We could speculate until the camels come home...

Following reports of racist attacks on black migrants in Libya by anti-Gaddafi forces, Cameron Duodu says it’s ‘shameful that after touting “African unity” since 1963, Africans still have to seek NATO’S protection, because Africans are killing Africans.’

Libya's interim prime minister says his administration will form a new government within the next seven to 10 days. Mahmoud Jibril spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He said Libya's National Transitional Council is finalizing decisions on the exact number of ministries and whether they would all be located in the capital, Tripoli, or divided between eastern and western Libya.

A U.S Department of Defense release on its website says that Libya was the first major combat operation for U.S. Africa Command, and its men and women 'responded well', the unit’s commander said. 'Still, Africom - the military’s newest combatant command - is assessing the lessons learned from Libya and will make necessary changes,' said Army Gen. Carter F. Ham.

An opinion piece in the New York Times looks at the sophisticated electronic equipment that powered Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s extensive spying apparatus, which the Libyan transitional government uncovered.

Under Gaddafi, Dan Glazebrook contends, Libya was rising as a socialist, anti-imperialist and pan-Africanist nation spearheading African unity and independence. This threatened the West’s long imperialist interests in the continent, hence the NATO-led war.

‘Amidst all the media furore about the fall of Tripoli from the grasp of the Libyan government, it's not easy to get a clear picture of what things look like under the new rulers,’ writes Lizzie Phelan.

Non-governmental organisation Defense of Foreigners has accused Libya's new authorities of jailing and torturing some 300 foreigners, mostly Tuaregs from Mali and Niger, suspected of being backers of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Pulling the strings from behind the scenes...

Something to celebrate?

Jean-Paul Pougala answers questions from readers concerning his article 'The Lies of the Western war against Libya', which was translated into forty languages.

Guest blogger, Ahmed Sule, shows that attacks on both African immigrants and black Libyans (part of the legacy of 19th Century slave trade) have largely remained on the periphery of mainstream media. The political establishment, supporting the rebels, have done even less to acknowledge these atrocities that tarnish the rebels’ pursuit of democracy.

In a post on the Huffington Post Union of Bloggers, the writer exerts that the 'people’s revolt' against another tyrant is unquestionably exciting, and the demise (political and/or otherwise) of Muammar Qaddafi will be widely hailed. But below the surface something else is going on, and it concerns not the Libyan people, but an elite. In reality, a narrowly-based Libyan elite is being supplanted by a much older, more enduring one of an international variety.'

Amnesty International has released a report on human rights abuses committed during the movement to topple Libyan fugitive leader Muammar Gaddafi. The 122-page report consisted mainly of damning examples of violations by Gaddafi's regime, saying the strongman's forces are guilty of crimes against humanity, but it also says the National Transition Council (NTC) is guilty of human rights violations, and appears unwilling to hold its fighters accountable for them.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is making an urgent appeal to warring parties in southern Libya to respect international humanitarian law and ensure no harm comes to the more than 1, 200 migrants seeking refuge at an IOM-established migrant transit centre in the town of Sebha while it works out how best to evacuate them, APA learns in a statement issued in Nairobi.

INTERPOL has issued Red Notices for Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif Al-islam Gaddafi and former director of military intelligence Abdullah Al-Senussi after the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, requested the world police body to issue internationally wanted persons notices against the Libyan nationals for alleged crimes against humanity, including murder and persecution.

Human Rights Watch reports that black Libyans and African migrants are being held on suspicion of having fought as mercenaries for Gaddafi, by the de facto authorities, the National Transitional Council (NTC), solely on account of their skin colour. The migrants are being held in ad hoc places of detention across Tripoli, and it remains unclear how or if the NTC plans to review each case to determine whether there is evidence of criminal activity or not.

My question is: Can we defend ourselves or we are still weak?

This is a pledge for the African Union to take action and firmly intervene in the issue of Libya. As events in this war develop in the worst direction the intervention is necessary for two main reasons, first one is the documented racist harassment of the Black populations living in Libya. If we allow the Libyan Rebels to continue with this kind of prosecutions without reaction or even punishment, we will set a huge step back to the Apartheid Era because it can be an extremely dangerous precedent for all the countries in the north of Africa or even the European countries too, meaning that attacking or killing black innocent citizens is cheap and easy.

The second reason is that Côte D'Ivoire and Libya have become experiments for the Neocolonial powers in a time of economical crisis. Traditionally, when the European economy breaks down then the colonialism raises. If we don't take effective and executive strong actions all Africa will be in a serious danger of recolonization. This intervention has a strong legal basis as Libya is still a member of the AU and Article 4 of the African Union Act provides for: “(h) the right of the Union to intervene in a Member State pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances, namely: WAR CRIMES, GENOCIDE and CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY”.

I'm not asking for an intervention in support of Kaddafi’s regime but in support of African independence and protection of our citizens. The intervention should be military if necessary with enough effectives of the AU crossing the borders of Niger and Chad. It should consist in a rapid rescuing operation of all black citizens living in Libya, repatriation if they wish so and/or a demonstration of force to stop killings in the hands of the Libyan Rebels.

Remember History tends to repeat itself specially if we don't learn from past lessons.

Dibussi Tande captures the reaction to the fall of Gaddafi in this week’s round-up of the African blogosphere.

Though we might see events in Libya as a sort of twisted fantasy tale, their effects will be all too real for the country and Africa at large, writes Nicholas H. Tucker.