this particular point in time.

Werman: I mean we saw during the riots in Benghazi around the US consulate just kind of what divisions exist in Libya right now, but it is surprising to see how active Gaddafi loyalists still are in Libya. How divided is the country?

Vandewalle: I think the activism of the Gaddafi loyalists is perhaps a bit exaggerated. While there still are undoubtedly loyalists and certainly around Bani Walid, one of the cities of course that has been central in this uprising and where the loyalists, the Gaddafi loyalists held on to power for the longest time, but overall it’s quite unclear in Libya because of all the competing militias that exist, that both militias that were involved in the actual civil war, but also a number of rogue militias that have appeared after the civil war. It’s not always clear what exactly is happening again, within this general climate of chaos and upheaval that Libya still exhibits today.

Werman: Meantime, you know, many who were opposed to Gaddafi are really hoping that some kind of justice comes through for Shabaan. Apparently, Shabaan’s brother runs a militia in Misrata and is vowing revenge if the government fails to deliver justice. What are the chances of that happening?

Vandewalle: One of the big problems of Libya ever since the end of the civil war has been that there are at least multiple militias. In the case of Misrata there were over 100 militias at one particular point in time. And the problem is that the government simply does not yet have the capacity to really control these militias. They’ve tried to incorporate and in several ways bring them into the army, bring them into security organizations. And there are a number of other measures, but that is still very, very incomplete, and indeed, the government at least for some of its security functions still relies on some of these militias And so what has happened after the killing of Ambassador Stevens is that the government is now trying to make a more forceful effort to bring some of these militias under control and to particularly reign in these rogue militias. But my hunch is that this is a process that will take years.

Werman: Does that raise concerns for you about the potential for some kind of civil conflict if you’ve got all these militias kind of doing their own justice?

Vandewalle: Obviously, it’s not an ideal situation where you have a government that does not have the monopoly on violence; that is, the government simply cannot control the territory of Libya at this particular point in time. But on the other hand I think we’ve seen a good number of steps forward that seem to indicate that the power of the government in Libya is gaining some traction. Now, it’s very slow and still very incomplete, but bit by bit I think the government really is becoming a true government in a sense and it’s really engaged in an effort of building up the state of Libya that has not really existed. So on the one hand I’m cautiously optimistic and certainly I hope that the government can get these militias under control, but again, I think it will be a long term process.

Werman: Dirk Vandewalle, associate professor at Dartmouth College, who is at the UN General Assembly this week in New York, thank you very much for your time.

Vandewalle: My pleasure.

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