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| Africa North |
| NTC Fighters Announce Capture of Former Libyan PM Durda |
| 2011-09-13 |
| [Tripoli Post] The NTC fighters Sunday presented a former trusted friend of the former Libyan leader and member of the deposed Mammary Al Qadaffy ...whose instability has been an inspiration to dictators everywhere... regime, Abu Zaid Omar Durda to Rooters news agency, that said he was incarcerated in his private house in the Zenata district of Tripoli on Saturday. Durda was reportedly appointed to head the Libyan intelligence service after the defection last April of Mussa Kussa. On his presentation to journalists Durda, sitting on a sofa not handcuffed or physically restrained, was described as having been defiant and angry. He denied any wrongdoing and was even "unapologetic about his role as head of the External Security Organisation (ESO). According to Rooters he suggested he was not ready to criticise the ousted autocrat just to please Libya's new rulers, and even suggested that the men who incarcerated him had no right to the moral high ground. He was quoted telling one of his captors who had remarked that many had died in the Libyan conflict: "People have died from the two sides." Rooters reported him telling his captors: "You had two parties, one of them was an existing regime and the other was the people who rebelled against it and that's the truth." He was reminded that he had served in several senior jobs for the ousted leader. In fact, the 68-year-old had an important role in the regime. For four years, from October 1990 to January 1994 he served as general secretary of the General Peoples Committee (equivalent to Prime Minister) and for six years also represented the country at the united Nations as Libya's permanent representative. He was also a 'parliament' speaker Durda, known as a technocrat, and not an intelligence officer by training, shouted that he did not deny assuming any official post. "Did I deny it? Did I deny it? Did I deny it? I was carrying out my duties," he said. Durda's captors had wanted to present him to the media to prove their claim to have captured him, but Rooters said that as exchanges between him and his captors grew heated, any hopes of an interview faded. Durda said he was so angry about his questioning by his captors that he was not willing to address the media directly. Durda entered politics as Governor of Misrata Province in 1970, serving in that capacity until 1972. After that in 1974, and for two years he was served as general secretary for information and as undersecretary for foreign affairs. Then in 1990, he was appointed 'Prime Minister', and in 1997 became Libya's Permanent Representative at the UN. Before he was called upon to replace Mussa Kussa, Durda was reported to be in Tunisia awaiting a flight in an attempt to defect Al Qadaffy's regime. There had been speculations that he returned to Libya after threats to his family if he defected. His capture comes three weeks after the fall of Tripoli. Many thought he would have left the country after that, but in fact stayed in the city. The NTC fighters said they captured him after intercepting phone calls between him and the members of the Al Qadaffy family who had decamped to the desert. Durda has never been associated with the bloodiest periods in Al Qadaffy's years as ruler, and is known as having been one of the few officials unafraid to speak his mind in the presence of the runaway leader Durda said he would not denounce the government he once served. "You will never hear it from a man like Abu Zaid Durda. I am not running from anything. I am not running away from anything," he said. Rooters reported one of the fighters by the name of Said Haftar asking him: "So you consider it (Al Qadaffy's government) to be something good and nice?" His reply was: "Good or bad, it does not matter, because, any statements made at this moment is considered a humiliation." |
| Posted by:Fred |