Libya’s new government will be open to all Libyans, interim Prime Minister Abdel-Rahim al-Keeb said in remarks published on Wednesday.
“But this government, which will be formed after three weeks of consultations, will not include figures from the former regime of (Muammar) Qadhafi with blood on their hands,” al-Keeb told the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al Awsat.
Al-Keeb won 26 votes Monday in Libya’s 51-member National Transitional Council to be chosen to head a new government. The new government is to be composed of 22 to 24 ministries.
“The revolutionaries will have a role in the new government,” Mr. al-Keeb said, describing them as civilians who had taken up arms to fight Qadhafi’s 42-year “tyrannical regime.” Recent fears have arisen about the spread of conventional and non-conventional weapons in Libya, with the refusal by some anti-Qadhafi fighters to hand in their arms to the authorities.
“Steps must be taken to reintegrate the revolutionary forces into society or absorb them into the national army and police,” Mr. al-Keeb said.
Mr. al-Keeb, an engineer by profession, replaces interim leader Mahmoud Jibril, who had vowed to step down once all of Libya was declared “liberated.” Libya’s ruling council is to hand power to an elected assembly within eight months, after which a constitution is to be drawn up.
