Libya’s new leaders yesterday declared the country “liberated”, three days after ousted despot Muammar Gaddafi was captured and killed, paving the way for the formation of an interim government.
The long-awaited declaration came amid raging controversy over the circumstances of Col Gaddafi’s death after he was taken alive during the fall of his hometown Sirte. Britain said the incident had “stained” the National Transitional Council (NTC).
“Declaration of Liberation. Raise your head high. You are a free Libyan,” NTC vice chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga told a massive rally in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the uprising against Gaddafi was launched eight months ago.
Tens of thousands of voices echoed him chanting: “You are a free Libyan.”
In reaction to the announcement in Benghazi, US President Barrack Obama swiftly hailed Libya’s “era of promise” and urged national reconciliation.
Benghazi’s Kish Square was awash with the green, red and black flags of the revolution that toppled Col Gaddafi, while the formal declaration raised a deafening roar that reverberated across the Mediterranean city.
Interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil, in his address, urged Libyans to abide by the law and respect property, reiterating that Islamic Sharia Law would be the main source of the North African nation’s legislation.
Mr Abdel Jalil also gave thanks to Nato and regional allies for their roles in toppling Col Gaddafi, and paid special tribute to all those who lost their lives in the battle for Libya’s freedom.
“I call on everyone to remove hatred from their hearts... it is essential to build Libya,” he added.
Abdel Rahman al-Kabisi, minister of martyrs and the wounded, told the gathering that the event marked “a great historic moment in beloved Libya’s history”. “Oh pharaoh of the century (Gaddafi), you are now in the bin of history... in a stroke of fate... you have been thrown into the bin of history. Go to hell,” he thundered.
“The issue of the martyrs, the wounded and the missing is a priority for Libya’s government,” he said.
Interim Prime Minister Mahmud Jibril said the formation of a new government is expected to take “from a week to a month.”
“There are consultations to form a new government and this process would take approximately from one week to one month. It might take longer and or less,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Jordan.
“Then there will be real hard work to minimise the period to have elections to elect our national congress, which would be the new Parliament instead of the NTC which is going to be dissolved.”
Under the NTC’s roadmap, an interim government is to be formed within one month of the liberation declaration, followed within eight months by elections for a constitutional assembly – the first democratic vote in Libya since Colonel Gaddafi seized power in a coup 42 years ago.
Parliamentary and presidential elections would be held within a year after that. Interim leader Abdel Jalil earlier told Al-Jazeera that an investigation was being conducted into the circumstances of Col Gaddafi’s killing after several foreign governments and human rights watchdogs posed questions.