Libyans are becoming anxious. The bombing of the French Embassy in Tripoli last month was the first time that terrorist violence had come to the capital. Now a car bomb in Benghazi appears to have upped the level of violence in that city. Since the September 1, 2012, murder of US ambassador Chris Stevens and three colleagues at the US consulate in the city, violence there had settled back, if that is the expression, into a pattern of assassinations, largely of Gaddafi-era security officials and overnight attacks on police stations, causing few injuries. Sunday's car bomb blast outside a Benghazi hospital, which killed at least three people, injured dozens and wrecked surrounding properties and vehicles, seems to be a step change in the tactics of the men of violence. However, as with the current confusion over the death toll from the bombing, there are also conflicting reports of what really happened. Normally reliable sources are indicating that two of the dead were occupants of the car. It is also being suggested that the explosive involved was ”gelatina”, used by fishermen to stun fish and bring them to the surface. Gelatina is not particularly stable substance. Therefore the bombers may have been heading toward an entirely different target when the device went off. It is, however, equally possible that this deadly explosion was entirely accidental, caused by a ludicrous disregard for safety, either by fishermen or someone supplying them with the explosive. Though the bombing has ratcheted up the tension in this East Libyan city, it also appears to be having another effect. The people of Benghazi, who chased one Salafist militia out of town, following the murder of the US ambassador, are once again furious at the continued presence of militiamen, not all of whom are the former revolutionary fighters they claim to be. The government is supposed to be absorbing most of these men into the police and army. But the process is proving painfully slow. Indeed everything about the Zeidan government and the law-making General National Congress is dangerously lethargic. There have been endless delays in sorting out how a commission will be selected to draft a constitution which will be approved in a national referendum. A process that was supposed to have taken 18 months from when the Congress was elected last July looks set to drag on until late next year. Without a fixed constitution, the process of restoring order, rebuilding the country and getting on with the business of normal government is being perilously delayed. Moreover in an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust, with poor communications between the government and lawmakers and the general public, rumors abound. The latest that has seized social media is that the United States is preparing to invade. That such a fanciful notion is given house room, demonstrates how jittery Libyans have become. Indeed the rumor may have been started by extremists who wish to boost feelings of insecurity, brought on by this latest bombing. Premier Ali Zeidan has always tried to find consensus and balance the disparate regional and political interests at play in the country. Unfortunately this admirable approach is facing rising challenges from malign forces, that have no interest in seeing a pluralist, democratic Libya emerge from 43 years of repressive dictatorship. Congressmen and the government that they put in place, need to act with unity in the face of the deadly danger their country faces.
