UK journalist: Nato must allow Libyans to control own future

If NATO wants to be seen as a force for good, it must now step back and allow the Libyan people to get on with forming a new constitution, government and legal framework, says British journalist and broadcaster Yvonne Ridley. “Western meddling could be disastrous at this stage and the West must learn the difference between meddling and constructive support,” Ridley said as rebel forces entered Tripoli. “Libya has no debts, it is oil rich and therefore the last thing the Transitional Government should do is become embroiled with the IMF and World Bank,” she told IRNA. Battles were reported to be raging in the Libyan capital on Monday after rebels seized control of much of the city, with the endgame seemingly looming for Muammer Gaddafi's regime. “What has happened in Libya sends a strong message out to the remaining brutal dictators who are still clinging to power ... their days are numbered,” Ridley said. “With or without outside support people across the Arab world are empowered and refreshed by the heroic Libyan people,” she said. 'The Arab Spring has now matured beyond the summer and we're heading for an Autumn which I'm confident will bear fruit. No single tyrant and dictator is now safe.” When the rebels first made their pact with NATO, Ridley was not convinced until she went to Benghazi and Derna a few months back and spoke with anti-Gaddafi people. “They told me quite forcefully 'when you are drowning and a helping hand is offered you don't ask the person for their credentials. You just grab the hand in order to survive',” she said. Now she believed Nato should stand back and said it was also “hugely important that the Gaddafis, all of them, are processed through the Libyan courts which will enable closure for the people.” “It would be a travesty of justice if trials are held in the International Criminal Courts. The Libyan people are well educated and sophisticated and are perfectly capable of running their own judicial process,” she told IRNA. Like the Iranian Revolution, the journalist believed the events in Libya was “very real in terms of martyrs who've paid the blood price for resisting. “Also like the Iranian Revolution, the Libyan people have now overthrown their leader and without doubt a huge change of politics, culture and rule is about to take place,” she said. “This is why the Libyan Revolution is quite different to Tunisia and Egypt's where the framework and influence of the previous era is still in evidence,” she explained.