When I turned on my computer in the morning and clicked into the website of Reuters, the big headline reads: ‘Rebels enter Tripoli, crowds celebrate’. Beneath the headline was a picture of a rebel sitting at the windowsill of a car -- he stretched half of his body out of the window and raised his arms high up to cheer.
Continuing Civil War
Libya has plunged into a civil war for more than six months following the eruption of the reform wave in Middle East early this year. The civil war has finally come to an end?
Finally, the winner emerges between the Libyan revolutionaries backed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the force loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi after a half-year tough fight. But I have put a question mark there because this only marks the end of a civil war. Another or more civil wars are brewing, or we may say that it has actually already started.
Libya is a country. But more accurately, it is actually a tribal society. There are altogether about 2,000 small and big tribes in Libya. Strictly speaking, Libyan people are actually loyal to their own tribes. In Libya, a country with such special attribute, the people identify themselves more with their tribes than with the country.
Suppressive and High-Handed Approach
In the past 42 years, Gaddafi had ruled Libya using suppressive and high-handed approach. In the eyes of democratic European and North American countries, Gaddafi is beyond doubt a dictator. But in a typical tribal society that practices the rule of the jungle, it is an absolute daydream if we hope the nation would elect an Obama in accordance with the standard of the West.
From the perspective of the outsiders, the Libyan people are now liberated and Libya is now reborn. But what actually happens in the country now is that a civil war within a civil war is boiling up and may break out at any moment.
There may be a reign of terror among the Libyan tribes now. The war between tribes may be brewing and poised to erupt. What follow will be fighting back, revenge, and power struggle.
Gaddafi already fell. But his followers and the Gadhafa tribe which has been loyal to him would not just await their doom. They would definitely fight back and take revenge.
At the same time, the opposition is similarly factional. In late July this year, Major General Abdul Fatah Younis -- former interior minister in Gaddafi's regime who subsequently defected to the rebels and became the chief commander of the revolutionaries -- was killed in an ambush. What the transitional government claimed when announcing his death was contradictory, making some to suspect if Major General Abdul Fatah Younis was assassinated by ‘his own men’. His death also revealed the internal contradiction in the opposition camp.
Challenges Faced by Transitional Government
Meanwhile, the transitional government is also facing tricky and tough issues like the distribution of interests and power after it takes over the ruling power; the post-war reconstruction of Libya, and putting the chaotic society back to order.
NATO, which is led by the West, had deployed their troops to Libya in the name of democratizing Libya. Now, as the Libyan tyrant Gaddafi is coming close to his ‘last breath’, is Libya advancing towards democracy?
Let us take a look at Iraq and Afghanistan. Commotion and social disorder have prevailed after the two nations overthrew their dictators. In a Third World country in transition, democracy is still a luxurious gift.
Continuing Civil War
Libya has plunged into a civil war for more than six months following the eruption of the reform wave in Middle East early this year. The civil war has finally come to an end?
Finally, the winner emerges between the Libyan revolutionaries backed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the force loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi after a half-year tough fight. But I have put a question mark there because this only marks the end of a civil war. Another or more civil wars are brewing, or we may say that it has actually already started.
Libya is a country. But more accurately, it is actually a tribal society. There are altogether about 2,000 small and big tribes in Libya. Strictly speaking, Libyan people are actually loyal to their own tribes. In Libya, a country with such special attribute, the people identify themselves more with their tribes than with the country.
Suppressive and High-Handed Approach
In the past 42 years, Gaddafi had ruled Libya using suppressive and high-handed approach. In the eyes of democratic European and North American countries, Gaddafi is beyond doubt a dictator. But in a typical tribal society that practices the rule of the jungle, it is an absolute daydream if we hope the nation would elect an Obama in accordance with the standard of the West.
From the perspective of the outsiders, the Libyan people are now liberated and Libya is now reborn. But what actually happens in the country now is that a civil war within a civil war is boiling up and may break out at any moment.
There may be a reign of terror among the Libyan tribes now. The war between tribes may be brewing and poised to erupt. What follow will be fighting back, revenge, and power struggle.
Gaddafi already fell. But his followers and the Gadhafa tribe which has been loyal to him would not just await their doom. They would definitely fight back and take revenge.
At the same time, the opposition is similarly factional. In late July this year, Major General Abdul Fatah Younis -- former interior minister in Gaddafi's regime who subsequently defected to the rebels and became the chief commander of the revolutionaries -- was killed in an ambush. What the transitional government claimed when announcing his death was contradictory, making some to suspect if Major General Abdul Fatah Younis was assassinated by ‘his own men’. His death also revealed the internal contradiction in the opposition camp.
Challenges Faced by Transitional Government
Meanwhile, the transitional government is also facing tricky and tough issues like the distribution of interests and power after it takes over the ruling power; the post-war reconstruction of Libya, and putting the chaotic society back to order.
NATO, which is led by the West, had deployed their troops to Libya in the name of democratizing Libya. Now, as the Libyan tyrant Gaddafi is coming close to his ‘last breath’, is Libya advancing towards democracy?
Let us take a look at Iraq and Afghanistan. Commotion and social disorder have prevailed after the two nations overthrew their dictators. In a Third World country in transition, democracy is still a luxurious gift.
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