Tripoli cracks: Rebel factions stake claim

A week after rebels broke into Col Muammar Gaddafis former stronghold,much of its territory remains divided into fiefs,each controlled by quasi-independent brigades representing different geographic areas of the country. And the spray paint they use to mark their territory tells the story of a looming leadership crisis in the capital,Tripoli.

The top civilian officials of the Libyan rebels Transitional National Council now styling itself as a provisional government to be based in the capital are yet to arrive,citing personal safety concerns even as they pronounce the city fully secure.

There are growing hints of rivalry among the various brigades over who deserves credit for liberating the city and the influence it might bring. And attempts to name a military leader to unify the bands of fighters have instead exposed divisions within the rebel leadership,along regional lines but also between secularists and Islamists.

They were all signs,one influential member of the council said,that point to a continuing power vacuum in the civilian leadership of the Libyan capital. But the jockeying for power also illustrates the challenge the NTC will face in trying to unify Libyas fractious political landscape.

The country was little more than a loose federation of regions and tribes before Gaddafi came to power. His reliance on favouritism and repression to maintain control did little to bridge Libyas regional,ethnic and ideological divisions. Nor did the rebels who ousted Gaddafi ever organise themselves into a unified force. Rebels from the western mountains,the mid-coastal city of Misrata and the eastern city of Benghazi each fought independently,and often rolled their eyes in condescension at one another.

And although the transition so far has been orderly Tripoli has become an early test of the revolutions ability to bridge those divisions because in contrast to other cities liberated by their own residents,Gaddafi was ousted from Tripoli by brigades from other regions,and most remain.