What might lie in Libya’s future?

>>> it's a new day in libya , but that's about all we know and it could be wild for a while yet. for more on what could happen next, from tripoli all the way to washington , we turn to our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell watching all this in our washington bureau, andrea, good evening.

>> president obama today paid tribute to the people of tripoli for rising up to claim their freedom and in their words, a future with fear can give way to hope.

>> free libya !

>> reporter: from around the world, libyan exiles and their supporters were celebrating. but president obama warned today it isn't over. calling on gadhafi to end the resistance.

>> he still has the opportunity to reduce further bloodshed by explicitly releasing power to the people of libya and calling for those forces that continue to fight to lay down their arms for the sake of libya .

>> reporter: and when the cheering dies down, many wonder what happens next. after working with rebels in benghazi, a top state department envoy is impressed.

>> can't tell if this is all going to work, but so far the picture is encouraging, there are plans of how you sort of run the country afterwards, how you build legitimacy, how you make sure that you're including the breadth of libya 's geography and tribal structures.

>> reporter: can libya avoid the looting and civil war that took place when saddam was toppled?

>> for the libyan people from the beginning of this revolution no, retaliation, no revenge.

>> reporter: the world isn't waiting to recognize the new libya , washington reopened libya 's embassy last week, next week france's sarkozy will host an international gathering to plan foreign aid . but what about gadhafi and his sons? the interim government said i wants gadhafi to stand trial at home, as mubarak is in egypt. it's leader said we will give him a fair trial . and finally, what does this all mean for the region? some believe it could breathe new life into protests elsewhere, even in syria, others warn even successful revolutions can breed chaos, most recently new violence between egypt and israel. the u.s. is now working to give the interim government access to $30 billion of gadhafi 's frozen assets, if the new leaders can impose order on chaos, experts expect a lower benefit, lower world oil prices as libya 's oil production goes back online.