In a sign that things were definitely starting to stabilize in Tripoli, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the Libyan capital on Tuesday, meeting the country's nominal leader, Mahmoud Jibril, and other members of the fledgling government. 

Clinton urged the country's opposition militias to help form a government by working together in the same way that they had to help oust longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi. Despite at times overwhelming odds, the militias, benefiting hugely from outside assistance, managed to solidify their opposition to Gadhafi and seize nearly all of the country in just under nine months.

Gadhafi fled Tripoli several weeks ago, and the self-styled and self-appointed National Transitional Council (NTC) had begun to make its presence felt in the capital, receiving the official recognition of several other countries and ordering the destruction of Gadhafi's once massive compound.

Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte remained a hotbed of skirmishes, in the last major stronghold of pro-Gadhafi forces. The fighting continued to be heavy, with Gadhafi loyalists taking back territory once claimed by the NTC, in a demonstration of just how disjointed the cooperation between militias could still be.

On Monday, Sirte became the last center of pro-Gadhafi forces after government forces took control of Bani Walid, another area of intense fighting in recent weeks.

Gadhafi himself remained in hiding. The International Criminal Court had charges ready for him, including the ordering of the killing of civilians.