The death of Muammar Gaddafi marks a new era for Libya. It also poses a huge challenge for Libyan authorities dealing with tribal conflicts. He Wenping, a researcher with the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that Libya is in danger of falling into a period of internal strife and tribal conflict. Her thoughts are as follows: 

Although people were prepared for the news headline of "Gaddafi Dies" during the last eight months of Libyan civil war, it was still quite shocking when the event actually happened, and many details need to be verified.

How did he die? The circumstances are under investigation, but video footage shows that Gaddafi was still alive and able to talk and move by himself when he was caught by opposition forces. The fatal gunshot wounds to his head and abdomen were found to be fired at short range. These facts make his death a controversial one. Meanwhile, they violate the Geneva Convention's rules on how prisoners should be treated in wartime. Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) laid the bodies of Gaddafi and his son on the floor of butcher's refrigeration room where anyone was free to watch and photograph. Gaddafi's family was not contacted, and the bodies were not buried in a secret location until they began to decay. These actions were criticized as inhuman by media outlets.       

According to Human Rights Watch, 53 Gaddafi supporters were executed in Sirte after they were caught in the last battle in Gaddafi's hometown. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern over the event and will launch an investigation soon. Ian Martin, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative to Libya, emphasized that the NTC is under obligation to treat all prisoners, including Gaddafi and his family, in accordance with international humanitarian law. In the case of the Sirte battle, these murders committed on both sides might ultimately be considered war crimes.

How to treat Gaddafi and his supporters is more than a humanitarian issue, though. It's the first test that will prove whether the new Libya can become a stable country with democracy and liberty, one which respects the rule of law and human rights. In spite of the 42 years of Gaddafi's dictatorship, revenge can only hurt justice. The revolution, meant to overthrow autocracy, will be humiliated by its own violence and drag Libya into another period of internal strife and tribal conflict.

Libya has around 150 tribes. There has never been mutual identity among tribes in the country's east, west and south. Some tribes in Tripoli and Sirte used to benefit from Gaddafi's regime, while western tribes including Misrata and Benghazi were rebuked and marginalized. Now, the military force of anti-Gaddafi tribes in the west have succeeded with NATO's help. But not long ago, Warfalla, the most powerful tribe in the country, publicly warned authorities that they would take a revenge on the NTC for the destruction and arson in Bani Walid, a town to the south of Tripoli.

Gaddafi's political legacy is nothing but an impractical green paper and tribal politics. How to draw up a modern democratic blueprint for a country without political parties, a constitution or modern political elements is the challenge for the NTC. Mustafa Abdul Jalil, its chairman, publicly admitted at the end of October that a boundless political war has begun. He suggested that the NTC faces increased conflicts between different military organizations and tribal branches. His worries have been confirmed by the delay of the transitional government's founding, the resignation of Mahmud Jibril, the former premier, and the election of his successor, Abdurrahim el-Keib, who is a permanent resident of the United States.

It's rumored that those who killed Gaddafi were authorized by "the powerful." Gaddafi knew many secrets about the United States, Britain, France and Italy, not to mention officials in his own country. None of these players would want Gaddafi alive, for fear he might expose them in front of the International Criminal Court. The rumor, if true, makes his death even more mysterious and tragic. But those secrets and scandals may be buried with the man in the Libyan desert.