Libya will likely name a new government within 10 days, interim Libyan prime minister Mahmoud Jibril said, raising hopes of political progress in the fractured country weeks after the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi.
Libya’s de facto rulers won expressions of support from Washington, the African Union and South Africa on Tuesday and its new flag flew for the first time at the UN.
“I expect the government to be announced in the next week to 10 days maximum,” Jibril said after a G8 conference on aiding Arab countries’ transition to democracy taking place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Photo: Reuters
“I’m not bothered by the time consumed to bring about a national consensus,” he said.
Discussions in Libya to set up a more inclusive interim government have fallen apart before. The National Transitional Council (NTC), still based in the eastern city of Benghazi, has faced questions about whether it can unify a country divided on tribal and local lines.
Libya’s new rulers are trying to dislodge well-armed Qaddafi loyalists from several towns and have yet to start a countdown toward writing a constitution and holding elections.
The African Union, which has frequently been criticized for its ponderous reaction to events on its doorstep, said on Tuesday it was ready to support the NTC.
South Africa, the continent’s pre-eminent economic power which has a major say in AU policy, also said it would recognize the NTC, ending a long-standing relationship with Qaddafi.
At the UN in New York, US President Barack Obama called for the last of the deposed leader’s loyalists to stop fighting and said the US ambassador would return to Tripoli.
“Those still holding out must understand — the old regime is over, and it is time to lay down your arms and join the new Libya,” Obama said nearly a month after Qaddafi was driven from power with the help of a NATO-led bombing campaign.
Qaddafi, who is on the run, taunted the Western alliance in a speech broadcast by a Syrian-based television station on Tuesday, saying: “The bombs of NATO planes will not last.”
Libyan troops are unable to defeat forces loyal to Qaddafi in Sirte, his birthplace, because their new rulers are failing to supply them with enough ammunition, fighters near the front line said.
In the latest reverse in weeks of chaotic fighting over the coastal city, five anti-Qaddafi fighters were killed on Tuesday after they came under artillery fire.
Fighters making their way back from the front line said they were meeting heavy resistance from loyalists at Khamseen, 50km east of Sirte, and were unable to respond because they lacked the firepower.
“The military base is not supporting us with enough ammunition,” said Alnoufy al-Ferjany, the commander of a military brigade called Martyrs of Alhawry.
Days of messy battles have also failed to dislodge Qaddafi loyalists from the desert enclave of Bani Walid.
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