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Libya sans Qaddafi
The death of former Libyan
dictator Muammar Qaddafi killed while trying to flee Sirte
changes everything for
Libya. Of course, there has to be proof. Previous reports of some of his sons
being captured or killed turned out to be false. Given that
experience, the world will want irrefutable evidence that he is
dead. Even then some people will not believe it. That does not
matter. There will always be conspiracy theorists. Nor, if he is
dead, will it matter too much how he died. There will be those
who try to make something out of the apparent contradictions —
that he was killed when NATO jets struck his vehicle or that he
was alive when he was caught — but it will soon be forgotten. If
it is true — and the fact that the new Libyan leadership has
confirmed it and so many foreign governments have accepted it
suggest it is — it brings the conflict to final end and opens
the door to a new democratic era in Libya.
The NTC had already said that it
would start the process toward a new constitution and elections
once it declared Libya free. That would happen when Sirte fell.
It also said that it would move from Benghazi to Tripoli at that
point. For good measure, the acting Prime Minister Mahmoud
Jibril said that he would resign as soon as liberation was
announced. Sirte finally fell Thursday as well. Libya is now
liberated. That now triggers all the planned political changes.
The first stage in Libya’s transition from dictatorship to
democracy is over. The point about Qaddafi’s death is that it
makes the next transition stage that much easier, that much
safer. As long as he remained at large, he would have been in a
position to destabilise the country. He had money and the
contacts to continue a guerrilla war. His son, Saif Al-Islam,
may try to do so. But with his father now gone, it is difficult
to see any foreign government offering him shelter or support.
Even so, the next stage in Libya’s transition is going to be a
rough ride. Only a couple of days ago, Jibril warned of a
possible power struggle ahead between rival politicians and
political movements. That is likely to be the case, although it
will probably be resolved via the ballot box. Given that
situation, it would be best for Libya if elections to a
constituent assembly to draw up the new constitution were held
sooner rather than later. The longer the political void, the
greater the chance of chaos. For the moment, Libyans are fully
united in celebration. The oppressor is gone. Forty-two years of
dictatorship and tyranny are over. The Arab world also
celebrates. With his consistent meddling, Qaddafi has been a
threat, an embarrassment and a humiliation for Arabs too. The
wider world too is happy to see the end of Qaddafi. But we will
not say the tyrant got what he deserved. Of course he did — but
a trial would have been far better. It would have provided some
justice to his thousands upon thousands of victims. They should
not be forgotten at this moment. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the
world, other dictators should take note of Qaddafi’s miserable
fate. It could be their own.
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