Libya Crisis: Eastern city of Benghazi at most stable in years, as Tripoli suffers

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Europe

03:27

The United Nations reports more than 250 people have died recently in the fighting for Libya's capital. While Tripoli suffers, the eastern city of Benghazi is at its most stable in years. CGTN's Guy Henderson reports.

Tonight Mohammad Al Sadik will bring the theatre back to Benghazi. Ahead of the opening night of "Darkness Came To You" – his own creation -- the director is nervous, it's been years since the last show here. This theatre has been re-built around the rubble of a devastating war. Mohammad hopes this moment can serve as a sign that a new era is coming.

MOHAMMED AL SADIK DIRECTOR, 'DARKNESS CAME TO YOU' "The opening of the play is the opening of a conversation" he says. "The moment we are able to hear each other again. It is a chance to see the pain of our citizens. It's life. The return of life."

Rafa Najam's character is a clown."An entirely selfish one" he says, "who cares for nothing but his own interests".

Rafie represents the Islamic State: who once occupied this building. Now the cast can transmit that critical message, without fear of reprisal. That is something – but it's not all they fought for.

GUY HENDERSON BENGHAZI "Outside this theatre – on the streets -- the military presence has melted away in recent. It's more stable here than it's been in years. And yet the cost of war is still very apparent. Benghazi is struggling to re-build."

The neighborhood where Libya's rebellion began paid a high price in the civil war that followed. Only now are the revolutionaries finally returning. All be it to mostly still ruined homes. Walid Gharina's house was taken by the Islamists that filled the post-Gaddafi power vacuum. And then heavily damaged as General Khalifa Haftar's forces pushed them out. To Walid, the devastation was worth it.

WALID GHARINA RESIDENT "I'm happy it happened," he says. "It gave us safety and security. Slowly, it will get better. The country must be stabilized first. Without that battle, I don't think we'd be alive today."

Those of fighting age who aren't dead are looking forward now. Ahmed Ben-Mussa's opened this entrepreneur's hub to support them. Ben Mussa was on the streets in 2011 too. 8 years on, his outlook's shifted.

AHMED BEN-MUSSA FOUNDER, LIBYAN ENTREPRENEUR HUB "Do I call for the same things? Yeah, I do. But had I known the stakes, had I known the penalty that everybody had to pay? I don't know. I really don't know."

Peace – a chance to laugh, to perform. That is all welcome. But the hopes of the revolution haven't been forgotten. GH, CGTN, Benghazi.