穆阿迈尔•卡扎菲(Muammer Gaddafi)的残暴政权在他两个月前逃离的黎波里时就已经成为历史；周四，卡扎菲在苏尔特(Sirte)附近被打死，利比亚终于从两个月的流血僵局中解脱出来。无疑，对这个他无情压制了42年之久的国家来说，这是一个情绪释放的时刻；对中东那些仍在抗争以摆脱暴君的人们来说，这是一个令人鼓舞的火花。但与此同时，这也让人们更加密切地关注利比亚临时领导层面临的挑战。
苏尔特的事态引发了兴高采烈的情绪，这是可以理解的。但如果卡扎菲被活捉，然后被迫接受审判，效果可能会更好。他要对很多事情负责：在国内，成千上万的利比亚人在他的铁腕统治下遭受酷刑和处决；在国外，尽管他因在2004年宣布放弃大规模杀伤性武器而赢得赞誉，但他曾资助西班牙、德国和北爱尔兰境内的恐怖组织。审判将为他的受害者带来正义，让他们将这一页打上句号。
不过，卡扎菲被打死至少有一个好处，那就是使旧政权的余党失去了一个可以拥戴的挂名首脑。这可能使利比亚新生的“全国过渡委员会”(NTC)面临的重建国家的挑战变得容易一些。
利比亚过渡委在掌权伊始拥有几个有利因素。按非洲标准衡量，利比亚是相当富裕的。得益于大体上运营有方的油气产业，该国有足够资源承担必要的物质重建。同时，与破坏该地区其它国家稳定的政权格局不同，过渡委并不按民族-教派的界线划界。但它也存在着几个不利因素。四十余年的强人集权统治，使得利比亚几乎没有任何正常运转的机构。另外，胜利者由各个不同且相互竞争的群体构成。
过渡委的第一项任务是，在卡扎菲死后，保持反对卡扎菲力量的团结。若陷入内斗，将危及过去六个月里取得的脆弱成就。获胜的各个派别，必须基于现实，尽快就创建国家机制商定一个路线图，借助这些机构保障无数利比亚人用生命换来的自由。
如果利比亚提出请求，西方应当准备好在这一进程中提供操作上的协助。不过，在军事方面，既然卡扎菲已不再威胁利比亚人，西方应当趁早告辞，以免呆久了引起东道主的不快。专制者已适时退场，未来应当由利比亚人自己决定。
译者/和风
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001041294
Muammer Gaddafi’s brutal regime passed into the annals of history with his flight from Tripoli two months ago; his death near Sirte on Thursday finally released Libya from the bloody limbo in which it has since been stuck. It is undeniably a moment of catharsis for the country he oppressed for 42 stultifying years, and a spark of encouragement for those in the Middle East still struggling to escape the grasp of tyranny. But it also brings into sharper focus the challenges facing Libya’s interim leadership.
Despite the understandable euphoria in Sirte, it might perhaps have been better had Col Gaddafi been captured alive and forced to stand trial. He had much to answer for: both at home, where thousands of Libyans were tortured and executed under his despotic rule; and abroad, where despite earning praise for giving up weapons of mass destruction in 2004, he sponsored terrorism in Spain, Germany and Northern Ireland. A trial would have offered his victims justice and closure.
However, Col Gaddafi’s death at least has the merit of depriving the remnants of the old regime of a figurehead to rally round. That may make the challenge of rebuilding Libya, which now faces the country’s fledgling National Transitional Council, a little easier.
The NTC begins with several factors in its favour. Libya is wealthy by African standards. Thanks to its generally well-run oil and gas industry, it has the resources to fund the necessary physical reconstruction. It does not sit on the ethno-sectarian faultlines that have so destabilised other countries in the region. Yet there are also weaknesses. Four decades of rule centred on one man have left Libya with almost no functioning institutions. And the victors are composed of disparate, and competing, groups.
The NTC’s first task is to ensure that the unity marshalled against Gaddafi does not splinter now he is gone. A descent into infighting would imperil the fragile achievements of the past six months. As soon as is practical, the victorious factions must agree on a path towards the creation of the institutions that will enshrine the freedoms for which so many Libyans have laid down their lives.
If Libya requests it, the west should be ready to provide technical assistance in this process. On the military front, however, now that Gaddafi no longer threatens his own people, the west should should avoid outstaying its welcome. The despot has met a timely end. What comes next is for Libyans alone to decide.
