CHALLENGE:HE MAY be dead but the regime that carried out the tyrant's ruthless orders remains very much in being, presenting a hefty challenge for Libya's new rulers.
Muammar Gadafy’s death, confirmed for all the world to see through ghastly television pictures of his bloodied corpse, does at least remove the threat of a guerrilla war waged under Gadafy’s control.
However the bulk of his former regime – including the people who staff the levers of power – remain largely in place in their old positions.
This is with the blessing of Libya’s western backers, principally Britain and France. Horrified by the way Iraq’s de-Baathification led to a demobilised army turning to sectarian conflict, London and Paris have decreed that Libya’s rebels must embrace, not shun, the former administration.
Yet this is a regime with blood on its hands – not just from the this war, but from 40 years of arrest, torture and murder, sometimes on an epic scale.
Misurata, often the most forward looking of Libya’s cities, has suggested that officials from departments such as education and finance be left in place, but it has called for a removal of security officials.
Whether that suggestion is taken up by the National Transitional Council and what those security officials then get up to is unclear.
It is also inconclusive whether the council will find a way of becoming truly inclusive. Thus far it is dominated by political and military figures from Benghazi and eastern Libya. Forces in the west and in Tripoli complain they are excluded from the politics and, by implication, from a share of the country’s oil revenues.
A strong, honest and charismatic leader might yet find a way of making all this work. Sadly, NTC president Abdul Mustafa Jalil, a former judge, ticks only one of those boxes.
He was elevated to council supremo thanks to a rare act of defiance when, last year, he used a live broadcast on Gadafy’s state television to criticise the leader, a rare event in those days.
So far, this integrity has not been matched by much in the way of leadership skills. On his rare television appearances, Mr Jalil appears stilted and nervous. He has failed, in seven months of trying, to form a coalition cabinet acceptable to all.
With Gadafy’s death, Mr Jalil has promised a new inclusive government within the next month. Succeeding will require leadership skills he has not yet demonstrated.