generalspeaking

Hundreds of Little Gadhafis

Libyans are now enjoying their new freedoms in an atmosphere of peace and security. Thanks to the courage of the resistance which refused to surrender to the regime's heartless assaults, and thanks to the tender hearts of NATO countries which agreed to impose a no-fly support over the country at the behest of the United Nations. The result being that Libyans, eager to get on with life and to celebrate their country's release from totalitarian rule, are now pleased as punch.

Perhaps they're just punchy with disbelief that things have turned out as they appear to have. Their dictator, whose firm hand kept ethnic, tribal rivalries at a minimum, is gone, true enough, but it would appear that things are somewhat more complicated than they might have appeared at first. On the other hand, the outcome was fairly predictable, in a country that isn't quite a country, but an agglomeration of tribes resistant to co-operation.

They have prevailed, however, the brutal dictator is gone. And the transitional government is fraught with so much disagreement between the parts of its sum total that it is frozen in indecision. It cannot yet speak with authority because it has not yet assumed overall authority. It is challenged by the leaders of the disparate tribal groups, all of which feel their wishes should be paramount.

The rebels, still very well armed, are unwilling to return to whatever it was that occupied them previous to the peoples' insurrection, in their various corners of Libya. And ordinary citizens have availed themselves of arms as well, since there is more than plenty circulating thanks to the looted military depots. Better to have arms at their disposal until things settle down - because one never knows what could happen.

It could happen, for example, that the neighbour or business competitor who has hated you for an awfully long time has convinced one of the armed militias that you were an informer, that you were a regime supporter - and suddenly you're abducted, your family threatened as well, if you don't divulge the truth and plead guilty, spilling all the sordid confessional details.

Imprisonment and torture are to be had aplenty for those who are stupid enough to insist they are innocent - and the same for those who are incautious enough to plead guilt, and implore forgiveness. Besides which, the militias, represented by heavily armed, swaggering youth, are busy requisitioning everything that tickles their fancy; high-end cars, property, anything.

"When they said 'Libya free', they meant the cars, the refrigerators and the flat-screen television sets", is a joke popular in Tripoli's cafes at the moment. But it is the detentions that concern most citizens for the revolutionaries are busy collecting suspected Gadhafi supporters. Anyone can lodge a complaint about someone else and have it followed up with incarceration and threats.

"Next day they turned up at his house, and threatened his wife and children. Can you believe this? We have hundreds of little Gadhafis now. There is no one to stop them, and they are convinced that because they suffered in the war, they should be able to do what they like now. If it carries on like this I really fear for our revolution."

The government-in-waiting, well, it's still waiting. The rebels are having some difficulties agreeing to power sharing. The interim prime minister, everyone's choice because he presents as one of those rare creatures that no one had any disputes with, mostly because he has spent the last 30 years in the U.S.

Abdul-Raheem al-Keeb must now focus on the economy, on subduing separatists in the east, prepared to carve out their own oil-rich state. He must somehow manage to disarm the militias and persuade those who wish to fight to join a state military. He must initiate formal proceedings to produce a real election to build a democracy.

The United Nations would prefer non-involvement to ensure that what results is representative of Libyan will and self-direction. "And the Libyans are proud people, they don't want to look like a Third World nation needing a big foreign presence in here." Like, for example, Iraq. Like, come to think of it, Afghanistan.

Seems as though that proud people needs some help in guiding the National Transitional Council toward the success they all kept fulminating on about, and find themselves haplessly incapable of reaching when the constituent parts of their revolution seem more inclined to tribal jealousies than nation-building.

Labels: Chaos, Conflict, Human Relations, Libya

posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, November 08, 2011