BBC news 2011-10-21 加文本

BBC news 2011-10-21

BBC News with Sue Montgomery

The Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril has announced that the country's former leader Muammar Gaddafi is dead.

"We have been waiting, as Libyans, for this historic moment. Gaddafi has been killed. As to how and by whom he was killed, our experts are now investigating. And as soon as we have the results, we will announce them to everyone."

National Transitional Council fighters in Sirte have been celebrating after the capture of the city and the death of Colonel Gaddafi. A fighter loyal to Libya's interim authorities told the BBC he found the former Libyan leader hiding in a drainage culvert; he begged him not to shoot. Gabriel Gatehouse has been to the spot.

Well, this is the place where they captured Colonel Gaddafi. He was hiding in that irrigation channel there that is now becoming an instant photo opportunity for all these fighters who have been battling for so long to capture the former Libyan leader. They say they discovered him here just before 12 o'clock this afternoon. They pulled him out of the hole. And one fighter told me that Muammar Gaddafi said to him "What did I do to you?" They've been parading his golden gun through the outskirts of Sirte. The people who are said to have been involved in his actual capture have become instant heroes. Arguments are breaking out over who actually did the work, who pulled him out of the hole.

A senior official told the BBC fighting throughout Libya was over. The Libyan transitional authorities say Colonel Gaddafi's son Mutassim has been killed and his other son Saif al-Islam arrested. The Libyan information minister said Mutassim Gaddafi, who was the former national security adviser, was killed after he was found hiding with his father.

President Obama has said that the death of Colonel Gaddafi marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya. The president said four decades of what he called the "iron fist" of the Gaddafi regime had come to an end and the Libyan people now had a great responsibility to build a democratic country. For his part, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for national reconciliation.

"Let us recognise, immediately, that this is only the end of the beginning. The road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges. Now it's the time for all Libyans to come together. Libyans can only realise the promise of the future through national unity and reconciliation."

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The Greek parliament has given its final approval to an austerity bill, which will cut public sector wages and pensions, raise taxes and allow the government to sack tens of thousands of public workers. The vote came after a two-day strike against the measures. One man died after he was injured in clashes outside the parliament. The latest cuts are a key requirement for Greece to receive another bailout from the European Union.

Turkey has launched a major ground operation against suspected Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. The Turkish military says about 10,000 soldiers are taking part in the offensive that's supported by warplanes attacking several areas. The operation comes two days after Kurdish militants killed 24 Turkish soldiers.

The Basque separatist organisation Eta, which aims to gain independence for the Basque region from Spain, has announced what it calls a "definitive cessation of armed activity". The announcement comes days after international negotiators called on both Basque separatists and the Spanish government to hold talks about their long-running conflict. James Robbins reports.

Eta's leaders are still fugitives. Their new video message could mark an end to four decades of killings. It is time, the Eta spokesman says, to look to the future with hope; it is also time to act with responsibility and courage. He goes on, Eta has decided on a definitive cessation of its armed activity. And it's those words - definitive cessation of armed activity - which are crucial. International mediators urged their inclusion to signal something much more than a ceasefire, which Eta has promised and broken in the past.

The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, has said he's free from cancer after returning home from Cuba, where he had a checkup. Mr Chavez said the four rounds of chemotherapy he's had have been successful. Mr Chavez has so far not given any details of his cancer.

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