Libya's journey to reconstruction arduous
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Xinhua, August 25, 2011
The Libyan rebels have celebrated jubilantly after overrunning the capital Tripoli and other major towns across the country since Tuesday.
But as it has come to all that Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule will soon come to an end, it is equally obvious that the rebels, under the shield of foreign weapons during the six-month-long heated domestic fighting with government forces, seem still unable to put on table a clear sketch of the future of the North African nation, which was left in disorder.
Late Wednesday, Libyan rebel leader Mahmoud Jibril told French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris about the security and economic woes in Libya and the importance of the contact group meeting due on Sept. 1. While it is widely believed that the journey of reconstructing the once wealthy oil-rich nation will be only rugged.
Security tasks
Among all the security tasks, the remaining of Gaddafi's forces constitutes a major threat.
The rebel fighters captured on Tuesday Gaddafi's Bab al-Azizya compound in Tripoli, but they found no trace of Gaddafi, who later said his withdrawal from the compound was a tactical move.
Considering that the whereabouts of Gaddafi's sons also remain misty for the moment as well as the lack of communication reflected in the false arrest of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the well-known son of Gaddafi, earlier in the week, the rebels need to stay alert of the die-hard forces loyal to Gaddafi, which could be hiding in any place in or around the country, preparing retaliatory attacks.
Meanwhile, the large amount of missiles, and chemical weapons reportedly possessed by Gaddafi's forces, including over 10 tons of mustard gas (estimated by the United States), could be a key chip in negotiations with the rebels, which has been desperate to helm the country, reports said.
"They (The rebels) don't have Gaddafi in custody yet, and therefore the situation is still not clear," said Mahmoud Alnubi, political editor of Egypt's Al-Ahram (The Pyramids) newspaper.
"And there are many guns scattered in the country because of the six-month war," said Alnubi, stressing what is more grievous is that the weapons are in the hands of the ordinary people.
Also, rumors that al-Qaida militants have managed to sneak into the Libyan rebels since the start of civil war could remain as a regional peril.
