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June 10th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda The Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) has not been very successful in controlling rival regional militias and tribes, engaged in fighting for power and resources.
On Monday, a militia of former revolutionaries entered the Tripoli International Airport with tanks and armored vehicles, briefly blocking its air traffic and forcing flights to be cancelled and re-routed.
The NTC has been in control of Libya since the death of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi last October.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Nii Akuetteh, African policy analyst from Washington, to further discuss the issue. The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: When NATO decided to attack Qaddafi in Libya last year there was a huge media hype that was focused on Libya and attracted the international community towards it. However, after the change of regime in the oil-rich country it’s almost been forgotten. Why?
Akuetteh: That’s a great question because I’ve noticed the same thing. There was a huge attention on Libya and the involvement of NATO and the war. While the war wound down, the cameras, the media moved away. Now of course, your question is why?
I consume the news and I’m not the best person to understand why the media moves away. The best way I can read it is once they see that the immediate goals have been achieved they just move on to other issues.
It’s of great concern to me because I think they are still important issues in Libya. There are still important groups of Libyans suffering and it will be good if the media still covered it, but they don’t. You are absolutely right about that.
Press TV: We’re hearing that elections have been postponed in Libya as well. Why do you think the road towards democracy is being postponed then?
Akuetteh: One of the feelings is there are people who argue that before you can get democracy you need certain prerequisites. I don’t actually subscribe to that school of thought.
The one thing that I do concede you need is a certain amount of stability and order before you can have elections. You can write good constitutions and have elections.
As you mentioned in your first question, the media is not covering what is happening but the little news we have is that there is some amount of instability. A few days ago, a group took over the international airport in Tripoli. My point is that it looks like there is a lot of instability all over Libya.
While you have serious instability, it puts in question any kind of elections that you can have. The fact that the elections have been postponed, to my mind, is a cause for concern.
Why did they do it? It would seem that you don’t have sufficient law, order and stability across Libya so that if people are voting you know that they have the right to vote and they are voting in a particularly legitimate way. There are conditions in Libya, it seems like, that are not conducive to where we want the country to go.
Press TV: There are disputes over the issue of federalism in some oil-rich regions of the country. To what extent do you think the country is being driven towards federalism rather than democracy?
Akuetteh: I think you could actually have both. You could have a federal system that is also pretty democratic because in my view democracy and federalism both aim at the same thing which is that you want to push power, political and economic decision making as close to the people as possible.
In a federal system, you have some segment of a nation where that particular region, that particular federal area has a lot of power. Democracy, essentially, is also about the people governing themselves, so I do think that you can have both.
Of course, it would seem as you imply, you are right that in Libya it would seem that the passion, the intent for federalism is moving more strongly and faster than progress towards democracy. I do think that you can have both and you should attend both.
GMA/AZ
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