More encouraging news from post-Gaddafi Libya:

Violent crime and clashes between armed militants are running rife in Libya as the jubilation of last year’s liberation fades, to be replaced by the harsh and unromantic reality of building a new state.

Although much less frequent than the celebratory shooting in the weeks after Muammar Gaddafi died in October, the sound of gunfire can still be heard at night in Tripoli, where security sector workers say theft, infighting and murder are on the rise.

Last week, two grenade attacks were reported in central Tripoli and gunfights occur on a near-daily basis.

Who would have supposed that collapsing an existing regime in a country with weak or non-existent institutions would produce anarchy and lawlessness? The new Libyan government has not been able to exercise much control in many parts of the country. Earlier this week, a former Gaddafi stronghold was recently taken over by locals in defiance of the new government:

The ramshackle government lost control of a former Gaddafi stronghold on Tuesday after local people staged an armed revolt, posing the gravest challenge yet to the NTC’s authority.

The revolt in Bani Walid will heighten doubts in the West about the NTC government’s ability to instill law and order crucial to rebuilding oil exports, to disarm tribal militias and to guard Libyan borders in a region where al Qaeda is active.

Elders in Bani Walid, 200 km (125 miles) southeast of the capital, said they were appointing their own local government and rejected any interference from the authorities in Tripoli.

Fortunately a country with an ineffectual central government and competing militia groups has nothing in common with Somalia or any other failed states.