The number of armed men in Tripoli, many of them throwing up celebratory curtains of lead from Kalashnikovs and anti-aircraft guns, is a concern. For as long as the conflict continues, it is understandable that rebel forces will keep their weapons. Yet it is not clear when they will surrender them. Messages vary depending on which brigade you speak to. For Abdullah Abdullah, a commander in the muscle-flexing Misratah Brigade, currently holed up in the Al Widan Hotel in Tripoli, there is no immediate rush. "We'll go back when we've got Abu Shafshufa [mop-head, a contemptuous nickname for Gaddafi] and a good president and when we have good security in 100 per cent of the country. We can stay in Tripoli. It's our capital. We're one family."

With the city stabilising impressively by the day, from power and water returning to immaculately uniformed traffic policemen marshalling the flows of exuberant traffic, Tripolines may take a less relaxed view of their armed neighbours' stay in the capital, particularly if it starts to look like a declaration of intent to grab a share of the political spoils rather than reinforce security.

While the mood music from the NTC remains encouraging, emphasising reconciliation, stabilisation and the need to see the fight against Gaddafi through, some fear a growing Islamist role in the new Libya. They point to the rise and rise of Abdel Hakim Belhaj, former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which Washington declared a terrorist organisation and al-Qaeda ally, as the most powerful man in the capital, leader of the Tripoli Military Council. Then there is the Islamic scholar Ali Sallabi, his reputation burnished by a high-profile leadership role during the revolution, and the Islamist umbrella group Etilaf, which is said to have risen to prominence at the expense of more secular groups by dint of its organisational prowess. 

These are legitimate worries, though they should be understood in a context in which the overwhelming mood, both on the street and the corridors of transitional power, is for a democratic, moderate Muslim state. Such an aspiration will naturally face fierce challenges.

Dr Aref Nayed, an urbane religious scholar charged with managing the NTC's stabilisation programme, says the transition will be a "formidable" task. "Natural friction and competition between various groups and parties in the country must be managed in a democratic and mutually respectful way as the raw materials for democracy rather than the cracks of division," he says.