As soon as the 17 February uprising took root in Libya, thousands of exiled Libyans sought to return to their homeland and fight the good fight against Muammar Gaddafi.

Libyans from Bradford, London, Manchester, New York, Alexandria and many other weird and wonderful places around the world jumped onto planes and boats and headed towards North Africa. None of them hesitated for a moment and they did what they believed was their duty.

Equally, as the Transitional National Council was set up and the wheels were put in motion, thousands of Libyan scholars and academics made their way to Benghazi, and eventually, Tripoli. Many of these people were absorbed into the TNC and the current leadership is made up of many such people (and rightly so).

Libya has learned the lessons of Iraq; it did not dismantle the existing structures completely. One only needs to look at the immediate post Saddam era to see the error of doing so. In addition, although Libya has tribal divisions, they do not have the added problem of sectarian violence. Most Libyans are Sunni, and therefore there is not much strife in that respect.

Many civil servants who were working for the Gaddafi regime have been retained by the TNC, and from what this newspaper’s correspondent saw in Libya last week, they seem to be comfortable in their posts and are allowed to work as they see fit. When questioned, a member of the TNC pointed out that while they did work for the Gaddafi regime, they got normal pay and should not be punished for doing normal jobs such as pushing paper or signing documents.

But, the TNC must make some decisions. People in Libya are starting to wonder whether there is any space in the leadership for Libyans who remained in their country during the Gaddafi years. As we have seen for ourselves, there are such people within the structures, but the leadership must make sure that it shows its people that this is the way things are. There have already been a few protests here and there, in cities such as Al Bayda and Adjdabiya, and the TNC has sought to dispel the unrest by organising a round of visits to various cities by Prime Minister Abdelhafiz El Kheib.

The fact that there was some form of attempt on his life last week shows that there is dissent and the authorities must do all they can to placate anger, without yielding an inch of what they have gained in terms of governance and democratic principles.

Equally, the TNC must encourage budding journalists to continue to probe and ask tough questions of the government and leadership. We must never forget that while the TNC leadership is made up of Western Libyans, they too are still very green in terms of politics. Their skins will only get thicker if the media pushes them and pushes them hard. This will not be easy for the youngsters who are forming free media. Libya can do this. If they had the determination to pull together and face off against such brutal foes, then we are convinced that they can find the determination to pull together and build a new country, from scratch. We wish them luck.