But in the euphoria surrounding the victory against Gadhafi’s regime, the Libyans should not forget that the road ahead for them is a daunting one. While immense opportunities lie before the common people long denied of any fundamental rights, there are gargantuan challenges as well.
The Libyan citizens have grown up for four decades in a country with virtually no institutions and this will place the biggest test before them in the immediate future. The National Transitional Council truly has a task cut out itself, urgent among which is writing a constitution, holding elections and sowing the seeds to build democratic institutions. And all this has to happen while negotiating with and accommodating the interests of different groups with a plethora of interests.
In such a volatile space, there will also be a proliferation of groups close to the deposed establishment that will resort to criminal and terrorist activities. Moving forward while trying to prevent such elements from tearing apart the fabric of the Libyan society will be one Herculean task.
There has been a lot of debate on whether Gadhafi could have been captured alive and if basic norms of human rights were breached while killing him. True, if Libya aspires to be a genuine democratic society where rule of law takes precedence over everything else, such debates are important. However, while Libya should not shun away from setting-up institutions to investigate war crimes if there have been any, the time right now is to move on.
The end of Gadhafi’s regime must have rightly sent out a strong message to leaders from other countries such as Yemen and Syria that disrespecting and repressing the will of the people has consequences. In the past few months, reports have poured in from Yemen and Syria of murder and maiming of protestors demanding sweeping political changes.
We hope that the regimes there will now immediately stop all atrocities and listen to the demands of the people. It is never too late to make a course correction. Finally, our congratulations to the Libyan people and best wishes for a testing time ahead.
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