Target Libya: El Pasoan Hopeful For Democracy In His Native Libya

Some Libyans have waited decades for an international intervention to Moammar Gadhafi’s dictatorship, including El Pasoan Sulaiman Abushagur.

“What’s going on (in Libya) has to be stopped because this is against humanity. (Gadhafi) is killing his own people and the world is watching,” Abushagur told ABC-7 at his West El Paso restaurant Saturday afternoon.

Abushagur and a Libyan friend listened closely to the radio for the news developments in their home country regarding the international push to stop civilian casualties in Libya’s bloody civil war. Abushagur said he’s constantly worried about his friends and family there. “At one point I was very nervous,” he said. “Last night I didn’t sleep at all.”

However, he said he now feels relieved that the international community has stepped up to protect his people.

Abushagur was a teenager when Moammar Gadhafi assumed power in Libya in 1969. He told ABC-7 in an interview back in February that Gadhafi’s rise to power had a direct effect on his decision to leave Libya.

Abushagur said he was put in jail for 12 days as a teenager for protesting against Gadhafi’s government.

He came to El Paso shortly after leaving Libya in the 1970s.

Now Abushagur runs a West El Paso restaurant and teaches geology at El Paso Community College.

Abushagur said he hopes he will see democracy in Libya soon so he can go back and visit home. “I was talking to my mother earlier and she was saying, ‘hopefully you are coming to visit this summer’,” said Abushagur. “What she really means is that (she hopes) Gadhafi will be gone!”