MISRATA: Hussein Mussa climbs up a ladder and paints the shutter of the large Caterpillar showroom white, stroking the metal door with a firm hand to remove the existing green shade.
"The owner of the showroom wants the green paint to be removed, so I am painting the shutter in white," Mussa told AFP as he dipped his brush in a small tin dripping with white paint.
"Under Qaddafi the owner was forced to use green color, but now things have changed," he said, referring to one of the defining symbols of slain Libyan dictator Moammer Qaddafi’s 42-year-old iron-fisted rule.
The showroom of the heavy equipment maker Caterpillar is on a street leading to Tripoli Boulevard, one of the main roads in Misrata, the port city that was severely damaged by Qaddafi’s forces during last year’s conflict.
One year since the revolution against Qaddafi erupted, on February 17, 2011, Misrata — Libya’s third largest city — is a clear example of the ferocity of the fighting.
Tripoli Boulevard itself suffered the most during the siege of Misrata, which saw some of the bloodiest violence of the uprising that ended on October 20 with Qaddafi’s death in his hometown of Sirte.
The pavements of the long, wide boulevard are still littered with debris from the shattered buildings on both sides.
Every single building, house or shop on the boulevard was hit by rockets, bullets and artillery fire. Some structures were completely razed to the ground, with burnt metal rods and glass panes scattered around.
"We still shiver when we think of those months of fighting. We were destroyed before our boys rose against Qaddafi," said Ramadan Dolla, caretaker of a museum set up on Tripoli Boulevard to record the events of the war.
For nearly three months, starting in March, Qaddafi’s forces besieged Misrata, and the sea was the only access route for bringing in supplies and helping terrified residents flee under the surveillance of NATO warplanes.
"This was the first tank captured from Qaddafi’s army," said Dolla, pointing to a burnt wreckage of what was an artillery tank now displayed on the pavement of Tripoli Boulevard as part of the museum’s collection.
"Our boys fought like warriors. They made their own bombs, rockets and captured weapons from Qaddafi’s forces even as they got killed," he said, standing amid a range of rockets, guns, cannons and tanks kept on display.
Hundreds of pictures of those killed and wounded in the Misrata fighting are also pasted on the walls of the museum, along with military fatigues of Qaddafi himself, his chair, shoes and a gun — all taken from his home in Sirte.
A copy of Qaddafi’s death certificate which declares him dead before reaching the hospital is also displayed.
It says the former strongman "died of unnatural death from a bullet to his left temple and in the chest."
Qaddafi was captured alive by fighters from Misrata on October 20 as he tried to flee from Sirte, but the final circumstances of his death remain hazy.
Some Libyan officials say he was killed in cross-fire between Misrata fighters and his men after he was captured hiding in a dry sewage pipe.
The Martyr Ali Hassan Jabr Museum is the only structure intact on Tripoli Boulevard, as it was built after Misrata was freed, with all other residential and commercial buildings damaged or destroyed in the fighting.
Misrata residents say the damaged areas need to be rebuilt quickly, but claim to have received little assistance from the government in Tripoli.
"Each person is rebuilding his own place. There is no support from the government," said Fathi Ali Bashaagha, a prominent city businessman and former spokesman of the Misrata Military Council.
"We are waiting for compensation for the damages suffered during the war… but the government is very slow. So you will see that people themselves are rebuilding their places."
A drive through the boulevard and adjacent streets shows Egyptian and Chadian laborers engaged in construction work like erecting a fountain at a road intersection or clearing the debris of a shattered shopping complex.
The city’s back streets were largely unscathed, indicating that most of the fighting was centered around the main roads.
"We understand that we have to be patient. It is going to take time," says Mustafa Ahmed Ali, a 48-year-old restaurant owner.
"We have the money to rebuild Misrata. But it is not just about Misrata. It is about Libya. The whole of Libya has to be rebuilt."
