{"id":387669,"date":"2011-04-22T06:02:20","date_gmt":"2011-04-22T06:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/"},"modified":"2011-04-22T06:02:20","modified_gmt":"2011-04-22T06:02:20","slug":"exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Exiled Libyan dissident returns to Benghazi after 30 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"83.5\">\n<div readability=\"62\">\n<div>\n<p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;It&#8217;s a fantasy land, &#8220;Alice in Wonderland,&#8221; he says<\/li>\n<li>The college professor is an adviser to the rebel opposition<\/li>\n<li>The rebels are fighting against Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi&#8217;s forces<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>(CNN)<\/strong> &#8212; An exiled Libyan dissident recently returned to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi after 30 years to fight on the opposition side.<\/p>\n<p>Mansour El-Kikhia, a Texas college professor, called his return a &#8220;new adventure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a fantasy land. &#8220;Alice in Wonderland,&#8221; &#8220;Waiting for Godot,&#8221; it&#8217;s unbelievable.&#8221; El-Kikhia told &#8220;In The Arena&#8221; host Eliot Spitzer. &#8220;This has taught me to look at life in a different way.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>El-Kikhia is an adviser to the rebel opposition against Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.<\/p>\n<p>He said the rebels are battling uncertainty. Recent reports say rebels are questioning the commitment of western countries such as the United States, France and Italy to the opposition fight.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There this constant question going on in their minds.&#8221; El-Kikhia said. &#8220;Will Gadhafi come back? Will the allies let us down? Will they help us?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, the United Kingdom, France and Italy announced they sent military advisers to aid Libyan rebels. Obama on Thursday approved the use of armed drones in Libya.<\/p>\n<p>El-Kikhia said the rebels are divided into two military groups.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have the actual military itself. Gen. Abdul Fattah Younis, whom I personally think is very, very capable,&#8221; he said. &#8220;He (is) working very hard to train young men to actually take over, to be able to defend the city.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>El-Kikhia said the second group of rebels at times can be a problem for the opposition.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You have the other group, the insurgents. They&#8217;re fixated on removing Gadhafi. They&#8217;re more of a hindrance than help. But they keep on moving forward toward Tripoli and they&#8217;re being pushed back,&#8221; El-Kikhia said.<\/p>\n<p>Spitzer pressed El-Kikhia to explain in detail what the rebels needed from U.S. forces.<\/p>\n<p>When asked whether they needed recognition and weapons, he said America&#8217;s role shouldn&#8217;t be limited to force. He said he wants to see the U.S. advising Libyans on how to sustain its fragile democracy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;(Libya) is like a child. This is a new child that just opened their eyes and they need as much help as they can,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Help guide the Libyans. It doesn&#8217;t require total military force. It requires administration, some help (and) advice.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Continued here:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/rss.cnn.com\/~r\/rss\/edition_africa\/~3\/wHwEvOLDoLM\/index.html\" title=\"Exiled Libyan dissident returns to Benghazi after 30 years\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Exiled Libyan dissident returns to Benghazi after 30 years<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> STORY HIGHLIGHTS &#8220;It&#8217;s a fantasy land, &#8220;Alice in Wonderland,&#8221; he says The college professor is an adviser to the rebel opposition The rebels are fighting against Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi&#8217;s forces (CNN) &#8212; An exiled Libyan dissident recently returned to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi after 30 years to fight on the opposition side. Mansour El-Kikhia, a Texas college professor, called his return a &#8220;new adventure.&#8221; &#8220;It&#8217;s a fantasy land. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-387669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Exiled Libyan dissident returns to Benghazi after 30 years - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Exiled Libyan dissident returns to Benghazi after 30 years - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"STORY HIGHLIGHTS &quot;It&#039;s a fantasy land, &quot;Alice in Wonderland,&quot; he says The college professor is an adviser to the rebel opposition The rebels are fighting against Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi&#039;s forces (CNN) -- An exiled Libyan dissident recently returned to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi after 30 years to fight on the opposition side. Mansour El-Kikhia, a Texas college professor, called his return a &quot;new adventure.&quot; &quot;It&#039;s a fantasy land.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Exiled Libyan dissident returns to Benghazi after 30 years\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-22T06:02:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/\"},\"wordCount\":414,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/\",\"name\":\"Exiled Libyan dissident returns to Benghazi after 30 years - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-22T06:02:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/c5ecfooter_google.png\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Exiled Libyan dissident returns to Benghazi after 30 years - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/22\/exiled-libyan-dissident-returns-to-benghazi-after-30-years\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Exiled Libyan dissident returns to Benghazi after 30 years - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"STORY HIGHLIGHTS \"It's a fantasy land, \"Alice in Wonderland,\" he says The college professor is an adviser to the rebel opposition The rebels are fighting against Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi's forces (CNN) -- An exiled Libyan dissident recently returned to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi after 30 years to fight on the opposition side. 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