Benghazi War Cemetery ransacked

Very sad, but not surprising at all. It is part and parcel of the general disintegration there. We are all glad that Gaddafi is gone, but as in Egypt I doubt that the fall of the dictatorship is likely to lead to greater liberalization or friendliness towards Christians, Jews, and Westerners. Rather the reverse, I fear. How did The Who put it? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...

 

Hi all
My dad is in the Worcester's italian wat cemetary in Cape Town South Africa . To my horror when i was there on Sunday 3/2/2013 it was a mess. The fence was gone the alter and graves were left to wither away by the Italian goverment .
They built it and kept it in good condition , now they RUN away and leave the soals that fought for Italy and gave there life.

 

This is outrageous IMHO......

Libya: Cementary of british war victims destroyed by Muslim Mob - YouTube



I feel like writing to William Hague about this.....

 

This happened a year ago and I believe the damsge has been rectified.

 

While looking for info on the damage to the Hyde Park memorial in London I checked into the DVA website and noticed the following - note the last line.

There is also a link to a list of which headstones were damaged.

http://www.dva.gov.au/commems_oawg/OAWG/news/Pages/index.aspx#dtawmhpl


Restoration of the Benghazi War Cemetery, Libya


The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), of which Australia is a member, is responsible for the official commemoration of Commonwealth casualties of the two world wars, and the maintenance of those commemorations in perpetuity. The CWGC cares for 1.7 million commemorations at 23,000 sites in 150 countries worldwide, including those located in six cemeteries in Libya.

The Benghazi War Cemetery was damaged by an armed, radical Islamist militant group on the weekend of 25-26 February 2012. The cemetery contains the graves of more than a thousand Commonwealth and other servicemen, 55 of them Australian, 48 of them identified by name. At the same time, the nearby Benghazi British War Cemetery (no Australian graves) was also damaged. In the Benghazi War cemetery 52 Australian headstones (representing 53 casualties) were damaged.

The high proportion of Australian headstones damaged arises from their being located side by side in two rows close to the Cross of Sacrifice which appears to have been the focus of the attack.

In April 2012 the site was cleared and the damaged headstones were removed and replaced by temporary markers. Following delays caused by instability in Benghazi, the replacement of the headstones and cross of sacrifice commenced on 2 October 2012.

Since the incident took place, the CWGC has made significant progress in restoring the desecrated commemorations in Benghazi. To date, the 241 damaged headstones at Benghazi War Cemetery have been re-erected in their entirety. The Commission has also seen fit to erect a sign in both Arabic and English stating that the Cemetery includes Muslim soldiers who died liberating the people of Benghazi.

Work is now also underway to replace the damaged commemorations in Benghazi Military Cemetery. The Commission has been working with the local Libyan police and other Libyan authorities to progress matters. Written permission has been granted to continue with the re-erection of the 84 outstanding headstones and tablets and work is scheduled to recommence on the 17th May. The Commission continues to monitor both cemeteries on a regular basis.

The Libyan Government is meeting all restoration costs for the damage incurred in Benghazi War Cemetery.

 

Good news Dave.

I saw enough of the crowd turning away and inwardly ashamed of what occured that day.

The stones will be replaced and hopefully a lesson learnt.

 

Attached scan from the latest Vetaffairs newsletter (sent to DVA pension recipients):

Restoration at Benghazi cemetery