Libya prepares for life after Gaddafi

Liberation declaration will lead to elections, a new government and constitution. But resurgence of rivalries remains a concern Libya’s new leaders will put a formal end to Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule on Sunday when they declare the country liberated and ready for a free and democratic future. Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, the justice minister under the old regime and now president of the western-backed National Transitional Council (NTC), is expected to make the announcement in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the most successful but by far the bloodiest of this year’s “Arab spring” uprisings erupted in February. No definitive figures are available, but about 30,000 people are estimated to have been killed and thousands more injured. Elaborate celebrations are planned three days after Gaddafi’s sensational and much photographed death in the coastal city of Sirte, the last bastion of loyalist resistance. Worryingly, plans to issue the declaration in Benghazi have attracted criticism because of echoes of historic rivalry between eastern and western Libya and fears that regional, tribal and political divisions that were kept in check in the past could now resurface. The liberation will trigger a timetable for elections within eight months for a 200-strong National Council that will draft a constitution and form an interim government. It is a daunting pace and a huge challenge for a country that has not had an election since the 1950s, when Libya was ruled by King Idris, a western-backed monarch who was overthrown in 1969 by Gaddafi and fellow nationalist army officers, who were admirers of Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser. The formation of the country’s first post-revolution political movement, the Libyan Solidarity party, headed by a previously exiled banker, was due to be announced last night. Mahmoud Jibril, the NTC prime minister, who is now expected to step down, said that the death of Gaddafi had left him feeling “relieved and reborn”. In Tripoli, there is an atmosphere of unbridled elation and optimism about the post-Gaddafi era – and profound relief that with his death the old regime has finally gone. Uncertainty remains, however, about the whereabouts of other key figures, like the dictator’s second son, Saif al-Islam, erstwhile reformer and darling of the west; and of the hated security chief Abdullah Senussi – who was reported to have been spotted in northern Niger. But no one believes in the possibility of a regime comeback. According to unconfirmed reports, Saif was captured and badly injured, but there is speculation that he may also have been summarily killed. “In Hay al-Islam, where I live [in Tripoli], most of my neighbours did support Gaddafi, but once they heard the news of his death on Thursday you could feel that change quickly,” said Mahmoud Umran, 23, an electrician. “Now there are no more green flags flying.” Khalid al-Jibouni of the Tripoli Youth Union – a volunteer organisation promoting civil society – had no doubts. “Now Gaddafi is dead, the pillars of the regime have all fallen,” he said. “Until now, some people still thought that Gaddafi could somehow come back. No one else but him matters. Now we can really breathe freely.” In Tripoli, celebrations continued, with street parties and a permanent combination of funfair and patriotic rally in Martyrs’ Square in the city centre. Mobile phone messages and television advertisements urged an end to the dangerous and deafening habit of celebratory gunfire, which has caused several deaths and scores of injuries. “The best thing is that we can now close the Gaddafi chapter and move on,” said Muhannad Alamir, a businessman. “If he had been captured or put on trial, it would have dragged on. Yes, in an ideal world he would have been brought to justice. Yes, we should be more civilised than he was. But this was poetic justice. It means closure.” Looking beyond the liberation ceremony, the NTC faces a mammoth task. Tensions have emerged between easterners, and the rebel leaders from Misrata, Tripoli and other western areas who take credit for the Nato-backed uprising that captured the capital in August, and now complain of being under-represented politically. Benghazi has special weight as the home of much of the important oil industry and the country’s main source of wealth. “We need an inclusive government,” said an official of the powerful Tripoli Military Council, which has a sometimes tense relationship with the civilian members of the NTC, and whose heavily armed fighters are far more important than the old Libyan army. “If anyone can hold things together, Abdel-Jalil can,” predicted Ahmed al-Atrash Ahmed, a political scientist at Tripoli University. “It’s true that some in Tripoli are unhappy that the declaration of liberation is being issued in Benghazi – but that’s where the revolution began after all.” The signs are that opposition from some battalions within the rebel coalition – especially the 17

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