POLITICS_ Libya's new government is spooked by the remnants of the Gaddafi regime, writes John Lyons

Libya's new government is spooked by the remnants of the Gaddafi regime, writes John Lyons

John Lyons, Middle East correspondent
The Australian
October 27, 2011 6:33AM

EVEN though the rebels in Libya have defeated the forces of Muammar Gaddafi, their call for NATO to remain involved in Libya amounts to the equivalent of a security blanket.
The head of the new interim government, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, yesterday made the case for NATO to remain in Libya until at least the end of this year.

"We look forward to NATO continuing its operations until the end of the year," he said.

"We seek technical and logistics help from neighbouring and friendly countries."

The call shows that despite victory over Gaddafi, rebels forces remain spooked by remnants of the Gaddafi regime.

That is not surprising. For 42 years, Libyans have seen the brutality of the Gaddafi intelligence and military machine.

The Gaddafi regime was built on fear. It survived on fear. It relied on neighbour not trusting neighbour, work colleague not trusting work colleague.

Two things are spooking the new regime - the enormous number of guns floating around and the fact that Gaddafi's son and one-time heir apparent, Saif al-Islam, is still on the loose.

Reports suggest that Saif al-Islam is prepared to surrender. But this was a man who for eight months has used phrases such as "blood will flow," so until he actually is detained nobody is certain that he is prepared to give up the fight.

Mr Jalil says NATO needs to stay to prevent members of the old regime from fleeing to other countries.

While his sentiment is understandable, that sort of mission is simply not NATO's job.

NATO cannot become some sort of border police operation. NATO's function in Libya, as mandated by the United Nations Security Council, was purely to degrade Gaddafi's military might to prevent civilians being slaughtered.

It did that. Its job is over.

The NTC needs to quickly take over its own law enforcement or convince its friends in the international community, other than NATO, to assist in tasks like border control.

But it is not smart for Mr Jalil to be asking - publicly - for NATO to do something it cannot do.

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