[Note: After weeks of political rhetoric and hidding from the rebel forces which took control of Tripoli, on 20 October 2011 Libyan leader Muammer Qaddafi was captured in his hometown of Sitre and was soon killed by his captured. His last gruseome moments captured on mobile phones soon appeared on the net and his body was taken to Misrata and displayed in the freezer of a local market for four days. Following international uproar, on 25 October Qaddaafi was buried in a secret location. His capture and killing put an end his four-decade long rule and brought the contry completely under the control of the National Transition Council. The issue has been discussed internatinally and eeditorial commentaries from the international and Middle Eastern media are reproduced here. Editor, MEI@ND]
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Khaleej Times, Dubai, Editorial, 7 September 2011, Wednesday
1. Gaddafi’s hide and seek
Where is Muammar Gaddafi? Is he holed up in Tripoli, is he recollecting in Sirte or he is on his way to Burkina Faso through the wild deserts of Sahara and Niger?The fallen Libyan leader keeps all and sundry guessing and has been a mystery to recall under any estimates. So was his style of governance and so is his life and adventure in oblivion. For Full Text

Khaleej Times, Dubai, Editorial, 3 October 2011, Monday
2. Where is Gaddafi?
It had slipped off the news front pages for a while but the hunt for Gaddafi is still on and it is a bit of a miracle that he has not yet been brought to book. As the battle of Sirte heats up and the path to his final Alamo is almost cleared of resistance one cannot help but wonder if he going to be where they expect him. Conjecture aside, there is very little data on tracking him and the spoor seems to have gone cold on the rebels.
For Full Text

Arab News, Jeddah, Editorial, 20 October 2011, Thursday
3. Libya sans Qaddafi
The former dictator’s death makes the next transition stage that much easier and safer
The death of former Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi killed while trying to flee Sirte changes everything for Libya. For Full Text

The New York Times, Editorial, 20 October 2011, Thursday
4. Colonel Qaddafi’s End
Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya died as he lived — violently. We sympathize with the Libyans who suffered for so long at the hands of the ruthless dictator and are glad he can no longer hurt them. But a gruesome video broadcast on Al Jazeera — apparently showing him being dragged, beaten and then, perhaps, shot to death by armed men — is deeply troubling, if it is real. For Full Text

Telegraph, London, Editorial, 20 October 2011, Thursday
5. This grim end should serve as a warning
Despots clinging to power in the Arab world should take heed of Muammar Gaddafi's gruesome death.
The bloodless military coup that deposed King Idris of Libya in September, 1969, was cheered on the streets of Tripoli by thousands who were weary of the monarch’s rule. Yesterday (20 October), 42 years on, the crowds were again on the capital’s streets – this time to celebrate the death of the man who took power that day. For Full Text

The Star, Toronto, Editorial, 20 October 2011, Thursday
6. Libya’s hard-won victory
For 42 years, Muammar Qaddafi strutted Libya’s desert stage like a deranged peacock. He sported ornate Gilbert & Sullivan military costumes, Bedouin headgear and wildly coloured African robes. He styled himself Brother Leader and Africa’s King of Kings. He surrounded himself with a bevy of buxom female bodyguards. For Full Text

Khaleej Times, Dubai, Editorial, 21 October 2011, Friday
7. The good, the bad and the ugly
Great changes in the world are seldom achieved by good, decent men. They are so busy being good and decent they haven’t got the perception to get things done. In the nicest way, they lack the killer instinct. In a more specific form they don’t destroy to rebuild, because they find greater comfort in the status quo. Decent people do not make hard decisions.
For Full Text

The Daily Star, Beirut, Editorial, 21 October 2011, Friday
8. Dictators’ demise
The nightmare in Libya is over, and it is hoped that the bloodshed has ended as well. Celebration and relief at the violent demise of Muammar Qaddafi will continue to reverberate across the world, but in Libya, another, more arduous battle will now begin.
For Full Text

The National, Abu Dhabi, Editorial, 21 October 2011, Friday
9. Qaddafi's legacy remains harmful after his death
Since he declared that his people were rats at the beginning of the Libyan uprising, it had been hard to imagine how it could end well for Col Muammar Qaddafi. His death yesterday still came as a shock, but it is one of a series in this year of Arab uprisings, a year that is not yet finished. For Full Text

The Star, Johannesburg, Editorial, 21 October 2011, Friday
10. Libya: time to move on
The death of Libya’s deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi yesterday (20 October) ends a disastrous era in the country’s history, and allows it at last to move forward decisively into a new future of democracy and prosperity. For Full Text

The Washington Post, Editorial, 21 October 2011, Friday
11. For post-Gaddafi Libya, ‘now the hard part begins’
The death, which prompted jubilation in Tripoli and relief in Western capitals on Thursday (20 October), must be seen as the beginning and not the end of Libya’s transformation. The elimination of the dictator reduces the chance of a prolonged insurgency against Libya’s new authorities, who have pledged to create a liberal democracy and hold elections in eight months. But what remains is a shattered country piled high with dangerous weapons, lacking legitimate institutions or civil society, and vulnerable to tribal, regional, sectarian and even racial rivalries. For Full Text

Boston Herald, Editorial, 21 October 2011, Friday
12. The tyrant is dead
The end of Muammar Qaddafi was not as neat and clean as diplomats and fans of democracy everywhere would have had it. Still there will be no tears shed around here at the death of this tyrant — a tyrant who threatened to kill his own people in the streets and who did not hesitate to take American lives when it suited his purposes. For Full Text

Los Angeles Times, Editorial, 21 October 2011, Friday
13. Libya after Qaddafi
The U.S. and its allies contributed to his downfall. Now they must aid in the country's recovery.  
The death of Muammar Qaddafi is the culmination of the remarkable eight-month revolt against his 42-year rule. But it is also a reminder that a new Libya is taking shape, a process in which the U.S. and its allies must play a constructive role. For Full Text

Chicago Tribune, Editorial, 21 October 2011, Friday
14. Qaddafi’s death and culling dictators
Libyans dispatch another of their region's dictators, the late and unlamented 'Brother Leader'.  
"I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr. … All of you who love Muammar Qaddafi, go out on the streets, secure the streets, don't be afraid of (the rebels). ... Chase them, arrest them, hand them over."—Muammar Qaddafi on Libyan state television during a Feb. 22, 2011, rant in which he dismissed protesters as "greasy rats" and "foreign agents." For Full Text

The Express Tribune, Karachi, Editorial, 21 October 2011, Friday
15. Libya beyond Qaddafi
News of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s death was greeted with the exultant aerial firing of AK-47s. This method of celebration captures in a nutshell the quandary Libya now faces. As happy as the people of the country may be at the demise of the hated tyrant, the process of building a society that is armed to the teeth and where a bunch of less-than-united rebels will now by vying for power could turn out to be a long and painful one. For the last year, Libya has essentially been mired in a low-grade civil war. The chance that the fighting will continue is unfortunately higher than the prospect of a smooth transition to a democratically-elected government. For Full Text

The Hindu, Chennai, Editorial, 21 October 2011, Friday
16. The killing of Qaddafi
The violent death of Col. Muammar Qaddafi is the worst possible beginning for a new Libya where 42 years of dictatorial and whimsical rule by a strongman are supposed to make way for democratic structures. The exact circumstances in which Col. Qaddafi was killed are unclear. It is known that NATO bombed a convoy in which he was trying to flee a blockade of his hometown Sirte by forces allied to the National Transitional Council government. For Full Text

The Times of India, New Delhi, Editorial, 21 October 2011, Friday
17. Dictator's end
With the capture and probable death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, as well as the fall of his hometown Sirte, the eight-month-old Libyan uprising has succeeded emphatically. The National Transitional Council (NTC)'s authority is unquestioned. What now must be seen is what it does with that authority. It won't be an easy task to create a democratic system in a country that Gaddafi ran as his empire for 42 years. For Full Text

Khaleej Times, Dubai, Editorial, 22 October 2011, Saturday
18. Lessons from Sirte
Does Sirte have a message for Syria? Ostensibly, there isn’t. But embattled Syrian President Bashar Al Assad should take a lesson or two from the evolving history as to how the mighty and the powerful end up when they tend to go over the brink. For Full Text

Oman Tribune, Muscat, Editorial, 22 October 2011, Saturday
19. Libya’s Challenges
As Libyans, struggling to herald in a new dawn in their country, overcame their biggest challenge with the death of Muammar Gaddafi, they faced yet more difficult challenges on the long, hard road to democracy. Scenes of jubilation were witnessed throughout the length and breadth of the country as people danced with joy on the streets following Thursday’s (20 October) dramatic developments. Gaddafi’s 42-year dictatorial reign ended when he was killed by freedom fighters, who had laid siege to his hometown Sirte waging a bloody battle with loyalists. For Full Text

The Daily Star, Beirut, Editorial, 22 October 2011, Saturday
20. Servant of none
Now is the lull after Libya’s storm. For eight months the country has been gripped by a frenzied and unpredictable civil war, spliced with the despair of lingering tyranny and the audacious hope of a new beginning. For Full Text

The Daily Star, Dhaka, Editorial, 22 October 2011, Saturday
21. End of Gaddafi era
New Libya should be shaped by its people.
Tragically cruel as has been the end of Gaddafi, the truth is, as he lived by bullet, so he died by it. It was his hubris that dragged the end-game on. It thus fuelled a civil war claiming stupendous cost in terms of human lives, property and displacement of people. For Full Text

The Asian Age, New Delhi, Editorial, 22 October 2011, Saturday
22. Uncertainty lies ahead for Libya
The ignominious killing of former Libyan strongman Col. Muammar Gaddafi by the NATO-backed rebel forces of the National Transitional Council on Thursday (20 October) was a murder in captivity in all but name. The rough justice meted out to the man who ruthlessly ruled his country for 42 years, after dethroning the Libyan monarch in a bloodless coup, marks a certain passage of time during which a rude authoritarian modernity came to the Libyan people, along with a modicum of equity, thanks to its vast oil wealth. For Full Text

Indian Express, New Delhi, Editorial, 22 October 2011, Saturday
23. Colonel’s end
As the staging ground for his last stand shrank rapidly, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was finally — for there was a sense of the inevitable about his gruesome end — killed in Sirte on Thursday (20 October). In the 42 years that he held long, repressive sway over Libya, Gaddafi had thrived, often quite pathetically, on the exception of his circumstances. He kept adapting his identity calls to the shifting sands. For Full Text

The Jakarta Post, Editorial, 22 October 2011, Saturday
24. Arab spring turns to fall
In some ways, his brutal and tragic death was inevitable if not widely predicted. While details of how precisely Col. Muammar Qaddafi died are missing, his lynched and bloodied body was paraded by mob around the town of Sirte on Thursday (20 October), sending most Libyans to the streets to celebrate his death.  For Full Text

Sydney Morning Herald, Editorial, 22 October 2011, Saturday
25. Now to tackle Gaddafi's dire legacy
Muammar Gaddafi during his long and murderous reign generated a good deal of coverage of the lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-tyrannical kind. The Libyan dictator knew how to make a splash, and was able to manipulate the media as easily as he did his people. But though he may have looked and behaved at times like a buffoon, Gaddafi was anything but. For Full Text

Ha'aretz, Tel Aviv, Editorial, 23 October 2011, Sunday
26. Israel must find its place in an ever-changing Mideast
During his 42 years in power, Qaddafi headed a regime which terrorized and murdered its critics; justice would have been served had he been brought to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. For Full Text

Khaleej Times, Dubai, Editorial, 23 October 2011, Sunday
27. The Motassim mystery
A picture is more than a thousand words. That point was well established as media released the pictures of deceased Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s son Motassim, who was shown in captivity, though injured, in all senses to drink water and puff a cigar. For Full Text

The Daily Star, Dhaka, Editorial, 23 October 2011, Sunday
28. Why kill a captured Gaddafi?
The opportunity of making him face justice has been lost.
The killing of Colonel Gaddafi, after the fallen Libyan leader was captured, whatever explanations might have been offered for that 'extra-judicial killing' by those currently in authority, is a palpable mistake. For Full Text

Gulf News, Dubai, Editorial, 24 October 2011, Monday
29. Reconciliation is crucial for future of Libya
Ruling Council must develop framework acceptable to all parties and tribes.
The National Transitional Council in Libya has set an initial timetable of eight months to hold free democratic elections. The announcement comes amid mounting international calls for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death in Sirte on Thursday (20 October) of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. For Full Text

Saudi Gazette, Jeddah, Editorial, 24 October 2011, Monday
30. With Qaddafi’s death, what’s next for Libya?
The people of Libya had been dismayed for decades during the 42-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi. Now, Gaddafi is dead following a revolt that ousted him from power. He had joined other dictators like Ceausescu, Mobutu and Caligula. But now, what? For Full Text

Al-Ahram,Cairo, Editorial, 27 October- 2 November 2011
31. No more tyrants
Tyrants are slow learners, or this is the impression one gets from the gruesome fate of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi a few days ago. The man who pretended to be God's gift to the Libyans, who kept reminding his people of the 42 years of glory he gave them, met a terrible ending. Hunted down and despised, he was killed then stripped naked and dragged around, before his bloodied corpse was paraded to the whole world. For Full Text

Compiled by Alvite N

Alvite N is a Doctoral candidate at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Email

As part of its editorial policy, the MEI@ND standardizes spelling and date formats to make the text uniformly accessible and stylistically consistent. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views/positions of the MEI@ND.  Editor, MEI@ND:  P R Kumaraswamy