Muammar Gaddafi’s will was published on a loyalist website, Seven Day News, as the debate continued over what to do with his body.
Colonel Gaddafi’s will appeared to be a short one and is said to be one of three copies given to relatives, one of whom was killed, one arrested and one managed to escape the fighting in Sirte, where he was killed.
The former Libyan dictator said in his will: “I call on my supporters to continue the resistance, and fight any foreign aggressor against Libya, today, tomorrow and always.”
Muammar Gaddafi apparently made it clear he had decided to die in Libya rather than flee, telling his supporters: “Let the free people of the world know that we could have bargained over and sold out our cause in return for a personal secure and stable life.”
“We received many offers to this effect but we chose to be at the vanguard of the confrontation as a badge of duty and honour.”
The dictator asked to be buried, clothed as he died, with his body unwashed, in a graveyard in his home town of Sirte, not far from where he was killed as he fled the city on Thursday.
Gaddafi’s dead body is currently in a refrigerated vegetable warehouse in Misurata where crowds, who suffered some of the worst attacks by dictator’s forces, are queuing to catch site of the dead dictator.
Muammar Gaddafi also called for his family to be treated “well” adding that the Libyan people should protect their “heroes.”
Reports said that Gaddafi’s body will be handed over to his remaining relatives after tribal leaders backed calls for his corpse to be given a traditional Muslim burial.
Tribal honour underpins much of the country’s public life and the demand will prove to be a big test for the country’s new government because the Gaddafi tribe has benefited enormously from the 42-year dictatorship of the Libyan strongman.
The Libyan new regime will not want an obvious shrine in Sirte, although the National Transitional Council (NTC) indicated Muammar Gaddafi’s surviving relatives would have a say in what happened to his body.
An NTC official, Ahmed Jibril, said:
“The decision has been taken to hand him over to his extended family, because none of his immediate family is present at this moment.”
“The NTC are in consultation with his family. It is for his family to decide where Gaddafi will be buried, in consultation with the NTC.”
The new Libyan authorities had originally wanted the body to be buried in an unmarked grave in the desert. However, they ran into resistance from the Masrata militias who had captured him and who did not want the responsibility for burying the dead leader.
Muammar Gaddafi’s widow Saifa had issued a statement demanding that the body is turned over to his family.
