Squatters fill Gaddafi compound as Libya housing crisis hits
Published on: Amended:
Tripoli (AFP)
Before Muammar Gaddafi’s ouster, the Libyans stayed well away from the Bab al-Aziziya compound from which the dictator ruled, but a housing shortage in Tripoli forced the squatters to move in.
Satellite dishes and water tanks now fill the grounds of the once dreaded walled complex in a southern suburb of the capital, as young boys hit bullets and cars come in and out of the main gate.
Much of the sprawling complex was destroyed in NATO bombing raids in the 2011 uprising against Gaddafi, and then the rebels went on a rampage, sacking it.
Today, dozens of families have moved into the small houses once attributed to soldiers and the villas that housed high-ranking army officers.
Bashir, 68, has been squatting in a 400-square-meter (4,300-square-foot) villa since 2012, a year after Gaddafi was captured and killed by rebels in Sirte, the Mediterranean coastal town that was his hometown.
“Hundreds of Libyans have come to live here,” he said, pulling out a cigarette.
“The villa had been set on fire and it took me a year to renovate it, at great expense,” Bashir said. “But I’m not complaining.”
The complex, complete with a bunker and a maze of underground tunnels, was Gaddafi’s home and the site from which he ruled Libya for four decades.
Built in the 1980s, it was reinforced following an American airstrike in 1986 in response to an attack on American servicemen in a Berlin nightclub, for which Washington held Tripoli responsible.
– ‘I will not leave’ –
In its heyday, Bab al-Aziziya, which spanned six square kilometers (two square miles), housed a zoo, an indoor swimming pool, countless murals, and a funfair in its gardens.
Gaddafi had enlarged the ground by destroying the adjacent districts.
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After the uprising, the Libyan authorities considered turning Bab al-Aziziya into a “green zone”, an amusement park or a memorial for the “martyrs” fallen in the conflict to oust Gaddafi.
None of these projects materialized.
But according to information obtained by AFP, the authorities plan to transform Bab al-Aziziya into a park as part of a wider campaign to beautify Tripoli.
If so, the new residents of Gaddafi’s once feared headquarters could be evicted.
“I will not leave my house,” said a man named Hassan, refusing to reveal his real identity for security reasons.
His squat “was in terrible shape, there were no doors or windows,” said Hassan, who says he spent the equivalent of $ 32,100 on repairs.
– ‘Decent housing’ –
Ten years after the uprising that toppled the Gaddafi regime, many Libyans who previously received government grants and subsidies are struggling to make ends meet.
The oil-rich country fell into chaos after the fall of the dictator and still faces a host of political and economic crises, including chronic power cuts, oil shortages and abandoned infrastructure.
Years of conflict in post-Gaddafi Libya have resulted in the displacement of tens of thousands of people, many of whom have sought refuge in major cities like Tripoli, creating a housing shortage.
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“Before the revolution you could find houses and there were fewer people (in Tripoli). But now finding an affordable house is scarce, prices have skyrocketed,” Bashir said.
“Today a small apartment costs around 400,000 dinars ($ 83,000). Where can I find money like that?”
The minimum monthly wage fluctuates between 450 and 600 Libyan dinars (90 and 120 dollars), civil servants often spend months without a salary, and bank loans are almost impossible to obtain.
Economist Kamal al-Mansouri said insecurity has forced “foreign construction companies to pack up, leaving 200,000 houses unfinished.”
“The growth of the population and the displacement of Libyans due to the conflict, with many people moving to the big cities, means that it is difficult to find decent housing,” he said.
“And rents have doubled over the past 10 years,” said Ali Kelfat, a Tripoli-based real estate agent.
© 2021 AFP