From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Sep 12 2011 - 17:00:51 EDT
Libya: Signs of a power struggle emerge
12/09/2011
By Khaled Mahmoud
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- It became evident yesterday that a concealed
struggle was raging between The National Transitional Council of Libya [NTC]
which is opposed to Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime and Islamic
groups over the ways of administering and managing the country's affairs in
the coming stage while Gaddafi is still on the run and while Guinea Bissau
joined Burkina Faso in offering him a safe haven in its territories.
High-level sources in NTC disclosed to Asharq Al-Awsat yesterday that the
head of Libya's interim government and NTC Chairman, Mustafa Abdul Jalil,
was still angry with some crypto-Islamic political trends and pointed out
that Dr. Mahmud Jibril, the chairman of the NTC's Executive Bureau, shares
his anger.
On the second day of his first visit to Tripoli since Gaddafi's escape and
the revolutionaries' capture of his fortified stronghold at Bab-al-Aziziyah
on 21 August, Abdulaziz met with the senior sheikhs and tribal leaders in
addition to Abdul-Hakim Bilhaj, the prominent member of the Islamic Fighting
Group which played a prominent role in liberating the capital from the
deposed colonel's grip. The NTC chairman is seeking to persuade the armed
Islamists to give up the weapons they have carried for around seven months
in order to overthrow Gaddafi and to contribute to the imposition of
security and stability all over the Libyan state and especially in the
capital Tripoli.
NTC sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that many Islamic groups have demanded from
the NTC a share in the new government that Dr. Jibril is forming for
administering the transitional period over the next 18 months.
In an attempt to draw attention that the political argument at present might
pose a danger to the popular revolution that overthrew Gaddafi, Abdul-Jalil
said Gaddafi who is still free continues to pose a danger to the current
situation in the country with the money and gold in his possession. It was
also noticed that Dr. Jibril criticized publicly and for the first time what
he called the growing tone of the criticisms targeting the NTC after talking
during his visit to the cities of Al-Zintan and Al-Rajban about what he
called the fifth columnists seeking to strike the 17 February revolution.
NTC officials told Asharq Al-Awsat by telephone from Tripoli that the
Islamists' increased influence in the capital could lead to a political and
military clash between these groups and the NTC at any time. An official in
it who asked not to be named said: "Some are eager to find for themselves
and their political trend a place in the picture. This is quite normal but
its continuation might topple the revolution and threaten the NTC's attempts
to lead Libya smoothly and calmly and prepare it for the post-Gaddafi
stage."
The NTC and Executive Bureau chairmen are saying it is too early for some
political groups to think about getting politically involved and establish
parties since the main mission of liberating all Libyan territories from
Gaddafi's grip has not been accomplished yet. The NTC postponed its plans to
announce the new government which will be headed by Jibril until the capture
of Gaddafi, whose whereabouts remain unknown and who has turned into a
puzzle with the passage of time despite the intensified large-scale hunts by
the revolutionaries with NATO's support.
Officials from the NTC held talks over the past two days with the Niger
Government which recently received dozens of Gaddafi's security and military
aides. Asharq Al-Awsat learned that the NTC officially asked Niger to return
the funds that Gaddafi's aides are believed to have taken with them when
they crossed the southern borders between the two countries in land convoys.
An official involved in these negotiations said: "We informed them of our
apprehensions about receiving Gaddafi and granting him a safe haven. We
asked them to cooperate with us and extradite him if he did arrive there so
as to bring him before the International Criminal court. We also told them
that the Libyan people's looted funds should return to them as quickly as
possible.
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