A New Era in Libya?

The turn of events in Libya is becoming very interesting. Gadaffi is in hiding and has threatened that Libya  will burn. At  the same time the anti-Gadaffi forces appear to have overcome the resistance of Libya's former strongman and the National Transitional Council has issued an ultimatum that if the last resisting pockets of Gadaffi forces refuses to surrender, they will descent upon them with full force all the name of liberating Libya from the evil power of their own brother albeit with the assistance of the enormous NATO fire power. The truth is that the end has already come and Gadaffi's threats are the last kicks of a a dying horse. It will eventually die. The question is does he still have the charm to galvanise the nation together and fight to reclaim Libya from the NTC forces? The fact is that this once apparently invincible character who once had an illusionary dream of a United States of Africa with him as its President has lost legitimacy to govern Libya and that is why he is in hiding. The lesson to be learnt is that political leaders must never take the people they govern for granted. Political power is like morning dew which disappears quickly when the sun rises. It is never meant to be an eternal power and this is what many politicians quickly forget when they assume power. The mistake that the 'Brother Leader' as President Jacob Zuma recently referred him as was that he either mis-timed his exit date or did not even think about it because 42 years in power is surely a life time because he thought 'his people' loved him dearly. Surprisingly, those he described as rats have 'gnawed' his power away and the 'dearly loved brother leader' is missing in action and is now resorting to stealth audio propaganda like the late Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. He made the mistake of failing to recognise the winds of change. Instead he should have tried to embrace them and given himself an honourable platform for exiting from power without bloodshed.His arrogance and stubbornness cost him and now nobody knows where he is and is probably stateless. I hear that there is a conference on Libya and the South African Press has reported that South Africa is boycotting. Do they surely think the Colonel is ever coming back? Am sure his time is up and it is time for the Libyans to move on without him.It is a disgrace indeed that the South African government is refusing to recognise the will of the people  of Libya and choosing to to side with the man who is is now like a 'rat' as he used to call the NTC hiding some where in his complex tunnel system and desires to see Libya burning.The man has forgotten how he rose to power?Was it not by some kind of a revolution?And the same barrel of the gun has taken him out of power. Candidly speaking Gadaffi is no longer a political factor. This man is gone! As IFSDZ we now want to see the NTC stabilise and  properly rebuild the oil rich country, a process which must be followed putting together a new constitution and democratic insitutitions and the calling of free and fair elections in Libya. We only hope that Libya will not end up being like Iraq or Afghanistan and in this regard we urge the people of Libya to show that they are different by galvanising themselves in unity towards the goal of democratising their nation.