Leader: Let Libyans decide future

FOR Libya, last week’s dramatic events culminating in the demise of Muammar Gaddafi did not signal the end of that country’s long march to stability.

There are many problems, including the absence of a constitution and public institutions. There is a divisive potential in the segmentation of the population into 140 tribes or clans; the lack of national cohesion was demonstrated by the anti-Gaddafi resistance forming an archipelago – Benghazi, Misrata, etc – rather than a seamless whole. There was also a significant Islamist presence among the revolutionary forces. Most ominously, the population is 21 per cent unemployed and armed to the teeth, with teenagers toting Kalashnikovs the way western youth carry mobiles.

On the credit side, however, Libya has many assets. Oil is the most obvious; but there is also a highly educated population since the former regime expanded higher education. Provided peaceful conditions prevail, even tourism could be developed now that the stringent visa conditions imposed by the paranoid Gaddafi can be removed. The country, unlike Iraq, is religiously homogeneous, being overwhelmingly Sunni. Another promising sign is the voluntary relinquishing of power by interim premier Mahmoud Jibril on the formal declaration of liberation.

Britain and its allies should not attempt to dictate the shape of the new state: Libyans have earned the right to shape it for themselves.