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AP Interview: Libyan leader acknowledges government is powerless to control militias
By Associated Press,
TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya’s leader acknowledged Tuesday that his transitional government is powerless to control militias that are refusing to lay down their arms after ousting Moammar Gadhafi as it struggles to impose control over the oil-rich North African nation.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil warned that remnants of the former regime also still pose a threat and it will take years for Libya’s new leaders to overcome a “heavy heritage” of corruption and distrust after more than four decades of Gadhafi’s rule.
Abdul-Jalil said the governing National Transitional Council has made mistakes, but he also criticized former rebels who have formed powerful militias and local governments that have emerged as rivals to the Tripoli-based central government that assumed power after Gadhafi was ousted.
“Both are to blame,” he said. “The governmental program to integrate the militias is slow and the revolutionaries don’t trust it.”
Libya is celebrating the first anniversary of the Feb. 17 start of the revolution last year when peaceful anti-government protesters took up weapons in the face of a deadly crackdown by Gadhafi’s forces against their rallies. Libya declared liberation after Gadhafi was captured and killed in October and is getting ready for national assembly elections in June. The new assembly will form a government and set up a panel to draft a constitution.
However, the country has been plagued by revenge attacks by those who suffered at the hands of Gadhafi’s forces during the brutal civil war. Human rights groups have documented reports of widespread torture and killings of detainees.
Hundreds of armed militias that fought against Gadhafi’s forces are the real power on the ground in the country, wielding control over cities, neighborhoods and borders while the transitional government has been unable to rein in fighters, rebuild decimated institutions or stop widespread corruption.
Underscoring the turmoil, some 50 civilians have been killed in the past 24 hours in tribal warfare in southern Libya, witnesses said Tuesday. But there were conflicting accounts about the cause of the conflict.
Abdul-Jalil said Gadhafi’s regime loyalists were “seeding sedition” in Kufra but declined to elaborate on which of the tribes are connected to the former regime.
Salem Samadi, who heads a revolutionary militia and has tried to mediate a truce between the two sides, blamed the outbreak of violence on a fight over smuggling.
Abdul-Jalil, 60, who has led the NTC since it was formed in opposition, said Libyans need years to overcome a culture of corruption, mistrust and build state institutions and rule of law.
“What Gadhafi left for us in Libya after 40 years is a very, very heavy heritage,” he said, speaking in his office in Tripoli. “It is very heavy and will be hard to get over it in one or two years or even five years.”
He also said that Gadhafi’s relatives and loyalists remain a danger because they are hosted by countries that don’t have control over them. He didn’t name the countries but said that Libya’s future relations with neighbors will be determined by how they respond to Libyan demands to hand over former regime forces on their territories.
As the Libyan capital of Tripoli fell to rebel forces, Gadhafi’s daughter, Aisha, her mother and two of her brothers fled to neighboring Algeria, while another son Al-Saadi and dozens of senior military officers went to Niger.
“We have to take a strong stance with neighbors,” he said.
Libyan officials were angered earlier this month when Al-Saadi Gadhafi, who Niger says is under house arrest, warned in a television interview that his homeland was facing a new uprising. Gadhafi’s son told Al-Arabiya TV in a telephone interview that supporters of his father’s ousted regime “are suffering tremendously” in Libyan prisons at the hands of the country’s new rulers. He also said his return to Libya was imminent.
Abdul-Jalil also said that Gadhafi loyalists have infiltrated revolutionary forces and even formed their own militia.
“We call them the revolutionaries after the revolution,” he said.
With regard to the upcoming national assembly elections, Abdul-Jalil said the council will issue a new law banning foreign funding for political parties. Islamists in Libya have been linked to oil-rich gulf country of Qatar, which was a favorite exile for top Libyan Islamists, including those from the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Within 10 days, we will issue rules ... banning receiving funds from outside the country,” he said. Abdul-Jalil has said he won’t run in the presidential race or seek a future political role.
Abdul-Jalil, who was justice minister under Gadhafi when he defected to the rebels’ side, said the NTC has been paralyzed by the need for consensus in decision making and that has stopped it from carrying out much-needed reforms.
“We committed many mistakes,” he said. “Democracy and taking votes to make decision in many, many incidents led us to these mistakes,” he said. “My vote as someone who entered the council last year is considered equal to a vote of a member who joined the council this February.”
Abdul-Jalil enjoys a great amount of popularity in Libya, but he has increasingly been criticized for lacking leadership skills and the inability to take decisive measures.
Mohammed Abdullah, a leading member of Libya National Salvation front, a longtime opposition movement that is transforming itself into a political party, said that was true of all members of the NTC.
“The way the NTC is run is just similar to the old regime with no vision,” he said.
Despite his complaints about the inability to rein in armed fighters, Abdul-Jalil paid homage to the sacrifices of fighters in cities that suffered most during the revolution, particularly Misrata.
He said the failure to seriously investigate Gadhafi-era war atrocities as well as the absence of police and courts has left the door open for individuals to take matters into their own hands. Even families who were not linked to Gadhafi regime but fled during the war have been tagged as traitors and forced to leave their houses when they returned.
“Misrata suffered the most, more than any other city but it is also going too far in enmity and expulsions,” he said. “Dealing with victorious soldiers is much harder than dealing with the ones defeated.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
After forty years of brutal Qaddafi governance, nothing occurring now in Libya should come as a surprise. Libya is a highly tribalized construct and there are innumerable scores to settle. There exist volatile tribal and ethnic (and melanin) internal fissures. Centralized government has virtually collapsed. Vigilante/tribal justice is now the norm. Unemployment is rampant and the commodity-distribution-system is shattered. The borders are porous and the country is awash in weapons. Using a physics analogy, Libya is currently devolving in a negative spiral.
Reportedly, the Obama administration has diverted $7 million dollars originally destined for Pakistan to send a 500 member team to Libya. The stated purpose is to train Libyan security forces in CT operations. I myself tend to think that this force has been tasked with hunting/prosecuting the killers of Ambassador Stevens and his colleague's.
This is almost necroposting, but war is still raging. All hail Democracy! Any amount of deaths is good if it's for Holy Democracy!
And yes, you can call it trolling.
As opposed to a Qaddafy freed to take his vengeance on the world for favoring the rebels? I'll take this clusterfuck of a country too busy bleeding itself anyday.
Sir,with respect,I don't worry a bit of the current clusterfvck.It was predicted.The issue starts when somebody wins.The questionable thing is whether ''our'' guys are winning.So far we managed to vindicate the islamist cause.Meaning we create the conditions for future troubles.
Those who know don't speak
He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. Luke 22:36
Sir,with respect,I don't worry a bit of the current clusterfvck.It was predicted.The issue starts when somebody wins.The questionable thing is whether ''our'' guys are winning.So far we managed to vindicate the islamist cause.Meaning we create the conditions for future troubles.
We crossed that line the second London and Paris stated that they preferred the rebels. From that point on, there was no way we could allow Qaddafy to seek his vengeance. He had to be taken out.
Originally posted by Officer of EngineersView Post
As opposed to a Qaddafy freed to take his vengeance on the world for favoring the rebels? I'll take this clusterfuck of a country too busy bleeding itself anyday.
Right, because "this clusterfuck" is not a perfect situation for AQIM, salafits and jihadists of all sorts. And no Western citizen was killed by them. Oh, wait!...
Even assuming Qaddafy was insane enough, he was hardly any better in terror then AQ, who is now like fish in bloody water of "democratic" Libya.
Sir,with respect,I don't worry a bit of the current clusterfvck.It was predicted.The issue starts when somebody wins.The questionable thing is whether ''our'' guys are winning.So far we managed to vindicate the islamist cause.Meaning we create the conditions for future troubles.
Afghanistan and AQ was not good enough to teach you a lesson?
Right, because "this clusterfuck" is not a perfect situation for AQIM, salafits and jihadists of all sorts. And no Western citizen was killed by them. Oh, wait!...
Compared to blowing airplanes over Scotland or buildings in New York. I know which one you would prefer at the moment.
As i have noticed, AQ is being killed in Afganistan for... how long was it? 11 years already?
Was AQ a decisive force in Afganistan on September 11, 2001?
So, let me get this straight. You would prefer enemy power centres that did Lockerbie, 11 Sept, violated the CWC, the NPT, and committed genocidal acts to openly and deliberately plan and execute attacks against the West instead of having them bleeding themselves white.
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