BBC News: Libya after Gaddafi: Who’s in charge?
With remnants of the Gaddafi regime restricted to a few last outposts, Libya’s transitional authorities now face the challenge of running a country emerging from war.
The National Transitional Council (NTC), formed in the eastern city of Benghazi to lead the uprising, is gradually establishing itself in the capital, Tripoli, with ambitious plans.
It wants to form a new interim government by the end of September, and hold elections for a 200-strong national congress within eight months. The congress will then draft a constitution, paving the way for multi-party polls.
But power structures within Libya remain fractured, creating the potential for conflict as a wide range of groups, interests and allegiances jostle for position.
Competing for credit
The NTC will have to secure the co-operation of these groups to achieve its goals.
“They have a lot of challenges to overcome before they can get the wheels of government running smoothly,” says Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for the UN special adviser for Libya, Ian Martin.
“They are conscious of the fact that they need to be seen to be running the country from the capital, and we haven’t seen that yet.”
Most immediately, this may be a question of asserting authority over those who accumulated power on the ground during six months of conflict.
NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil and acting prime minister Mahmoud Jibril have now arrived in Tripoli but the brigades who conducted the military campaign were there weeks before.
An uprising within Tripoli was carefully planned to coincide with the assault led by seasoned Berber fighters from the Nafousa mountains and Misrata, but brigades from different regions have begun competing for credit for liberating the capital.
It is not clear when the brigades will disband, and some weapons have already gone missing.
The brigades are meant to answer to a Supreme Security Committee (SSC), a sprawling new body led by interim oil and finance minister Ali Tarhouni that also includes the police, the interior and defence ministries, and neighbourhood committees.
But the security structure is fragmented – cities have been running their own military affairs, volunteers soldiers are said to be reluctant to obey the national liberation army, and in some neighbourhoods, competing committees have sprung up…..Read More
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Posted by Jose Reyes
on Sep 14 2011. Filed under Current News, Post To Slider.
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