Libyans Fear for Their Future In Rocky Transition to Democracy
Libyans are split on whether the fragile transition will lead to better days, or further instability and strife, reports Eileen Byrne from Tripoli. She visited Tripoli as a guest of the Libyan Culture Ministry's Media Development Centre, which paid for her accommodation there during its First International Media Forum.
TRIPOLI — Libya today is at the crossroads between a rocky process of transition to democracy and the real chance of collapse of state structures and rising violence. The next six months will be crucial, say analysts based in the country. The optimists see the elected government gradually extending its reach nationwide, as ex-militiamen continue either to return to civilian life, or to be absorbed into the police and army.
Political leadership will be key, as will a willingness by Libyans to work together in ways they had little experience of doing under a dictatorship. The legacy of distrust left by the Gadhafi regime hangs heavily over this nation of 6.7 million people, and the intensity of its post-revolutionary drama makes developments in next-door Tunisia look sedate by comparison.
