Most recent articles by Alfred Hackensberger
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Bani Walid and the New Libya
A Deceptive Calm
The citizens of Bani Walid bitterly fought against the Libyan revolutionaries until the very end. Since then, calm has ruled in the provincial city and one time bastion of Gaddafi supporters. Yet, it is unclear whether the fragile peace will hold. Impressions from a city between rebellion and accommodation by Alfred Hackensberger
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The University of Tripoli
The Desolate Wasteland of Gaddafi's Education System
During the Gaddafi era, university courses in Libya were ideologically tainted, and students could pass exams by showing themselves to be particularly patriotic or simply by having good connections. But a new day has dawned, and all of this is set to change. Alfred Hackensberger reports from Tripoli
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The Sabha Bookshop in Tripoli
Filling the Intellectual Void
The Sabha bookshop in Tripoli has become a meeting place for intellectuals and former army dissidents. The stories they tell paint a heart-rending portrait of how tough life was under Gaddafi and how thorough and comprehensive the repression of Libyans was. Alfred Hackensberger spoke to the shop's owner and some of its regulars
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Fall of the Gaddafi Clan
A Fresh Start for Libya?
The hunt is over. The last two representatives of the Gaddafi regime have been caught: Saif al-Islam, the last of Gaddafi's fugitive sons, and Abdullah al-Senussi, the head of the Libyan secret service, who was known for his brutality. Alfred Hackensberger reports from Tripoli
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The Battle for Tripoli
Libya's Zero Hour
As rebels secure military control of Gaddafi's compound in the capital, Tripoli, the fate of the old regime would appear to be sealed. Among the Libyan people, joy at the now very real prospect of an end to the dictator's reign of terror is great. Alfred Hackensberger reports from Tripoli