After Gaddafi, what next?

Libya’s bloody eight-month revolution came to an abrupt end on Thursday afternoon, when the world was stunned by gruesome pictures of Muammar Gaddafi being tossed around by a frenzied mob of Libyan fighters, who seemingly executed him shortly after.

The bare-chested corpse of the once flamboyant – and perhaps most kitsch – dictator in modern history lay lifeless on the floor of a Misurata home, surrounded by groups of fighters who crammed onto each other in a bid to take pictures.

The former Colonel’s body is set to have a secret burial, which has so far been postponed, until a team of United Nations officials arrive to inspect the corpse, and probably order an international probe into his death.

Although in a “secret location,” Gaddafi will be buried in the city of Misurata – that same city which he ordered to be razed to the ground, imposing a long siege, heroically broken by tenacious fighters who eventually marched on to Tripoli, taking his Bab Aziziya compound and later onto Sirte and capture him.

Misurata – the city which became a household name worldwide – is the name of the game in post-Gaddafi Libya... and for many reasons.

Although with the aid of NATO muscle, the Misuratis are proud of their astonishing achievements in eight months of a bizarre revolution that brought down one of the most feared tyrants in modern history.

Col. Gaddafi’s burial in Misurata – rather than in Tripoli or anywhere else in Libya – comes as no coincidence. It will serve as a perpetual trophy, but also as a blatant message to NTC chairman Moustafa’ Jalil – once a Gaddafi minister – that the city’s now notorious brigades are not ready to lay their weapons down, unless their leaders are rightly prized by representation on the new council.

At least for the time being, Misuratis are not set to take any orders from the Benghazi-bred posse of gentlemen, who seem poised to stick to their acquired authority after serving as ‘interim’ officials of the National Transitional Council.

Continuously engaged in fierce battles, Misuratis missed out on the political game which was unfolding miles away from them, in Benghazi.

It only dawned on the Misuratis that they were not represented, soon after they entered Tripoli and discovered that they were made to take orders from the NTC to secure places, rather than giving them.

Tensions have been high ever since, and Moustafa’ Jalil has been patiently designing ways of accommodating the Misuratis.

In a surprise stop-over in Misurata before he stepped into Tripoli after the fall of Bab Aziziya, Jalil held talks with the city’s leaders, and offered them the defence ministry as well as enrolment into the new national army to the brave fighters.

But a ‘renewed’ interim government has so far not been announced, and the Misuratis are still absent through influential roles within the current government.

Misurata’s charismatic commander, Ibrahim Halbous, still lays critical at Mater Dei Hospital’s Intensive Therapy Unit, paralysed by a sniper bullet that went through his neck, destroying his trachea, muting him and paralysing him on exit as it hit his spinal chord.

Halbous – considered a hero throughout Libya and the most respected man in his city – was brought to Malta by air ambulance some weeks ago, and is expected to be transferred to Britain for specialised treatment in the coming days. He was gunned down as he led his brigades on the frontline in Sirte. Halbous was expected to become the new military commander of the new Libyan army, and Misuratis are using their commander’s sacrifice as another message to Jalil.

Ibrahim Beit Al Mal is Misurata’s security chief. He is not a military man, but a businessman who picked up a weapon for the first time last February when Gaddafi troops entered his city and started a massacre.

“We fight for freedom and rights, not positions. The leadership however, should acknowledge our sacrifices, and give diplomatic, political and military jobs to Misuratis,” he said.

The fear of Libya’s power transition being ‘overloaded’ with Benghazi politicians is spreading across the country, while many also express preoccupation that many former Gaddafi regime figures are becoming increasingly influential.

The NTC wants unity, but in the cafes of Misurata, as crowds talk about Gaddafi’s end, they also question how they seem to be excluded from the ‘revolution’ even though they have literally been fighting for their lives.

“They are from the Eastern side... I don’t think it’s fair that Misurata has been given much politically,” says 19 year-old Youssef Bakoush.

Human rights activist Hassan Al Ameen warns that danger lies ahead if new faces are excluded from the new Libya.

“What we are saying is that if you are going to continue ignoring the people’s wishes, you will have a problem,” Al Ameen said, adding that “the Misuratis are not happy with this, they are not even going to give up their weapons until they are sure that this revolution and its principles are protected and not shelved.”

In what remains of Misurata – once a bustling commercial city – people are being patient, to a point.

Libya’s new leaders say that they need more time to be more inclusive with a government that would prepare for democratic elections.

The war may be won and over, but Moustafa’ Jalil and the NTC still have to win the people’s trust.

Pictures of a young Misurata fighter lifted shoulder-high brandishing a gold-plated gun he claimed to have taken from Col. Gaddafi when he was captured last Thursday, symbolise the Misurata brigades triumph.

Between the lines of a series of news wires that followed Gaddafi’s death, one could read the tensions that are still very present between the NTC and Misuratis.

One report quoted Ali Tarhouni, the NTC’s oil minister saying about Col. Gaddafi’s corpse: “I told them [Misurata officials] to keep it in the freezer for a few days... to make sure that everybody knows he is dead”.

But former rebel commander Abdul-Salam Eleiwa replied from Misurata with insistence, that the dictator’s burial would proceed according to Islamic custom.

“I expect he [Col. Gaddafi] will be buried in a Muslim cemetery within 24 hours,” Eleiwa said, adding that “he will get his right like any Muslim, his body will be washed and treated with dignity.”

As the deposed leader’s body was inevitably placed inside a chiller room – reportedly inside what was once a dairy mall – Misuratis insist on claiming the upper-hand.

They ignore Tarhouni, whom they describe as a ‘blue-eyed Benghazi-boy’ who returned to Libya after many years away from the country after being condemned to death by the deposed regime.

The European Union and the United States are urging the NTC’s leadership to be loyal to their promise of inclusivity and reconciliation.

But as Jalil struggles to convince Libyans of his intentions, he finds himself swimming in shark-infested waters, with a number of ‘interim’ ministers and people close to them, who have already set up their networks, and are not likely to give up their positions so easily to make way for new faces.

Some of the interim officials already face allegations (so far unproven) of corruption or favours with big companies, namely in the oil industry, as they seek to return to continue their operations in Libya.

After 42-years under a regime that made personal fortunes out of national resources, and officials who made millions out of a web of corruption, ordinary Libyans simply don’t trust any of the frontliners who are keenly vying positions.

The eight-month-old revolution has taught valuable lessons to the masses across the vast North African country, many of whom are minding their backs for any post-revolution backlash, totally ignoring calls to start handing in their weapons.

When vast caches of weapons are discovered, people are just hiding them and through their village commanders, are creating large arsenals rather than handing them over to the provisional government.

The quiet hoarding of weapons is a worrying matter for the NTC, and reveals the fissures, regional rivalry and distrust that is hindering the way forward.

The distrust became widespread soon after the NTC’s military chief Abdel-Fatah Younes was assassinated last July as he followed orders to return to Benghazi from the frontlines to speak with the council’s leadership.

The truth behind the assassination remains a mystery and although the NTC had issued arrest warrants against a number of people allegedly connected to the killing, none of them has been effected till today.

Listening to political analysts and commentators on Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya news networks, Libyans are beginning to ask what the post-Gaddafi era has in store for them.

Anger in Misurata is also levelled at the current ‘interim’ Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, who, according to many in the city, knows nothing about Libya, having also spent little time in the country under Gaddafi (and even now, during the revolution), touring the world.

Some consider Jibril as a source of tension, rather than as a unifying figure. Others go as far as wanting to charge Jibril with “treason” for having held on to power, weakening the transition in the process.

“How can we have a Prime Minister who holds two passports?” a convalescing Misurata student turned fighter said in Malta. “Jibril is no good... he is nothing but a showman, fit for the catwalk...”

The pique has meanwhile produced a name from Misurata: Abdul Rahman al-Swehli, the son of a prominent local family who is being pushed for Prime Minister.

Al-Swelhi is an engineer who studied in Britain, but returned to Libya, and enjoys the backing of many rich and powerful Libyan businessmen who operate from overseas and who have funded much of the military and humanitarian operations in Misurata.

The current NTC leadership is in debt with these businessmen who have forked out millions of dollars in aid to the NTC and now expect to cash-in on their contributions.

But while Moustafa’ Jalil, who hails from Al Baida to the East, tries to pull the strings together and keep a balance between Benghazi, Misurata and Tripoli being the most influential players, he is faced by another serious threat: the Nafusa Mountain fighters.

These fighters, mainly from Zintan, who endured a similar brutal siege as Misurata also want a slice of the power set-up.

The Nafusa fighters are in ideological solidarity with the Misuratis in their call for stronger Western representation.

The big problem for Jalil and many of the main NTC figures, however, is that the Nafusa Mountain fighters are led by the Islamists, who have survived Gaddafi’s iron fist, but proliferated underground.

The Islamists are perceived to be a threat to the new Constitution, amid fears that they would strive to make out of new Libya and Islamic state.

Political observers are convinced that unlike the instance where Misuratis may have perhaps been genuinely forgotten in the political tapestry, the same cannot be said for the Nafusa Mountain representatives.

It is taken almost for certain that Jalil has been pressured by the EU and the US to keep a watchful eye on the Islamic lobby.

Tensions with the Nafusa Mountain leaders were evident since the fall of Tripoli, as the fighters reportedly managed to take over the vast stocks of water, food and medicine which were meant to be distributed to the population.

These fighters are reportedly using these stocks to blackmail the NTC into granting them positions in power. So far, the Islamists remain sidelined.

But while coalition governments secretly approach rebel factions for overplaying their hand in the tug-of-war over Libya’s future, the NTC is also being called upon to exert caution in the formation of the interim government that is expected to deliver free elections and a new democratic Constitution.

Whoever is chosen to rule post-Gaddafi Libya must also take note that an external danger is also looming from powerful conglomerates who already seem to be racing to win lucrative contracts that have the potential to loot the country’s rich resources, leaving the people justified to claim that they were ‘better off when worse…’