They were friendly and even made a few jokes as they held up the BBC team for about half an hour as they checked our credentials. The man who ran the cafe refused to take any money for teas, coffees and a couple of Snickers bars.
In Misrata they argue that the checkpoint is a sensible precaution in a country as unpredictable as Libya.But those Libyans who worry about the future of their country are queasy about the way that some towns, especially those like Misrata which played a prominent role in the revolution, are turning themselves into entities that feel more like city states than regional centres. "Everyone knows the weapons are there. It helps keep the peace"
The new Libya still does not have an effective central government to replace the dictatorship. If anything, it has gone to the opposite extreme. For 42 years, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi did not just centralise power, he made himself into the embodiment of the state. The colonel's extensive and vicious security services made sure that rivals, real and imagined, were neutralised or eliminated.
