Libya without Gaddafi

The taking of Tripoli by the rebel troops places the National Transitional Council (NTC) up against its first responsibilities in the construction of the new Libya. Fighting continues around Sirte, and Muammar Gaddafi has yet to make an appearance, but these appear to be the last episodes of a civil war that will condition the future of the country, and of Arab revolts elsewhere. The fall of Sirte is a question of time; so is that of Gaddafi. And that will be the moment in which, if he is found alive, the new Libyan authorities must make the decision to try him in the country or to send him to the International Criminal Court. In neither case can there exist the option of impunity for a man who held Libya in his grip during 42 years, and preferred civil war to stepping down from power.

The first hours of the rebels' control of Tripoli have sown a good deal of apprehension. The appearance of corpses which bear witness to summary executions carried out by the forces loyal to Gaddafi confirms how necessary it was to put an end to his regime of terror. But if some present indications prove true, and the rebels have been doing the same to Gaddafi adherents, Libya will slip into the worst of scenarios: the fall of one tyrant, at the cost of a continuing tyranny. In the conduct of Libya's future government, the right to a fair trial for Gaddafi and his followers should be accompanied by the duty of giving equivalent trials to the rebels who may have committed crimes on the eve of victory.

The Libyan civil war constituted a turning point in the Arab revolts, by setting a negative example of diehard behavior for the autocrats. Depending on the steps that the NTC may now take, Libya might again become a negative model for the democratic transitions now under way. Nothing should prevent the people of the Arab countries from having access to full, unconditional democracy - something which depends entirely on the decisions made by the leaders charged with the management of the new legitimacy founded by the revolts.

The road is easier in the countries which did not have to overthrow their dictators by force of arms. But it is far from impossible in Libya, provided that the new authorities bear in mind that they were fighting not only against Gaddafi, but also in favor of a regime of freedom.

In its approach to these countries, the international community tends to be influenced by a paternalistic attitude that at bottom smacks of racism. For the new Arab leaders, including the Libyans, no good can come of an attitude of condescension similar, after all, to the one accorded to the former dictators.

The same sort of responsibilities that are demanded of any other government in the world are presently incumbent on those who now have the opportunity, offered them by the fighters who have risked their lives, of showing that neither poverty nor religious creed, nor even an accumulation of recent bad history, are incompatible with democracy.