Muammar Gaddafi: How did he die?

The confusion surrounding the dictator's death has left many questions as to exactly how it happened

 

In the picture is Gaddafi, his wife and a concrete tunnel where was his final hiding place before being captured

Some footage originally shows Muammar Gaddafi able to walk, in later stills he appears lifeless. Photograph: Reuters TV

 
Did Muammar Gaddafi receive his fatal wounds while attempting to escape or was he executed?
Already questions are being asked about the circumstance of Gaddafi's death, whether he died from his injuries during a Nato airstrike and subsequent gun-battle with government forces.
So what evidence is there for how Gaddafi died?

Video exists of Gaddafi alive after his capture. When he is next seen he appears lifeless

Several fragments of mobile phone footage exist showing brief snapshots of Gaddafi apparently able to use his legs after capture, Gaddafi moving his hand up to his throat and a lifeless Gaddafi after being helped into a pickup truck. While the quality is poor in all of them, it appears that in the first sequence of Gaddafi still alive he is bleeding from a wound on the left side of his head, parallel with his left eye.
In post mortem stills, taken in an ambulance after his death, several wounds are visible including a large round wound close to his left temple, a wound in the centre of his forehead and an elongated wound close to his throat. Doctors and a reporter who saw the body also describe seeing a gunshot wound to the chest although this may have been the wound close to his throat.
Doctors in the ambulance who saw him also described a gunshot wound to the head and one to the chest although it is not clear whether these were received before or after capture given evidence of an existing head injury on capture attested to by other NTC officials.
Accounts of his death by an unnamed NTC official and a fighter interviewed on television suggested he had been shot with a 9mm round "after" being taken into custody.

It has been claimed the wound to the head is a gunshot wound

From the post mortem pictures it is hard to tell when the wound to the temple was delivered or by what. It is clear that Gaddafi had a head injury of some kind when captured. In most of the video fragments there is evidence of bleeding down that side of his face, soaking the shoulder of his shirt, even when pictured alive.
Close contact gunshot wounds – often associated with execution – typically show a different appearance. They are often star shaped and surrounded by a "tattoo" of gunpowder and other residues.
This is not apparent in what can be seen of the obvious wound to the temple. It is impossible to tell from the post mortem images so far released from the ambulance if there is an associated exit wound, but a plastic bag appears to have been placed closed to where it might be expected. So for now it is difficult to tell how he received the injury, at what range, when or in what circumstances.

In the footage of Gaddafi lifeless propped up in the truck, he appears to be unconscious but bleeding heavily from his head.

There is footage of what appears to be a mob attack on Gaddafi on the ground. The difficulty with this segment is that it is not clear whether Gaddafi is alive or dead. In the other fragments that appear to show him alive he is wearing a gold coloured tunic and trousers. By the time this footage has been taken, his shirt has been removed suggesting it may be later in the sequence of clips – perhaps after Gaddafi was already dead.

CCM against Dowans' award

Dowan's site

THE ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) now supports government's position not to pay Dowans Holdings SA (Costa Rica) and Dowans Tanzania Ltd 65 million US dollars (about 95bn/-) for breach of contract.

Responding to reporters' questions on Wednesday, CCM Ideology and Publicity Secretary, Mr Nape Nnauye, said the government was not keen to pay the sum hence the decision to appeal in court.

"The government had the party's blessings when it decided to start investigations into Richmond Company and take action against those involved," he explained.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in November 2010 awarded Dowans Holding SA (Costa Rica) and Dowans Tanzania Ltd 65.8 million US dollars for wrongful termination of a power generation contract in 2008.

Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco) filed an objection in the High Court against registration of the award on grounds that the ICC arbitration was unfairly conducted, as the tribunal failed to consider part of evidence they had submitted.

Tanesco also argued that awarding 94bn/- to Dowans Ltd would go against public interest. The objection was thrown out by the High Court.

It also ordered Tanesco to pay the cost of running the case incurred by Dowans. As a result, a number of Civil Society Organizations (SOs) have recently threatened to hold a nationwide protest against the government paying the award to Dowans.

Mr Nnauye said CCM does not believe in mass demonstrations as the best way to address the issue and suggested that the public should wait for the government to take legal action.
"This is a legal issue, staging a countrywide protest will not help,"he said.

Tanesco was yesterday expected to file an application for leave of appeal against the court's ruling in the Dowans saga.

Following a parliamentary inquiry findings that there were serious irregularities in the tendering process that led to the deal being awarded to Dowans, TANESCO terminated its contract with the company.

Meanwhile, Mr Nnauye said a small group of CCM members were trying to sabotage changes taking place within the party.

He said that the same group tried to sabotage the recent by-elections in Igunga so that the party could lose.

"The party knows and follows closely everything that's happening, there is nothing we do not know, including efforts to sabotage the national chairman, President Jakaya Kikwete," he added without going into details.

Its really not interesting to see the government  pay that huge sum of money while there are a lot of Tanzanians who lives in marginalized environment and have nothing at all. This is our country, and the money is absolutely generated from our pocket, let us fight for this becoz i believe the money will go direct to their own pocket.


Wake up Tanzania...!

Concern as power dams continue to ‘dry up’

Kidatu hydro-power dam

It has been reported in one of the daily tabloid press that the level of water at the Kidatu hydro-power dam in Morogoro Region has drastically gone down leading to steep drop in electricity generation to 40MW, from its 200MW capacity.

The Kidatu Plant Acting Production Manager, Mr Joseph Lyaruu, said on Wednesday that the situation has worsened the ongoing power crisis in the country.

Mr Lyaruu was briefing President Jakaya Kikwete, who is currently touring Morogoro Region.

The president made a stop-over at the plant to witness the situation, particularly the drop of water level.

Mr Lyaruu also told the president that water level at Mtera Dam located in Iringa Region was getting worse. He said the Mtera Plant was now generating 30MW, down from its 80MW capacity.

President Kikwete expressed concern over the situation and attributed the trend to drought in parts of the country with rivers feeding the two hyro-power dams.

But he noted that the government was aware of the problem and was taking various measures to mitigate power supply blues.

"Drought is the major source of the ongoing power crisis and it has prompted the government to take various emergency measures to arrest the situation," he said.
 
So if this is the situation, absolutely power rationing will increase, what should we do? should we continue to trust them?


Your comments please.

Horror as 180 people perish in ferry accident

                          President Jakaya Kikwete and Zanzibar President
                          Ali Mohamed Shein look at the bodies of children
                          who died when a ferry plying between Zanzibar and
                          Pemba capsized Saturday night.

GRIEF reigned across the spice islands of Unguja and Pemba yesterday as their residents tried to come to terms with a fatal dawn marine accident at Nungwi, 72 kilometres from Unguja, which claimed over 180 lives.

The Zanzibar President, Dr Ali Mohamed Shein, who visited the scene of accident and comforted survivors at a Maisara grounds rescue centre in Unguja, announced three days of mourning beginning today, in which flags will fly at half mast.

A State House statement said 180 bodies were recovered by last night and 579 survivors rescued from the accident involving a Pemba-bound Mv Spice Islanders, which sank at around 2 am yesterday. Apparently no foreigner was in the ferry.

Sixty of the survivors were critically injured while 100 others were treated at Mnazi Mmoja hospital in Unguja and released. The statement said the dead would be buried at a common cemetery.

The survivors claimed that the accident was waiting to happen and blamed Malindi port authorities for allowing an overloaded vessel to set off. The figures released so far add up to 759, but extreme estimates say up to 1,000 passengers could have been on board the ferry, whose capacity is suspected to be half the number or lower.

The ferry, which left Malindi harbour at 3 pm on Friday, is believed to have been hit by a strong current at Nungwi. It overturned on one side and started sinking gradually.

Omar Said, one of the survivors, said their calls to reduce the number of passengers or cancel the journey, were ignored by port authorities and the ferry's crew.

''Some people cancelled their booking. The boat started to experience difficulties after 1pm, and began to sink, prompting screaming from scared passengers,'' he said, adding:

''At 2 am the boat came to a standstill and everyone knew it was the end of life. The first rescue team arrived at 7 am, I was floating with a life jacket.''

A Police helicopter was used to locate survivors around the scene of accident, said a member of the rescue team, Mr Ali Shamte. ''Some survivors were floating on mattresses, wood, sacks containing flour and rice and anything else that was afloat.''


President Shein was joined in the mourning by Vice-Presidents Seif Shariff Hamad and Seif Ali Iddi as well as cabinet ministers, political party and religious leaders.