Libya says US consulate attack 'pre-planned'
President Magarief, in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, says he believes
al-Qaeda is responsible.
Yasmine Ryan Last Modified: 15 Sep 2012 09:41
Benghazi, Libya - The attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed four
Americans and ten Libyans was the work of "experienced masterminds" that had
been planned well in advance, the Libyan president says.
"I think this was al-Qaeda," President Mohamed al-Magarief told Al Jazeera's
Roving Correspondent Hoda Abdel-Hamid on Friday, in his first interview with
foreign media since the violence three days earlier.
"If you take into account the weapons used like RPGs and other heavy weapons,
it proves that it was pre-planned," he said. "It's a dirty act of revenge that
has nothing to do with religion."
Click for in-depth coverage of Muslim world embassy attacks
His comments to Al Jazeera marked the first time his government has openly
attributed acts of violence to religious extremists.
Libya's deputy interior minister had blamed the attack on Gaddafi loyalists on
Wednesday.
While Gaddafi loyalists maintained a presence inside Libya, Magarief said,
there was no chance that they were behind the attack that killed four US
consular staff members.
There were only a few al-Qaeda members active in Libya, he said, but they were
profiting from the security vacuum and had managed to infiltrate the security
forces.
Arms proliferation
One of the biggest factors contributing to the ongoing instability in Libya is
the proliferation of arms left over from the 2011 conflict that toppled Muammar
Gaddafi, combined with a central government severely weakened by tribal
rivalries.
Magarief told Al Jazeera that he would be taking action to disarm the
militias."Definitely we have to depend on the militias themselves [to
co-operate with being disarmed], and of course, before that, the army," he said.
Many of the protesters in Benghazi's Tahrir Square called for militias to be
disbanded [Yasmine Ryan/Al Jazeera]
Around a hundred people protested in Benghazi's Tahrir Square on Friday
evening, with many of them calling for the country's security forces to be
strengthened and the militias to be disbanded.
Khalid El Kadiki, who had helped organise the protest, argued that the
government needed to do more to empower the army and the police so that
extremist groups would not be free to carry out further violent attacks.
Asked if he had faith in the president's promises to disarm the militias, he
said that Magarief "makes lots of promises, but does nothing".
Khadija Fitour, who was attending the protest with her two teenage daughters,
was carrying a sign demanding that the government assert its authority over
armed groups.
"We're against the terrorism and the violence against the US consulate," she
told Al Jazeera.
"We need to maintain good relations with the American people. They helped us
with our revolution."
In another example of the state's vulnerability to the armed groups, the
airspace over Benghazi was closed for several hours on Friday morning after
opposition fighters allegedly threatened to shoot down US drones flying over
the area.
Investigation under way
The Libyan authorities began examining the scene of Wednesday's violence late
on Friday afternoon, a military spokesperson told Al Jazeera, while Libyan
soldiers stood guard outside the US consulate.
Ahmed Faraj, the spokesperson, told Al Jazeera the investigative team had
arrived at around 4pm local time (2:00 GMT).
The Libyan authorities arrested four people in relation to the killings on
Thursday, according to reports by Reuters news agency.
The bodies of Chris Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, Sean Smith, Glen
Doherty and Tyrone arrived in the US on Friday, news wires reported.
"They had a duty and they believed in it, they lived the American ideal with
courage, the hope and the ideals of the fundamental American beliefs,"
President Barack Obama was quoted as saying at a ceremony in Andrews Air Force
base in Maryland, in honour of the victims.
"Their sacrifice will never be forgotten, we will bring justice to those who
took them from us."
-- With additional reporting from Hoda Abdel-Hamid in Benghazi
You can follow Yasmine Ryan: @YasmineRyan
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