IF THERE was any doubt about how the people of Benghazi, epicentre of Libya’s uprising, feel about the prospect of foreign intervention, all was dispelled by the banners that appeared on streets here yesterday.
In English and Arabic, the message on the huge red, green and black posters was loud and clear: “No foreign intervention, Libyan people can do it alone.”
A spokesman for the opposition, Abdel Hafiz Ghoqa, insisted there was no need for “any foreign intervention or military operation”.
At the weekend, Fethi Terbil, a lawyer whose arrest earlier this month triggered the Benghazi protests that soon evolved into all-revolt across eastern Libya and west towards the capital, Tripoli, said the anti-regime camp did not seek anything from other countries that might undermine sovereignty.
“We would accept a no-fly zone but not economic sanctions that would penalise the people. We want intelligence but nothing that would undermine our air, land or maritime sovereignty,” he told reporters.
Many Libyans, when asked about the possibility of intervention, raise the spectre of what happened in Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003.
Asked what the international community should do to help Libya, the son of Omar al-Mukhtar, the country’s legendary colonial resistance hero whose image and words have been adopted by the opposition, told The Irish Times:
“The main thing is there should be no direct intervention in Libya, such as the invasions that have happened in other countries. Libyans can sort themselves out from within.”
This was echoed by one Benghazi resident who did not want to give his name.
“Interference by other countries would only make the situation worse. This is our revolution, just like Tunisia’s revolution belonged to the Tunisians and Egypt’s to the Egyptians. We are united and we can succeed on our own.”
Another Benghazi resident, a mother of four who gave her name as Fatima, shook her head when asked about foreign military intervention.
“No, no, no, that would not be a good idea,” she said.
“The only kind of intervention we might accept is to send an assassin to take Gadafy out once and for all so that no more blood will be spilt.”