Some fear that Gadafy, fortified in Tripoli, may launch a counterattack, writes MARY FITZGERALDin Benghazi
REVOLUTIONARY BENGHAZI, nucleus of “liberated” eastern Libya, is a city where everyone and no one is in charge, as one resident put it yesterday.
It feels far less anarchic than you might expect less than two weeks after a bloody uprising that allowed its population shrug off Gadafy’s rule more than 40 years after he began his military coup here. “Benghazi made you Gadafy and it will break you,” reads one of the hundreds of slogans sprayed on the city’s walls.
Gunfire echoes across Benghazi deep into the night but locals dismiss it as merely celebratory, fitting with the city’s jubilant mood. All day crowds gather on the corniche to mark their victory, some with their faces painted in the colours of Libya’s monarchy-era flag. At the weekend a young man in a wig and flowing robes drew cheers as he mimicked a preening, imperious Gadafy. Youths drove past in pickup trucks carrying the same anti-aircraft guns used against them just days before.
There has been no looting in Benghazi, an old Phoenician port whose colonial-era Italianate buildings stand crumbling next to the Mediterranean.
The city buzzes with activity as shops and businesses tentatively reopen.
Committees, whose members are drawn from the city’s lawyers, judges, doctors, business people and youth, have been established to oversee services including education, health, and security. “It is a united effort but nobody is in control and nobody has any political experience because the regime did not allow anyone to breathe,” says Iman Bugaighis, an orthodontist and co-ordinator at the soot-stained, graffitied courthouse which now serves as the headquarters of revolutionary Benghazi. “We are learning step by step. Every hour brings something new.”
The courthouse was where the uprising began with a small protest on February 17th before exploding into all-out revolt that spread throughout eastern Libya and then west towards Tripoli.
The choice of February 17th was not accidental. On that date in 2006 security forces killed more than 10 protesters outside the Italian consulate in Benghazi. Almost two decades earlier, six youths accused of killing a Gadafy henchman were publicly hanged in a city stadium on the same date.
Bugaighis’s colleague Mustafa Gheriani, an urbane engineer, says he has been struck by the spirit of solidarity since the regime’s presence collapsed. “In many respects we are functioning better than before. Everyone wants to help out in their own way.”
As they speak, the sound of chanting drifts up from the street below where an effigy of Gadafy hangs in front of the courthouse as those gathered outside call for his ousting. Mindful of the fact Gadafy has tried to portray the rash of uprisings as everything from al-Qaeda inspired attempts to form Islamic emirates or nefarious plots by external forces, people across eastern Libya are at pains to point out what prompted the extraordinary events of the past 12 days. Theirs is not a separatist fight, they insist. Neither does it have anything to do with tribal loyalties. What they want is a united, democratic Libya free from Gadafy with Tripoli as its capital.
Beneath the slogans and the triumphant mood, however, lurk concerns that Gadafy, who remains entrenched in Tripoli, may launch a counterattack to retake the east. Many voice dismay that the UN did not enforce a no-fly zone given the risk of aerial bombardment.
Others speculate that regime loyalists currently lying low may instigate attacks within Benghazi. “There is no return point for us now but that does not mean that he cannot win,” acknowledges Bugaighis. “His people are still around us – nobody was arrested – perhaps they are just waiting for the right moment. The people who terrorised us are still here.”
Still others whisper of the possible use of chemical weapons. “Gadafy is mad enough for that, as we have known for a long time,” says one resident.
Another difficult question for the keepers of the revolution here in Benghazi is how to ensure its completion, apart from hoping the people of Tripoli will rise as those in Benghazi did. Rumours swirl of plans to lead a large-scale advance on the capital. Some in Benghazi are getting restless.
As I leave the courthouse, a knot of men erupt into impassioned yelling.
“Let us go to Tripoli,” they cry. “We want to die to liberate our country.”