The Libyan 2011 revolution will not wither on the vine. The hated Muammar Gaddafi regime is broken. Yet the fighting is not over. Pockets of regime-loyalists resist the rebels’ advance. In Sirte, Gaddafi’s home base, a grim battle still has to be fought. It is nevertheless inconceivable that Gaddafi will claw back to power. At worst he might escape and go on to conduct guerilla warfare against the new rulers from outside.

That danger aside, the revolution will take quite some time to yield the fruit that Libyans hunger for. They want freedom, peace and prosperity. At present two million people in Tripoli are facing a city in shambles. Garbage piles up. Not even the dead are all buried. Water and electricity supplies are dead. These burdens are transitory. Libyans bear them gladly as the price of the departure of the ruler they have come to hate so much for betraying his own revolution, for betraying them, his people.

There is much rebuilding to be done for Tripoli to become the administrative centre once again. It will take time for airplanes to fly from its damaged strips once the no-fly ban has been lifted. It will take more time still to get order across the country. To avoid the danger of post-victory chaos. First steps are being made. Already, the diverse rebel forces that descended on and freed Tripoli have been united. There is recognition that order must prevail if a worthy new Libya is to rise out of the ruins left behind by Gaddafi, who did not put in place a proper administrative infrastructure in his erratic 42-year sway. And also out of the ruins that inevitably resulted from the liberation war.

There are other deep problems to overcome, starting with the fact that Libya is not made up of a cohesive people. Tribes and other divisions, such as among the East and West of the country, abound. But, inshallah, there will be progress. There will be other dangers too. These will include greedy approaches by companies from the countries who helped the drive to freedom to grab as much of the spoils as they can.

The current Libyan leadership is grateful for the help it received under the cover of Nato. As time goes by and political groupings form, that gratitude will be tempered by a determination not to allow the New Libya to become a foreign-capitalist fiefdom. The Libyans want to be free with dignity, as one local commander said. Dignity will be very broadly defined.

There will still be many opportunities for foreign companies to take part in the reconstruction of post-Gaddafi Libya. These will include openings for our own business community. Those among it who had been operating in Libya before the revolution will want to recharge their activities. In parallel with them, others will be on the look-out for whatever chances they can take.

It will not be the time to make mistakes. To go for the quick kill. It should be a time for building up relations that can yield for more than one season. On its part the government will be doing its best to assist. Malta Enterprise is setting up an office in Benghazi and will presumably cover Tripoli too before not too long. Its activities and others by our public sector should be free of Malta-made bureaucratic practices.

The government will be taking direct initiatives. The Minister of Finance has already spoken bullishly about the possibility to undertake joint oil exploration with the new Libyan regime. It is unlikely that will come about speedily, but the territorial-waters issue will certainly be a priority to follow.

Meanwhile, as a new Libya dawns, in our inimitable Maltese way the PN and the PL argue about who was closest to and most tainted by Muammar Gaddafi. It can be boiled down to simple numbers and facts. Labour governments were close friends with him from 1971 to 1987 – 16 years. They made him a member of what became the Order of Merit in 1975. Nationalist governments cosied up to him from 1987 to earlier this year – 24 years (less the 22 months Sant interregnum). They promoted him in the Order of Merit in 2004, making him a Companion of Honour, the highest one can go. For good measure they also made the Tunisian autocratic President Ben Ali a Companion of Honour of the Order of Merit, in 2005.

I’m sure both Labour and Nationalists acted that way in the perceived interest of Malta, not out of love for the dictators. So can they please stop behaving like children?