Friday, November 11, 2011

Not much moral high-ground around


With Moammar Gaddafi murdered and out of the way the final factor that to some extent still united the rebel forces has disappeared and that country seems on the brink of a protracted period of chaos and tragedy of epic proportion that so often follow in the wake of Western intervention. The South African government and the African Union are probably amongst the few that can lay claim to some moral high ground in this whole sorry affair.

The way things are starting to shape up after the disappearance of the thoroughly discredited dictator; future developments are likely to prove that the African roadmap for Libya might have been the better option after all. The roadmap might at least have had a chance of bringing some unity of purpose in a country that has been deeply and destructively divided for many centuries.

The way the death of Gaddafi has been handled by the National Transitional Council (NTC) already gives an indication of the way it can be expected things will be dealt with in future.

All and sundry who were involved in the Nato-sponsored conflict of the last number of months now proclaim that national liberation has finally dawned for Libya and that a transition government can be formed to lead the country to an inclusive democratic government. But achieving regime change has been the easy part. The really difficult part now lies ahead.

The Libyan rebel forces never represented anything like a unified army. Berbers from the western mountains of the country control the capital Tripoli’s central square, the port is dominated by the Misratan rebels who were also responsible for Gaddafi’s final capture and execution and another rebel groups controls the airport.

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