The fledgling democratic process in Libya received a bruising on Sunday when dozens of armed rioters stormed into the parliament building in Tripoli, shooting and wounding legislators and setting fire to the grounds. In the three years since revolution broke out against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, the road to democracy has been littered with such incidents.
When Libyans took to the streets and took up arms against Gaddafi, they were united by a hatred of the leader, his tyranny, his abuse of power and his squirrelling away of untold billions of dollars rightfully belonging to the state of Libya and its people. Since his death, Libyans have found little else to unify them as old factions, emboldened by their revolutionary success, see little reason to hand over weapons, dissolve their ranks or acknowledge the legitimacy of the Libyan parliament.
What this process shows is that making revolution is the easy part — evolving into a stable administration capable of providing law and order, building the institutions of democracy, providing adequate health and education for all is a struggle that few are willing to embark upon without forsaking their power bases and regional loyalties.
The riot was inspired by dissatisfaction with the parliamentarians who failed to find a framework agreeable to all on which lasting institutions of the new, democratic Libyan state can be built. The fear now is that such acts will force legislators to act in haste, undermining the interests of all.
