With triumphant freedom forces now controlling major sections of Tripoli, the time is certainly ripe and proper for Gaddafi to be surrounded and guarded by soldiers.

This time round however, he will not be surrounded by hand-picked, chic, beret-wearing and lipstick embellished female soldiers but by desperate and determined ones of the same sex in ordinary clothing, hell-bent and totally dedicated to exacting justice and just retribution for the loss of dear ones. Husbands, sons and loving relatives have lost their lives, which were cut short and taken away by the sadism and wickedness of the inhuman dictator and his infamous entourage.

It is not beyond the realm of possibility and probability that Gaddafi will face an ignoble end as that of Benito Mussolini, but at the centre of his Green Square.

It is all just a matter of waiting and seeing where the future leads. The crowds will certainly all gather to follow and witness the developments and the final fall of the curtain, opening the way to a caring, free and democratic Libyan society after close to half a century of despotic and dictatorial rule and oppression.

Whatever history has in store for the newly nascent Libya, may it always remember and honour the numerous martyrs known to all or only unto God. May it remember those who shed their blood to make possible the new birth and reformation of a nation.

Like the fruit of the prickly pear which needs a unique approach to remove the peel and reach the fruit so the post-Gaddafi Libya would require unique approaches to solve its complicated problems.

Edwin Calleja

Balzan