REPORTER: Yalda Hakim
CROWD: Freedom, Freedom
In the early hours of Monday, rebel fighters seized Tripoli's Green Square. By dawn the siege of Tripoli was well underway with both sides also fighting a propaganda war. The rebels announced they'd caught Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam but, a day later, he greeted his supporters.
SEIF-AL-ISLAM (Translation): As we agreed, carry weapons. Arm yourselves today!
Seif insisted that the rebels had fallen into a trap and Tripoli was safe in government hands. But, on Tuesday morning the rebels took Gaddafi's compound, Bab al-Aziziya, seat of his power and claimed victory.
MAN: I was like, oh my God - I'm in Gaddafi's room.
Crucial to the rebel's success was NATO's aerial fire power. Having played the silent partner NATO was now triumphant.
OANA LUNGESCU, NATO SPOKESPERSON: What is clear to everyone is that Gaddafi is history and the sooner he realises it, the better.
Gaddafi was far from conceding defeat. He released a message saying that he had walked to Tripoli unchallenged.
MUAMMAR GADDAFI (Translation): Eradicate the traitors and rats. They will slaughter you and desecrate your bodies.
Street fighting raged on in parts of the capital though the rebels claimed that the number of Gaddafi loyalists was dwindling. There have been thousands of casualties and doctors warn more will die if their pleas for medical supplies aren't heard. Food and bottled water are also scarce. In a sign that they'd gained the upper hand, rebels raided the Gaddafi family's lavish homes. But Gaddafi's whereabouts remained a mystery.
MAN: Where is he? We're looking for you, where are you? Where are you?
Out of desperation the rebel leadership placed a bounty on Gaddafi's head.
ABDUL JALIL, REBEL LEADER (Translation): Businessmen in Benghazi have posted a bounty of two million dinars.
This undignified end must have come as a shock to the self-styled 'Brother Leader', after 40 years of absolute rule. When Dateline interviewed Colonel Gaddafi last year in Tripoli, he was serene and confident insisting he was nothing more than an instrument of the Libyan people.
DATELINE INTERVIEW 2010:
GEORGE NEGUS: So what about the people who see you as a dictator? Is that a word that you will not tolerate?
MUAMMAR GADDAFI (Translation): Of course not. Whoever says that is ignorant and stupid.
GEORGE NEGUS: Will there be a Gaddafi dynasty? You have sons, is it automatic that one of your sons will succeed you?
MUAMMAR GADDAFI (Translation): The authority is with the people, in the end. Authority lies with the Libyan people who rule and so all other options are out.
GEORGE NEGUS: So it wouldn't really upset you if they said "We don't like the Gaddafi system"?
MUAMMAR GADDAFI (Translation): For 40 years I have not been the ruler, the authority. Authority has been with the people, they take nothing from me or add anything to me.
When the Arab Spring swept into Libya in February this year, the hollowness of Gaddafi's words was quickly apparent. Far from ceding to the people's authority, he ordered his troops to crush the uprising
When I got to Libya in May, the rebels were firmly in control of the country's east and the rage against Gaddafi was spilling out of everyone even 83 year olds like Noura Jibreel.
NOURA JIBREEL (Translation): He is an unjust dog, a thief and a killer - he and his sons are devils - he has destroyed us. God willing, we can be free now.
As the fighting went on, the city of Benghazi had become a safe haven for those fleeing the violence elsewhere.
WOMAN (Translation): Let Muslims be united - God is great. God is greater than him, God is greater than the unjust. God is greater than the powerful and the aggressors.
Too afraid to give her name this woman had fled the fighting in Misrata with her 7 children.
WOMAN (Translation): When we left at 6p.m. We were under rocket attack, we did not know where the rockets would fall, they were right over head - it was black with smoke.
REPORTER: So is there any news of the women who have been left behind?
WOMAN (Translation): Rapes and kidnappings really did happen - none of what you heard was a lie.
Her husband and one son had stayed behind to fight with the rebel army and we lent her our sat phone to make contact with them.
WOMAN (Translation): Nasser, they say there have been attacks - how is Muhammad - I want to talk to him - don't let him go to the front line!
I could only hope that this family's sacrifice would be worthwhile. The liberation of Benghazi was also revealing fresh horrors.
MAN (Translation): Three were killed here and nine in the kitchen, with their hands bound. They had refused their orders - we got corpses from barrels too.
In Gaddafi's prisons, opponents were sometimes held in squalid tunnels. As the regime collapsed, the victors set them free.
MAN (Translation): When we got them out – they were blind. We got out ten men from underground – they were held there for years.
This revolution has the chance to remake Libyan society and it quickly became apparent to me that women were seizing that opportunity. By now Benghazi was home to Libya's transitional government, and even here at the highest levels I found a woman, Salwa Digali, on the National Council.
SALWA DIGALI (Translation): Women have played a vital role in the revolution together with the men from the start. Women were there from the start in the streets beside the men. And now they are working alongside the men in the hospitals, in nursing and rescue. There is no difference.
While the people of Tripoli are still celebrating the future is unclear. The National Transitional Council is preparing to run the country, but they'll need a lot of support.
INTERVIEW:
For the latest analysis of the situation, I spoke to Alia Brahimi, an operative on Libya from the London School of Economics.
REPORTER: Alia, you have met Colonel Gaddafi and his family - in fact, you have been criticised for that. They are hunting all over Libya for him now, where do you think he is likely to be?
ALIA BRAHIMI, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Well, I think Colonel Gaddafi's personality is characterised by a mix of erraticism and denial and I think the erraticism would suggest that he could be anywhere and do anything. But the denial element would suggest that he is still in Libya. I think that he would assume that the situation is still salvageable for him and indeed, that is the reasoning he has taken all along which is that Libya is his and that any form of transition will of course involve him.
Reports from this morning suggest that his spokespeople have offered for Colonel Gaddafi to finally become involved in a transitional process and of course the denial element comes in again because Libya is already in a process of transition and distinctly, without Gaddafi.
REPORTER: The rebels have claimed victory, but would you say this is too early considering that fighting is continuing in certain other areas?
ALIA BRAHIMI: I think the rebel strategy all along has been to present the regime with legitimacy – to build up it’s support base, to build up it’s efficiency and to build up it’s fighting capabilities and slowly take control of areas and to essentially put the writing on the wall for Colonel Gaddafi. I think that this is part of their strategy and actually it is working. I don’t think there is any hope for Colonel Gaddafi to remain in power. The impression that the National transitional Council is now giving is that not only are the people now ruling most of Libya, but in fact, Colonel Gaddafi himself is just a sideshow.
REPORTER: The Transitional Council is now recognised by a significant number of nations. But do you really think they represent the people?
ALIA BRAHIMI: I think that is a tall order for a newly formed a government body that has sprung up in the midst of such civil conflict, but is it striving to be representative? I think so. I think you were to be critical at the moment you might depict the National Transitional Council as comprised mainly of Eastern elites and also of course of defected regime officials. They are very much trying to spread their mandate across Libya and of course they have to do so in order to survive.
Certain fighting brigades, such as the one in Misrata, have actually taken a lot of credit for the battle, particularly for the battle for Tripoli and I think that these elements will probably want to be represented more. I think there are lots of issues that need to be ironed out in terms of representation but if you look at the principles by which the Transitional Council is founded, it is about consensus and inclusiveness. As long as they stick to that it is perfectly possible that they can become incredible interim representative of the Libyan people.
REPORTER: What are they saying about elections, just briefly?
ALIA BRAHIMI: I think the hope is for elections in the next 12 to 24 months. The latest date offered by the council is 2013. As of now, that is very much the hope. The hope is to transition to elections within the next couple of years. There are enormous tasks and challenge is to be dealt with before then. Not least, the humanitarian one that is looming in Tripoli and the fact that we also have a very heavily armed population in Libya. The emphasis of course will be on disarmament and of dealing with the looming crisis and of course the focus will switch dramatically to governance issues. The international community will hold that issue very much to the fore.
REPORTER: Alia, thank you very much for your time.
There's more on Libya from me and our Executive Producer Peter Charley on our website, with a behind the scenes look at our experiences there, including Peter's meeting with Gaddafi himself. We've also updated our interactive guide to the unrest, and put together a photo gallery of those amazing scenes in Tripoli.
Reporter
YALDA HAKIM
Producers
AARON THOMAS
VICTORIA STROBL
Editors
NICK O’BRIEN
WAYNE LOVE
Original Music composed by Vicki Hansen