By Daily Star Editorial

The nightmare in Libya is over, and it is hoped that the bloodshed has ended as well.
Celebration and relief at the violent demise of Moammar Gadhafi will continue to reverberate across the world, but in Libya, another, more arduous battle will now begin.

Will the country move in the direction of a post-U.S.-invasion Iraq? Or, will it escape this fate, and begin the first steps on the long journey toward rebuilding a polity, society and economy ravaged by decades of dictatorship?

Over the last eight months, those who struggled against Gadhafi have put forward a number of hopeful slogans: democracy, human rights, free elections and the rule of law. Will the victors in Libya’s struggle manage to put any of these into practice, and at what price?

A country of feuding tribes must be transformed into a cohesive entity that is a homeland for all its citizens, devoid of hatred, repression and corruption – if not, critics will argue that nothing has changed.

Colossal domestic efforts must be made domestically, to ensure this long-term victory, while Arab countries must also play a constructive role in Libya’s rebirth. The West has its work cut out for it, to prove that its intervention in Libya did not spring from a drive to divide up the country’s natural resources. Only a resounding post-conflict political victory in Libya can justify the death and destruction that has scarred the country since its February uprising.

Gadhafi’s fall also sends a clear message to dictators and repressive regimes, which have acted as if they are untouchable. Many of these political systems have been resistant to change and the legitimate demands of their peoples.

The world around them is changing, as new technological achievements in communications empower the general public. Keeping them isolated from their fellow citizens, and the rest of the world, is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible.

These leaders should realize that no matter what the level of force and oppression they seek to wield against their fellow citizens, the last word lies with the people and their aspirations.

In recent decades, people in this part of the world have been tarred with the accusation that they represent the “bad guys” in a global clash of civilizations. The demise of dictatorships, under the weight of popular pressure, can send a signal that people here aren’t so very different after all. They aspire to the same things that others do, and they yearn to play a constructive role in the world, through interaction between civilizations, and not a clash.

Dictatorial rulers should once again realize that they must accept change, which is inevitable. They can choose to resist, through violence and oppression, or oversee a process of reform, change, democracy and freedom, to spare their countries the kind of nightmare that Libya now, gratefully, hopes is at an end.