Cecile Hennion
Libya, 2011
Dimensions: 130 mm x 210 mm
These notes were taken after a meeting of Libyan rebel brigade leaders as they prepared to launch a coordinated assault on Sirte, the last pro-Gaddafi stronghold. A map was drawn up; until then, the rebels had been confined to the outskirts and knew of the city’s internal organization only through informants.
We also learned that Col. Muammar Gaddafi had not fled the country but was alive and entrenched in the city. I promised not to publish this information – which was unverifiable anyway. What worried them most was the presence of many snipers. After the meeting, my fixer, Ahmed, played me the fighters’ current favorite song, which was obviously a love song. He explained that to discreetly send a sweet note to a young woman, they would write the number 1574. According to their spelling, it is written: ١٥٧٤
It turned out that the information about Gaddafi was true. So was the one about the snipers: Ahmed, 21, was killed the next day by a sniper’s bullet to the head.
