Mohammed Hadiya Al-Feitouri was gunned down last week just after he left a mosque in Benghazi at the end of Friday prayers. A week earlier, Suleiman Bouzrida was shot twice in the head on his way to a mosque in the same Libyan city.
...there are a series of battles that need to be won along the road of democracy-building- Simon Busuttil
The two men had many things in common.
Mr Bouzrida was a former military intelligence officer while Mr Al-Feitouri was the head of the ammunition and armament division of the army. Last year, both men defected from the Gaddafi regime to join the rebels. The motives for the killings are yet unknown.
But the killings do indicate that, although Libya is settling down slowly, there is still a great deal of work to be done to restore security and to stabilise the situation. This is hardly surprising. After 42 years of dictatorial rule of the most savage kind and after a bloody civil war of liberalisation, this is to be expected. The sooner the situation stabilises the better for all. And this can only happen once the political process for establishing the country’s first democratic institutions picks up some momentum.
A major step in this direction was made just last Thursday when Mohammed Magarief was elected president of the 200-strong Congress at the start of its work.
The Congress, which was elected last month following the first free elections in Libya, has to appoint a Prime Minister and work towards the drafting of a new Constitution next year before parliamentary elections can be held. It also has legislative powers to make new laws.
Mr Magarief, a moderate Islamist, is an economist and a former Libyan Ambassador to India. He lived in exile since the 1980s and was a leading figure in the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, one of Libya’s oldest opposition movement against Muammar Gaddafi’s rule.
He was also contested. He was elected by 113 votes against 85 votes that went to his independent rival, Ali Zidan. The losing candidate was quoted saying that “this is democracy. This is what we have dreamt of” as he congratulated Mr Magarief.
Mr Zidan’s attitude shines bright. But, following decades of repression, one cannot expect Libya’s route to democracy to be easy. It needs time and a lot of hard work.
That is why it is important for those who were bold enough to rise against Col Gaddafi and his tribe to continue to persevere and finish the job of reconciliation and democracy building.
A glimpse at the Congress is quite revealing. In the assembly, only 80 seats belong to political parties, with 120 filled by independents who, so far, remain unknown quantities. As the work of the Congress progresses, their leanings will gradually be revealed.
Of the 80 seats belonging to six political parties, 39 were won by a liberal coalition headed by Mohamed Jibril, the former leader of the National Transitional Council, which has now been superseded by the Congress. Another 17 seats are held by the Justice and Construction Party of the Muslim Brotherhood. Mr Magarief’s party has only three seats.
Last month’s elections were praised by the EU for the orderly fashion in which they were organised.
Attention now shifts to the drafting of a new Constitution. As the EU foreign ministers stated in a statement, this will be a critical document in shaping the future Libyan state.
They called on the drafting process to be inclusive and transparent and that the new Constitution reflects the aspirations of the Libyan people for dignity and justice by ensuring respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all women and men, including protection of minorities and, of course, democratic values.
Here’s an example of how difficult it will be.
During the opening ceremony of the Congress last Thursday, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the former chairman of the National Transitional Council and outgoing figure-head of Libya, interrupted proceedings to tell Sarah Elmesallati to leave the stage after one of the congressmen, Salah Baadi, an independent from Misurata and a prominent Islamist, walked out because her head was not covered.
Ms Elmesallati was asked to cover her head midway through her presentation and when she refused to do so she was ushered out. Later in his speech, Mr Jalil highlighted the importance of freedom of expression but in full respect of Muslim traditions.
Women’s emancipation and full rights is a most important battle that is taking place under the surface in most of the Muslim world as many countries re-invent themselves as democratic states. The struggle for women’s rights will be one of the harshest.
In the Western world, it lasted throughout the 19th century and most of the 20th. Some say that it is still unfinished business. You only have to look at the participation of women in elected office in Malta to understand this.
But, in the Arab world, the battle starts now. And this shows just how difficult it will be. Indeed, there are a series of battles that need to be won along the road of democracy-building.
But, at least, Libya has now made the first step. And that can only be good news.
simon.busuttil@europarl.europa.eu
Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.