PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Kadhafi: Kenyan media urge Libyan rulers to avoid revenge
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenyan newspapers offered a cautious approval to the elimination of former Libyan leader Mouammar Kadhafi, saying it should serve as a lesson to sections of African dictators that the peoples wish would ultimately prevail.
The Daily Nation, Kenya’s private daily, warned the new Libyan rulers against a new wave of ‘savage bloodlust’ after its capture and eventual killing of the former Libyan leader and said they must also rise above their western sponsors, to deliver democracy.
“The new leadership must demonstrate speedily that it desires to bring the country to a fresh start in a new dispensation that has room for all,” the Nation wrote.
The National Transitional Council (NTC) would have a limited mandate of restoring security and must be committed to giving way to a democratically-elected government, while ensuring there is no vacuum that might be exploited by anti-democratic extremists, the paper editorialised.
Insisting on a speedy return to democratic rule in the Arab states that have witnessed revolutions this year, the Nation called on the new Arab leaders not to test the peoples' patience by delaying elections and turning into dictatorships.
“It remains important, however, that the transition to democracy be speedy, lest the interim regimes themselves test the people’s patience."
Warning against retribution against former regime supporters, the Nation called on the NTC to work towards establishing its own legitimacy in countering beliefs that it is nothing short of a western stooge backed by the NATO that defeated Kadhafi.
The Standard newspapers, a private daily, had no immediate editorial comments on the killing of the Libyan leader but wrote headlines suggesting Kadhafi’s rule was dictatorial and largely blood thirsty.
“Kadhafi cornered hiding in a drainage pipe”, read a headline on the Standard Friday. There was a total of three stories on the Standard online edition Friday, one stating: “Kadhafi thought nothing of turning his guns on his people.”
In the stories published on The Standard, Kadhafi was described as initially admired for standing up to the West and Israel but held a prominent position in the West’s gallery of international rogues, while maintaining tight control at home.
Local radio station, KASS FM, ran stories, headlined: "Kadhafi’s death ends tyranny”, which echoed reports of wild celebrations in parts of Libya after the death of the former leader.
In other opinion articles published by bloggers, Kadhafi was styled as a kind Arab leader who was largely demonized by the Western media.
“I consider Libyans lucky to a certain extent and one wonders whether the new democratic rule they cry for will improve or worsen their lives. Yes, Kadhafi has spent millions of Libyan money on personal ventures but is the average Libyan poor? We know of other dictators who take a country and destroy it until you feel there is no hope of restoring the country,” wrote one Kenyan blogger.
The blogger said Libyans have no electricity bills because the government recognizes it as their right.
There are no interest rates charged on loans and home ownership is a human right. The blogger also wondered why Kadhafi did not receive praise for raising education from 25 to 83 per cent.
“Maze Kadhafi kuja Kenya, tunaumia,” a Swahili translation for “Kadhafi, please come to Kenya, we are suffering,” the blogger wrote.
-0- PANA AO/BOS 21Oct2011
The Daily Nation, Kenya’s private daily, warned the new Libyan rulers against a new wave of ‘savage bloodlust’ after its capture and eventual killing of the former Libyan leader and said they must also rise above their western sponsors, to deliver democracy.
“The new leadership must demonstrate speedily that it desires to bring the country to a fresh start in a new dispensation that has room for all,” the Nation wrote.
The National Transitional Council (NTC) would have a limited mandate of restoring security and must be committed to giving way to a democratically-elected government, while ensuring there is no vacuum that might be exploited by anti-democratic extremists, the paper editorialised.
Insisting on a speedy return to democratic rule in the Arab states that have witnessed revolutions this year, the Nation called on the new Arab leaders not to test the peoples' patience by delaying elections and turning into dictatorships.
“It remains important, however, that the transition to democracy be speedy, lest the interim regimes themselves test the people’s patience."
Warning against retribution against former regime supporters, the Nation called on the NTC to work towards establishing its own legitimacy in countering beliefs that it is nothing short of a western stooge backed by the NATO that defeated Kadhafi.
The Standard newspapers, a private daily, had no immediate editorial comments on the killing of the Libyan leader but wrote headlines suggesting Kadhafi’s rule was dictatorial and largely blood thirsty.
“Kadhafi cornered hiding in a drainage pipe”, read a headline on the Standard Friday. There was a total of three stories on the Standard online edition Friday, one stating: “Kadhafi thought nothing of turning his guns on his people.”
In the stories published on The Standard, Kadhafi was described as initially admired for standing up to the West and Israel but held a prominent position in the West’s gallery of international rogues, while maintaining tight control at home.
Local radio station, KASS FM, ran stories, headlined: "Kadhafi’s death ends tyranny”, which echoed reports of wild celebrations in parts of Libya after the death of the former leader.
In other opinion articles published by bloggers, Kadhafi was styled as a kind Arab leader who was largely demonized by the Western media.
“I consider Libyans lucky to a certain extent and one wonders whether the new democratic rule they cry for will improve or worsen their lives. Yes, Kadhafi has spent millions of Libyan money on personal ventures but is the average Libyan poor? We know of other dictators who take a country and destroy it until you feel there is no hope of restoring the country,” wrote one Kenyan blogger.
The blogger said Libyans have no electricity bills because the government recognizes it as their right.
There are no interest rates charged on loans and home ownership is a human right. The blogger also wondered why Kadhafi did not receive praise for raising education from 25 to 83 per cent.
“Maze Kadhafi kuja Kenya, tunaumia,” a Swahili translation for “Kadhafi, please come to Kenya, we are suffering,” the blogger wrote.
-0- PANA AO/BOS 21Oct2011
