Letter from Tripoli
from Our Own Correspondent
IF enough time passes, a devastating condition becomes an empty phrase. That’s how the failed state of Libya must seem to those who don’t live here. In Tripoli, the night of 13 May began with the not unusual sound of small arms fire – and then a bombardment in the east, west, south and centre of the city that was unprecedented since the allied bombing raids of 1943.
By lunchtime the following day, there was a ceasefire. Some said only six people had been killed; others, more than ten times that. Most people believe the trouble started when Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, prime minister of the Tripoli-based provisional “government of national unity” (GNU), which is hardly united or national and not much of a government, ordered the 444 Brigade (the closest he has to a real army) to attack a militia (the Special Deterrence Force, known as Rada).