Without my men, Tripoli will destabilise: Officer

Sitting in an office overlooking the departure lounge at Tripoli International Airport, the base for his 700-strong Zintan Brigade, provincial revolutionary officer Mukhtar al-Akhdar insists he is keeping the peace, not entrenching a political "occupation".

A former army officer in his 50s dressed in battle fatigues, sandals and a black turbanned headdress, Akhdar leads one of several armed groups from the provinces who joined forces to free Tripoli from Muammar Gaddafi in Libya's uprising.

Some Tripoli residents quietly grumble that the militias from outlying areas should leave the city now that Gaddafi has gone, allowing the police to resume their work in order to boost confidence and help strengthen a sense of normality.

Akhdar demurred, suggesting that without his brigade, disorder in the city, home to a third of Libya's 6 million population, would grow.

"We can leave Tripoli starting today, but then you will see what will happen," he told Reuters in an interview at the facility half an hour's drive south of Tripoli, where the post-Gaddafi revolutionary authorities have appointed him the airport's military commander.

"The revolutionaries are the ones manning the checkpoints and are the legitimate body now. We don't have police or army forces to do this job for us. If it weren't for them it wouldn't be safe."

He said his men, whose weapons include dozens of vehicles rigged with heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft cannon, are providing round-the-clock security patrols, confiscating unregistered weapons, mediating in disputes between communities and individuals, and tracking down Gaddafi loyalists.

But he warned that the longer the war lasted against the last Gaddafi bastions, the more lawless Libya would become, and so the armed groups' security was required to ensure public safety and protect the transition to a post-Gaddafi future.

"We are not an occupation force... We are here to unify our lines and forces, to draw up a unified national plan and we hope that the elections will take place soon and all will be okay."

"The longer this war lasts, the more crimes will be committed because the people will get used to the atrocities, they will be desensitised.

"A person might be afraid of hurting another in a traffic accident or of running over an animal, but if he becomes desensitised he will eat lunch next to the corpses, he will even walk over them. This is a big problem."

The reluctance of the revolutionaries to pull their men from the capital is seen by some Libyans as an attempt to claim a stake in the distribution of post-revolution power and funding.

This has caused strains in the unelected caretaker administration, known as the National Transitional Council (NTC), regarded by some analysts as an alliance of convenience that will struggle to move Libya to pluralism after 42 years of despotism.

It has tried and failed repeatedly to form a cabinet, apparently unable to settle rival claims by provincial leaders jockeying for power and influence.

Akhdar suggested any Tripolitanian who resented his militia's presence was thinking in a dangerously parochial way, because Tripoli was a mixture of people from all Libya's provinces.

"Some people are raising the question about our presence. But how was Tripoli established? No one ever sprouted out of the soil and was dubbed a citizen of Tripoli! We are all one society."  

"Those who do not know this fact are relying on promoting hatred among the Libyans to drive a wedge between the people."  

Some diplomats say that provincial militias are playing a vital role in collecting weapons from Gaddafi's many clandestine arms dumps and storing them in facilities under a plan agreed with the other armed groups operating in the capital.

But there are suspicions that some of the weapons are finding their way back to the groups' home areas, a move which, if confirmed, would suggest they want to build military muscle as insurance in case post-Gaddafi Libya fragments into chaos.

Akhdar said his men were operating under agreed protocols and were keen to disarm unregistered weapons in Tripoli because "the more we take away from it, the safer it will be".

"We have the general movement of people and aviation to worry about. We send groups to the whereabouts of these weapons, we have lists of the names of the people who received the weapons from Gaddafi, we collect the weapons and store them safely with us." 

Akhdar, a wiry, authoritative figure who speaks rapidly and intensely, was an army officer for 24 years and then ran a tour guide company for 13, before joining the revolution this year.

He became known in the Libyan war as a commander able to instil a degree of discipline and professionalism in his men, and helped train fighters from a number of other regions. 

Asked if armed groups in Tripoli trusted each other, he said: "I believe that there is some sort of a harmony among the various councils and there are also minor issues that we all try to avoid."

He suggested any disturbance in the balance of power in Tripoli would be swiftly dealt with.

"We will face any faction that will attempt to take over by force or attempt to take advantage of the situation, and take control over the area on its own; such entities will be dealt with in the same manner that we have dealt with his predecessor."