Tripoli decks out for coup celebrations .
Mona Eltahawy
TRIPOLI 1996-08-30
Libyans are dressing up their capital Tripoli for celebrations on Sunday of the 27th anniversary of the coup which brought Muammar Gaddafi to power .
Green flags and banners praise the " great revolution " and promise defiance against United Nations sanctions imposed for Libya 's refusal to hand over for trial two suspects wanted in connection with the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie , Scotland .
" We have chosen the challenge because it is our only option , " proclaimed one banner on the road to Tripoli airport which serves only internal flights because of the sanctions .
Huge stadium lights are directed at the city 's Green Square where makeshift stages await Sunday 's festivities .
Three African leaders -- from Niger , Guinea and Ghana -- are expected to attend the celebrations marking September 1 , 1969 when a group of young army officers , led by a 27-year-old Gaddafi , deposed King Mohammed Idris .
" The revolution has brought us great achievements ...
We are comfortable the revolution has taken care of us , improved our lives and given us capabilites , " Samer Ammar Soliman , 42 , told Reuters as he came out of Friday prayers .
But some Libyans have begun to show their discontent in the country 's east , which has become a hotbed of militant violence .
Tripoli-based diplomats and exiled opponents said Gaddafi 's airforce blasted in July rebel strongholds in the mountainous Jebel al-Akhdar region .
Travellers arriving in Egypt say militants and police officers clash regularly in Benghazi .
At least 20 people were killed in the capital in early July after bodyguards loyal to Gaddafi 's sons fired at spectators of a football match who were chanting subversive slogans .
Gaddafi has dismissed any unrest as the work of foreigners , and last year deported thousands of Sudanese and Egyptian workers .