Samir Saadawi (Biography)

Samir Saadawi is a prominent journalist & political analyst. He is the international affairs editor of the leading Pan- Arab newspaper “Al Hayat”.

With the uprising of “February 17”in Libya, Samir Saadawi emerged as a fierce critic of Moamar Gaddafi, and called in a series of article and TV interviews, for an end to Gaddafi's dictatorship and the establishment of democracy in Libya.

Saadawi was born in Beirut (1959) for a Libyan family in diaspora. His grandfather played a leading role in unifying the territories of Libya and its independence in the first half of the last century.

Bashir Saadawi and his brother Nuri Saadawi led the National Congress Party in Libya which emerged as the most popular party in the western areas of the country (Tripoli and Misrata) during the first elections held under the reign of the late King Idriss Alsanusi in 1952. The alliance between Saadawi’s and other prominent families in the western and middle parts of Libya with King Idriss forced the colonizing powers in Libya at that time (Britain & Italy) to accept the Independence of the unified Libyan territories.

With this political heritage in mind, Samir Saadawi adopted early in his life and during his study periods at the American University of Beirut, liberal values and began exploring ways of democratization in Libya, especially after Gaddafi’s coup in 1969 which resulted in  years of tyranny in Libya.

 As a writer, Samir Saadawi called for promoting civil society, human rights and freedom of speech in Libya and the rest of the Middle East, he envisaged that this can only be achieved through building democratic institution, adopting transparency and establishing the rule of law.

Few days after the “February 17” uprising in Libya he wrote in “The Daily Star” a leading English newspaper in the Middle East, an article entitled “Roadmap for  Ending Tripoli’s Siege” in wish he detailed  his views on dealing with the emerging Libyan crisis.

Since then, Samir Saadawi (whose family originates from Misrata) became an activist in support of the Libyan uprising in various forums and on Facebook. He managed to establish a network of relations with other prominent activists in Libya to encourage democratic transition in the country.

Saadawi lived in Britain between 1984 and 2000. He joined “Al Hayat” newspaper in 1990. Before that he was working as freelance writer for several Arab publications. He also worked as a public relations consultant for several British companies, advising them on dealing with public sector in Arab countries. During his stay in Britain he joined many seminars, and gave lectures and courses on public sector development and the relation between the public sector and the media.

(Saadawi can be spelled in different ways to give the same pronunciation in Arabic like: Al-Saadawi, Saadaoui, Sedawi, Sa’adawi etc…)

Road map for ending 'Tripoli's siege'

By Samir Saadawi

Friday, March 04, 2011

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi responded violently to peaceful demonstrations in Benghazi, east of Libya, on Feb. 17. This led to an uprising that engulfed the whole country, and forced him to take bunker in “Bab al-Azizia” military base in the center of the capital Tripoli.

His notorious “Brigades” resorted to massacres in their futile trials to regain lost ground, committing genocide against the peaceful population by using airplanes and helicopters to target civilians with heavy machine guns.

These crimes must leave no option for the international community but to intervene against the regime, depriving it of its international legitimacy, as it lost all legitimacy among Libyan citizens.

Gadhafi is currently taking the entire population of Tripoli (over a million inhabitants) hostages, depriving them of free movement and blocking their access to foreign media by sabotaging satellite channels that carry news of the uprising. Surprisingly, he did not take hostages from the foreign community, which was allowed to leave the country freely, perhaps as a message to the West that he is still willing to be a reliable interlocutor and a “guarantor” of the supplies of millions of barrels of fine Libyan crude oil.

But to Gadhafi’s misfortune, major oil supplies lie in the eastern parts of the country, where it will be impossible for him to regain control without resorting to further massacres that would leave Libya in a “sea of blood.”

Gadhafi’s recourse to mercenaries from abroad amounts to a “foreign attack” on the Libyan population.

His reign of terror inside the capital was manifested by kidnapping hundreds of citizens considered to pose a potential threat to the regime, mainly activists and members of families that originate from the liberated eastern and western parts of the country. The notorious “Brigades” have also stormed into hospitals, killing or kidnapping anybody who suffered injuries during protests. The fate of those who were kidnapped remains unknown, raising fears that they were liquidated or that they will be used as human shields in any assault against Gadhafi.

By holding his fortified position in the capital, Gadhafi seeks to impose a status quo in the uprising and bing the popular movement against him into a deadlock, something that will have serious implications on the stability of the country, taking into consideration that the uprising has crossed the point of no return and any survival of the regime would lead to the “liquidation” of hundreds of opposition supporters, something Gadhafi threatened to do publicly.

The regional powers (Arab League and African Union) have demonstrated a weak response – or none at all – to the genocide in Libya, therefore the burden lies on the international community to take immediate steps to insure a viable solution to the crisis.

The most important step is to impose a marine military blockade and a no-fly zone on the regime that still hold the port of Tripoli and a military airbase in the capital’s suburbs.

The blockade should be aimed at preventing the regime from importing ammunition or mercenaries or using battleships to bomb liberated cities, as the overwhelming majority of Libyans reside in various cities that stretch along the northern coast.

The no-fly zone should ensure that Gadhafi supporters are prevented from using planes or helicopters to attack demonstrators or trying to regain control of lost areas, as they did in vain on several occasions in the last few days.

It is also imperative to resort immediately to an “electronic war” against the regime, in terms of interference with his means of communication and his media (radio and television), and also launch a media campaign through live broadcasting to the population in Tripoli.

These steps need a clear mandate from the Security Council and the international community should engage as soon as possible in a dialogue with various constituents of the opposition movement to figure out means to offer support to national and military councils (local administrations) newly formed in the liberated areas. This dialogue should aim at ensuring both humanitarian and military help to the freedom fighters and their supporters.

Helping to reorganize the remnants of the Libyan Army, which Gadhafi destroyed during his reign because of his lack of trust in its officers, can ensure that the final assault on the regime is executed by Libyans only and will be swift with fewer casualties within the civilian population.

Western intervention in Libya can be restricted to those terms, as neither the local population nor the allies would want to see a remake of the Iraqi or Afghan scenario in this case. Therefore the deployment of foreign troops on the ground should be ruled out.

The strategy of breaking up Gadhafi’s siege of Tripoli requires a popular countersiege on the regime. The countersiege by the uprising is aimed at imposing moral pressure on the regime, coupled with attempts to create pockets of resistance in the capital’s suburbs with the objective of bringing medicine and food to some areas in Tripoli, and creating humanitarian corridors to assist those who are wounded in any confrontation with the regime’s security apparatus.

If Gadhafi manages to hold on to his positions in the city, the most obvious choice left for the opposition would be to follow a strategy of carving off areas of the city in order to approach the center where the final battle will be fought.

Increasing pressure on the regime will ensure splits within its elements and most probably will lead to a fatal end to Gadhafi if he does not choose the alternative of a last-minute exit. 

Samir Saadawi is a Libyan writer in diaspora.



This Article was published in the “The Daily Star”