Misrata: Torghae chose to support Gaddafi

In an exclusive statement to ‘Arabstoday’, the head of the military council in Misrata, Ramadan Zrbouh,  denied news reports of skirmishes between the people of Misrata, and Torghae occurring since the death of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. "The people of Torghae were the ones who increased the problem that weren’t present on the ground. They also promoted rumors about the rebels in Misrata," Zrbouh said.  He clarified that people of Torghae had left their city after the rebels liberated it of the former regime. Torghae lies 25km west of Misrata. Zrbouh stressed on the need to rebuild a new Libya and work together to establish Libya's constitution and laws. One of Misrata’s well-known businessmen Mohammed Alraeid also commented: "Torghae's people had chosen from the beginning to be with Gaddafi, and in cooperation with him they committed a lot of crimes, and that's what made them leave after their town was liberated by rebels." Alraeid described Torghae as a small city, with a high rate of poverty and ignorance. He also stated that Misrata rebels were not particularly vengeful. Member of the General Assembly of the Union of Misurata’s rebels  Abdullah Mustafa Mejri described the problem to ‘Arabstoday’ as complicated. He criticised the media for talking about the problem, which he said needs a special way to be solved because of Torghae's unique nature. “This topic needs to be resolved by other ways, not in the media,” he said. "The government has to make more effort and launch more investigations...this is not Misrata’s rebels’ problem, but the problem of all Libyan cities." Meanwhile, the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC) of Libya, Mustafa Abdul Jalil stated that the national reconciliation project was going well, with the NTC sending several delegations to cities and villages. He also stressed that gun control would be one of the priorities of the transitional government. People of Misrata reprtedly have video recordings taken by mobile phones of Gaddafi’s army from Torghae, while they committed crimes, such as rape, murder and sabotage during the uprising which started on February 17 this year. Misrata, Libya's third largest city with a population of half a million, was a battlefield during the first three months of the revolution. It was bombarded by tanks and artillery Gaddafi forces, who continued shelling the city from their base in Torghae, even after expelling the city of forces in April. According to Misrata’s rebels, thousands were killed before the shelling stopped in August, when the rebels attacked Gaddafi’s artillery system in Torghae. After that, the residents of Torghae left their city, which is now completely deserted.