Libya Special: Creating Armies out of Militias (Sheridan)

The Washington Post's Mary Beth Sheridan offers a slightly more pessimistic analysis than that of Barry Malone (see separate entry), focusing on the National Transitional Council's challenge to build an army out of the militias that toppled Muammar Qaddafi.

Sheridan does stress that the optimism and confidence of the recently victorious fighters is a positive and that many within Libya are committed to avoiding the mistakes of the past. However, this is a major challenge for the new Prime Minister, Abdurrahim El Keib, as both pro-Qaddafi fighters and anti-Qaddafi fighters struggle to find a place in the new Libya.

See Also, Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Catalyst of Alaa's Detention

Egypt Letter: Returning to Mubarak's Prisons (Alaa)

Libya Special: National Transitional Council Struggles to Remain the "Good Guys" (Malone)

Syria Special: Should We Treat Calls for a No-Fly Zone Seriously? (Zenko)

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Libya has emerged from its civil war with more than 300 militias and no political consensus on forming a national army, raising concerns that irregular, gun-toting groups could become entrenched and pose a long-term challenge to the government, officials here said.

On Monday, Libyan leaders began to establish a new interim government with the authority to create the armed forces, choosing the technocratic Abdurrahim el-Keib as prime minister. But the militiamen who won the eight-month war have made it clear that they will not submit meekly to the new civilian authorities.

“Creating a new army is not going to be by an official statement or resolution. It has to come after a negotiation,” said Anis Sharif, a spokesman for Abdulhakim Belhadj, an Islamist seen as the dominant militia leader in Tripoli.

Reining in the militias is crucial to restoring order after the fighting between NATO-backed revolutionaries and loyalists of longtime dictator Moammar Gaddafi, diplomats say. NATO officially ended its operations in Libya on Monday night, giving the country full responsibility for its own security.

Although many of the fighters have been in a celebratory mood since the war ended, several confrontations between rival militias have threatened to escalate into bloodshed — including one at Tripoli’s airport Monday.

“The danger is that you have young men returning from battle, bored and with a newfound sense of regional identity and personal pride,” said a Western official in Tripoli, who was not authorized to comment on the record.

Militia and military leaders recognize the need to demobilize or integrate fighters into the security services, the official said. “But the key will be agreeing and implementing a plan to do this.”

Read the entire article here