Libya to announce new govt today: PM

Tripoli, Nov 22: Interim prime minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib said today that Libya's new government following the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi's regime will be announced on Nov 22.

"We have decided to announce the government tomorrow. We are working hard to ensure to have something solid, coherent, capable of doing the job," he said at a joint news conference with the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice. Kib said he held a meeting on Monday with the National Transitional Council to discuss the new government.

Yesterday, NTC vice chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga said the announcement of a new post-Gaddafi government, originally due that day, was being delayed by a maximum 48 hours.

He did not give a reason, but the arrest on Saturday of Muammar Gaddafi's long-time heir apparent Seif al-Islam was the apparent cause of the delay. "We assure all those concerned that he (Seif) is in good hands.

The treatment he is entitled to is very good, a hundred times better than what he and his father meted out to the Libyan people," Kib told reporters. Rice said the United States would "continue our full partnership" with Libya.

She had held talks with NTC chief Mustapha Abdel Jalil and Kib on the integration of former rebel fighters into a new national army and the safeguarding of chemical stockpiles of the Gaddafi regime, the ambassador said.

Under its roadmap for the transition, the NTC announced on October 24 that it expects to appoint a transitional government within a month, followed eight months later by the election of a constituent assembly.

Kib has said the new government will be formed of technocrats, although he has come under pressure from Libya's tribes and numerous armed factions which are demanding a role.

AFP