Libya to declare liberation today
Mahmoud Jibril
Libya's new leaders will declare liberation today, officials said, a move that will start the clock for elections after months of bloodshed that culminated in the death of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
But the victory has been clouded by questions over how Gaddafi was killed after images emerged showing he was found alive and taunted and beaten by his captors.
The long-awaited declaration of liberation will come more than two months after revolutionary forces swept into Tripoli and seized control of most of the oil-rich North African nation. It was stalled by fierce resistance by Gaddafi loyalists in his hometown of Sirte, Bani Walid and pockets in the South.
Sirte was the last to fall, but Gaddafi's son and one-time heir apparent and many of his fighters have apparently escaped, raising fears they could continue to make trouble.
With Gaddafi gone, however, the governing National Transitional Council was moving forward with efforts to transform the country that was ruled by one man for more than four decades into a democracy.
NTC officials had said the announcement would be made Saturday in the eastern city of Benghazi, the revolution's birthplace. But spokesman Abdel-Rahman Busin said preparations were under way for a Sunday ceremony instead. He didn't give an explanation for the delay.
The transitional leadership has said it would declare a new interim government within a month of liberation and hold elections for a constitutional assembly within eight months, then to organize parliamentary and presidential vote within a year after that.
Yesterday, acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, who has said he plans to resign after liberation, said the interim government "should last until the first presidential elections."
Jibril warned that rebuilding his war-battered country would amount to a "Mission Impossible" task.
"Rebuilding Libya will not be an easy task. It is Mission Impossible of Tom Cruise," Jibril told a World Economic Forum meeting on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan, referring to the Hollywood star's movie.
"Stability and order in the country need to be restored and this requires collecting arms in the streets ... which is not an easy question.”
Gaddafi's blood-streaked body has been put on display in a commercial freezer at a shopping center in Misrata as Libyan authorities argued about where to bury the remains.
Gaddafi's 69-year-old body was stripped to the waist, his torso and arms streaked with dried blood. Bullet wounds in the chest, abdomen and left side of the head were visible.
Meanwhile, Libya's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi surfaced in neighbouring Niger after apparently fleeing through the desert after the fall of the oasis town of Bani Walid on Monday in the penultimate battle of the conflict.
Seif al-Islam too remains at large. NTC officials said that he too may have fled to Niger.
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