Libya: Did Nato Intervene in Libya Just to Get Rid of Gaddafi?
We can't let a long-time leader in Africa be killed on the street like a dog and not reflect on it,' he says. To him, there is no doubt that Gaddafi was a dangerous human being and that the Gaddafi regime was a political dictatorship. 'He even called his own people "rats".'
Yet, at the same time, Libyans benefited from free health care and free education; fuel was almost free as well and housing was heavily subsidised.
The country had one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and was second only to Mauritius on the Human Development Index for Africa - all things that were left unsaid during the campaign to topple his regime.
Pondi says it is clear that the aim of the Nato intervention, sanctioned by United Nations Resolution 1973, was primarily to get rid of Gaddafi and not to save the lives of civilians. 'As soon as Gaddafi was dead, that was the end of the Nato intervention, even though violence was still ongoing. Civilians were still being killed,' he says.
Today, Libya is increasingly chaotic and violent, with more than 1 700 militias operating in various parts of the country - some better armed than the police and the army.
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Gaddafi's demise has been tragic for Africa in other ways as well. Libya provided 15% of the budget of the AU (as did Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa).
Now both Libya and Egypt's contributions have fallen away and the AU has to rely on European Union funds for much of its programme budget.
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