Jockeying for power may intensify as bullet swapped for ballot box

JOCKEYING for power among Libya’s well-armed and fractious new leadership may intensify after the death of deposed autocrat Muammar Gaddafi, an anxious and, for many, joyous moment in a country hungry for stability and impatient to swap the bullet for the ballot box.

The interim government will be determined to ensure that lingering pro-Gaddafi forces are prevented from launching rearguard guerrilla insurgency from the countryside that could destabilise the north African OPEC member and its oil industry.

One of Gaddafi’s most politically influential sons, Saif al-Islam, and his security chief Abdullah Sanussi are apparently still at large and may still be able to recruit armed followers.