Dangerous Ducor

Friday, 24 February 2012 11:12

Written by ND Staff

They sat on the pavement of the now derelict and falling hotel that was once the venue for the country’s who’s who. As the elderly man spotted them passing pieces of wrapped marijuana amongst themselves, he commented. “They (are smoking again. This place is spoiled…”

Suddenly one of the young, drugged men sprang to his feet with rage, his eyes fiery and puffing. He shouted a call to his comrades down the rocky hill, and they came, like crabs climbing from a hole.

“Look at this stupid papeh. We (will) finish him…” one of them shouted as they rushed on the lanky, weak man. Only pleas from a passerby saved the old man from the gang.

He pleaded for his life as they warned him never to make the same mistake in commenting about their drug habit. After all, the Ducor Hotel is now under their control, their area.

Around the hotel and its immediate surroundings just a few yards from the city center are now no-go areas. Residents live behind locked doors and in constant fear.

The hotel was marked for renewal last year but with Libya’s Col. Muammer Gaddafi’s millions as the key. At the time, the Libyan demanded that all those living within the vicinity of the building should leave. This was the precondition for renovating the hotel.

The government agreed after long and protracted negotiations with residents, many of them tied to the place since the early 1960s.

But Gaddafi’s death meant the dream of renewing the hotel was dead, too.

Once a livable place where tourists went for photo opportunities at the city’s highest peak glancing at the Atlantic Ocean, it has been abandoned to criminal gangs.

Drugs are now openly sold at the Light House and there is now a steady stream of customers more than ever before when some feared being caught.