“…another meeting (between rebels and elders) was cancelled before it could begin when the (bani Walid) village elders were greeted by a pregnant female rebel. She searched their belongings and asserted authority over them. The perceived loss of face was enough to send them home…”
By Ruth Sherlock and Maria Golovnina
near Bani Walid
Many of the rebels are clearly ready for the fight - notable among them dentist Dr Mariam al Warfalli, seven months pregnant and armed.
A member of the Warfalla tribe, originally from Bani Walid, Mariam and her husband Omar have left their Tripoli livelihoods to join the band of rebel fighters trying retake their town.
Handgun in the hilt of her jeans, and sporting her baby bump, Mariam is at the furthest forward position of the rebel advance with no doubt about where her loyalities are.
"I am a rebel and I always will be," she said yesterday, sitting on a pile of rubble with the rest of the fighters.
Mariam's life has been steeped in the revolution since it began. She wears the T-shirt of a fighter who fell to the ground beside her at a Tripoli protest, killed by a sniper. Imprinted with the "Free Libya" logo, she refuses to take it off until Gaddafi is killed.
In February, Mariam organised popular protests in Tripoli. She was caught on the first day, taken to a police station, beaten and threatened with rape.
Mariam's fate once captured was bleak. But, she explained, the police were forced to let her go. "Because I am from the Warfalla (tribe] and from Bani Walid; if they had hurt me, my tribe might have moved against Gaddafi, and then he would have been finished there and then," she said.
As rebel fighters from Misrata stormed into Tripoli, she was the first woman to meet them on the symbolic Green Square. Amid the bullets, she had rushed out to greet them.
"They could not believe I was there, they cried when they saw me," she said.
At seven months, Mariam and Omar's baby was conceived at the start of the revolution. A girl, she calls her baby "Misrata" after her fighting boys.
But for now she is determined to live the life of a rebel. "I will worry about the baby when Bani Walid is liberated."
"Last night we moved into Bani Walid secretly, I am ready to fight if I have to," she added, as husband Omar casually handed her his Kalashnikov.
Frustrated at the lack of action, the men sat watching, waiting and cleaning their guns. But hormonal, and filled with revolutionary fervour, Mariam was quick to start a fight.
A tribesman came to her patch to implore the rebels not to attack. "We just need two more days, we are so close," he had said, before facing a torrent from Mariam.
"You are a liar! Why are you still with Gaddafi?" she shouted as the rebels made apologetic gestures to the negotiator.
She holds a dominant presence in the group, issuing orders to the fighters and leading the hunt for "spies" in cars coming through the checkpoint. A family waited as she rifled through their possessions....
READ THE ENTIRE STORY FROM SCOTSMAN:
Libya: Rebels ready to storm desert town as patience runs short
http://www.scotsman.com/news/Libya-Rebels-ready-to-storm.6831328.jp?articlepage=1
By Ruth Sherlock and Maria Golovnina
near Bani Walid Published Date: 06 September 2011
Libyan forces are massed ready to storm a desert town held by Gaddafi loyalists, but still holding off in the hope of a surrender that would avoid bloodshed.
On-off negotiations involving tribal elders from Bani Walid, south of Tripoli, and a fog of contradictory messages, reflect the complexities of dismantling the remnants of the dictator's 42-year rule and building a new political system.
At a military checkpoint 40 miles north of the town on the road to the capital, the latest word last night from Abdallah Kanshil, who is running talks for the interim government, was that a peaceful handover was coming soon.
"The surrender of the city is imminent," he said. "It is a matter of avoiding civilian casualties. Some snipers have surrendered their weapons… Our forces are ready."
Similar statements for several days have not been followed by an end to the siege, however. And there is no word from inside the town.
National Transitional Council military units are trying to squeeze pro-Gaddafi forces out of Bani Walid, as well as Gaddafi's home town of Sirte on the coast and a large area of territory deep into the desert.
Earlier, outside Bani Walid, an NTC commander, Mohammed al-Fassi, said force now seemed the only option. "The offer is that people who committed crimes in Gaddafi's name will be put under house arrest until the new government is formed. Some of them have accepted this, but others said no," he said.
Many of the rebels are clearly ready for the fight - notable among them dentist Dr Mariam al Warfalli, seven months pregnant and armed.
A member of the Warfalla tribe, originally from Bani Walid, Mariam and her husband Omar have left their Tripoli livelihoods to join the band of rebel fighters trying retake their town.
Tribal politics, a feature of Libyan life that Gaddafi exploited to divide and rule, will still play a part as the NTC tries to disarm the varied groups that fought the six-month war to dislodge him, install a democracy that can survive ethnic and other divisions, and revive Libya's economy.
At Bani Walid, the Warfalla tribe, a diffuse group that includes a million people, or a sixth of the population, has a key role in that its leadership have retained loyalties to Gaddafi, while others, in cities like Misrata and Tripoli, joined the revolt.
Handgun in the hilt of her jeans, and sporting her baby bump, Mariam is at the furthest forward position of the rebel advance with no doubt about where her loyalities are.
"I am a rebel and I always will be," she said yesterday, sitting on a pile of rubble with the rest of the fighters.
"Last night we moved into Bani Walid secretly, I am ready to fight if I have to," she added, as husband Omar casually handed her his Kalashnikov.
She holds a dominant presence in the group, issuing orders to the fighters and leading the hunt for "spies" in cars coming through the checkpoint. A family waited as she rifled through their possessions.
Frustrated at the lack of action, the men sat watching, waiting and cleaning their guns. But hormonal, and filled with revolutionary fervour, Mariam was quick to start a fight.
A tribesman came to her patch to implore the rebels not to attack. "We just need two more days, we are so close," he had said, before facing a torrent from Mariam.
"You are a liar! Why are you still with Gaddafi?" she shouted as the rebels made apologetic gestures to the negotiator.
Mariam's life has been steeped in the revolution since it began. She wears the T-shirt of a fighter who fell to the ground beside her at a Tripoli protest, killed by a sniper. Imprinted with the "Free Libya" logo, she refuses to take it off until Gaddafi is killed.
In February, Mariam organised popular protests in Tripoli. She was caught on the first day, taken to a police station, beaten and threatened with rape.
Mariam's fate once captured was bleak. But, she explained, the police were forced to let her go. "Because I am from the Warfalla (tribe] and from Bani Walid; if they had hurt me, my tribe might have moved against Gaddafi, and then he would have been finished there and then," she said.
As rebel fighters from Misrata stormed into Tripoli, she was the first woman to meet them on the symbolic Green Square. Amid the bullets, she had rushed out to greet them.
"They could not believe I was there, they cried when they saw me," she said.
At seven months, Mariam and Omar's baby was conceived at the start of the revolution. A girl, she calls her baby "Misrata" after her fighting boys.
But for now she is determined to live the life of a rebel. "I will worry about the baby when Bani Walid is liberated."
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