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The evening we arrived in Tripoli on the 19 November, we were taken out to a restaurant in the heart of Tripoli, behind the remains of a splendid cupola held up by four marble arches with amazing sculptures from Roman times. Not even in Rome you can see such splendid Roman ruins ...the strong smell of jasmine flowers greeted us before we entered the restaurant. Roman Libya, with sites like Sabrata and Leptis Magna, would make a formidable tourist destination but the Libyan leaders are painfully aware that there is still a lot to do to get their house in order.
Whatever changes they make, I hope they retain their present kindness and friendliness-not easy as tourism frequently brings with it an erosion of traditional hospitality. Institutes of tourism studies have to be set up to teach among other things, how to smile at tourists and how to be nice to them!
The restaurants we were taken to had very good food - a great improvement on what they offered 24 years ago when it was mostly chicken and lamb. We had delicious dips made of chickpeas, aubergines and ricotta with olives and hot harissa and a tasty soup ˆ ‘xarba Libija’ and very good cernia. I must admit I did miss a red glass of wine. Alcohol is still officially forbidden. I have been told there is a strong black market alcohol industry with Libyans making powerful drinks from every imaginable fruit and vegetable. This perhaps explains why on Thursday night the rate of fatal accidents goes up as drunken drivers crash into each other or against buildings on the side of the street. Tree trunks are painted white to remind drivers at night that there are trees on the side of the street.
After the meal my other colleagues took the official car back to the hotel but Dr George Vella tempted me to walk back with him through the old city, the souk in the Medina. Although it was nearly midnight the cafes were still open. Barbers were still cutting the hair of young men in their shops. Young men were going into an Internet cafe'. Shops displaying groceries, vegetables, fruits and cigarettes were also still open. The other shops selling gold, cloth, hi-fi equipment, carpets, copper ware and pottery were all closed though you could still smell the strong spices wafting from behind the shutters.
Most of the narrow roads in the Medina are rough. They have smelly sewage sludge cutting through them like a black zip. You have to walk at the edge not to get swallowed up within it. There were many young men walking up and down in this maze of narrow streets. I saw only one woman. She was not wearing a veil although her head was covered with a scarf. I had noticed that on our way to the hotel from the airport there were big advertising billboards with attractive faces of women with their hair flowing. The following day as we went through our meetings I also noticed that some of the women present covered their hair while others let it hang freely.
Although it was past midnight and no police were to be seen and we were the only two foreigners in the souk, also wearing formal suits we felt very safe. At no point did anybody approach us. The following day I returned to the same souk with Clyde Puli in the afternoon. No one pestered us to buy and we could get lost among the crowd without any worries. When it was time to go back to the hotel to get ready to go to the airport, Clyde asked the first person he found, the way to the Green Square. A young man with a smile asked him ‘Malti?’ and after saying that he has studied in Malta and played rugby at Marsa, immediately told us how to get there.
I did not see many outward signs of Islam in Tripoli except the minarets of the mosques, which came to life early next morning. At quarter past six on Saturday morning the muezzin started chanting the Koran all over the city ...Allah u akbar. Allah u akbar. It was as if the muezzin were answering each other from the minarets of the different mosques all over the city. And then all of a sudden the city was silent again ... till the sun came up and the cars came out and took over the streets again.
The number of cars choking the city centre has apparently multiplied since Libya started opening up in the last few months. To put it mildly traffic is chaotic and driving is reckless, making traffic lights, zebra crossings and signs completely irrelevant.
My return to Libya after 24 years was too short to form any informed opinion about the changes the country is undergoing and the direction in which it is heading. I did notice though that government leaders are more focused on the future and problem solving oriented: they talk about the challenges of modernizing the economy, moving away from total dependence on oil, the difficulties of changing the behaviour and mind-sets of the Libyan people to open up and participate fully in the Mediterranean, European and global world, the costs of providing the necessary infrastructure in such a vast country to improve the quality of life of a scattered population.
On the other hand the persons belonging to the political network of the People’s Revolutionary Committees still use very ideological language to define their tasks. They seem to know that they have to move on but are somehow reluctant to break totally with the past, and launch a new beginning for Libya, turning it into an open society with a viable economy for the 21st century.
Libya is no exception in having to cope with the forces of change, continuity and inertia as it faces the future. Libya’s future will be shaped by how these forces co-operate and compete among themselves and resolve their internal conflicts.
(Evarist Bartolo recently spent 24 hours in Tripoli as part of a visit by the Foreign and European Affairs Committee to explore ways of improving ties between Malta and Libya)
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