[ 2012-10-07 ]

Libya PM under pressure to offer new government
TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libya's Prime Minister Mustafa Abu
Shagur was expected on Sunday to name a new
government after his first proposed line-up was
rejected outright by the assembly and harshly
criticised by lawmakers.

"The assembly is expected to vote on the new
government in the afternoon. But there will be
long discussions," a source close to the premier
told AFP.

The embattled premier was granted 72 hours to
build consensus and deliver an amended cabinet
list after the General National Congress (GNC)
rejected his first proposed line-up late on
Thursday.

If the new cabinet list is rejected on Sunday, Abu
Shagur will be relieved of his duties and the GNC
will have to elect a new prime minister within the
next three to four weeks.

More than 100 protesters stormed the national
assembly's headquarters on Thursday, demanding
greater representation for the western town of
Zawiyah and reportedly calling for Abu Shagur's
resignation.

Residents of the east and south complain they were
marginalised for 42 years under Kadhafi before the
2011 conflict that toppled his regime and killed
him.

"The government didn't represent all the sectors
or regions of Libyan society. It was thrown
together arbitrarily and on the basis of
friendships," Abdelali al-Dersi, who represents
the eastern town of Al-Bayda in the assembly, said
referring to the first line-up proposed by Abu
Shagur.

The list of 29 ministers, including one woman,
included several members of the transitional
government and many unknown figures, while there
were no representatives of the main liberal
coalition.

When they finally met, GNC representatives on
Thursday lambasted Abu Shagur's ministerial
choices, calling them either incompetent, unknown,
or remnants from the previous transitional
government.

"The interior ministry -- the most important
portfolio at a time when the demand from the
streets is security -- went to a complete
unknown," noted Miftah Buzeid, analyst and editor
of a newspaper in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Abu Shagur was committed to forming a government
of consensus and says he negotiated with all
parties. But he also had to tackle fallout from an
attack on the US consulate in Benghazi on
September 11 and anti-militia protests.

The attack led to the killing of four Americans,
including ambassador Chris Stevens.

Abu Shagur, a technocrat, won his post on
September 12 by a small margin in a run-off vote
against wartime premier Mahmud Jibril, who leads
the largest liberal coalition in the assembly, the
National Forces Alliance.

A national unity government would need the backing
of the NFA, which was left off the cabinet list
after failed negotiations, as well as the second
largest party, the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice
and Construction Party.

Buzeid said the line-up sparked outrage because it
included at least 13 figures who were part of the
2011 wartime executive committee or players in the
outgoing and unpopular government of premier Abdel
Rahim al-Kib.

"He was Kib's deputy so he brings nothing new,"
said Buzeid. "The cabinet he proposed was based on
loyalty and friendships."

Analysts said Abu Shagur faces an uphill task.

"The first challenge is security," said Jason
Pack, a Libyan history researcher at Cambridge
University and president of online repository
libya-analysis.com

"The central government does not yet have
sufficient military capacity to provide adequate
security for its own parliamentary offices, let
alone for the complex process of disarming and
demobilising the hundreds of militias," he added.

Carlo Binda, director of the US-based National
Democratic Institute's Libya branch, said Abu
Shagur to his credit had "shown sensitivity and
political sophistication by appointing deputies
and ministers from each of the regions."

Binda downplayed the Zawiyah protest's
significance, saying it reflected one "local
grievance," and stressed that regional and tribal
politics were not the main reason the GNC rejected
his proposed cabinet.

"It was rejected for a collection of reasons...
You can't possibly satisfy each and every interest
when trying to compose a cabinet. Then you would
have a cabinet of six million people," Binda
said.

Pack agreed: "Anyone in Abu Shagur's position
would be hard-pressed to come up with a list that
could please everybody."

Parties hold only 80 of the GNC's 200 seats, with
120 for independent representatives, elected in
small regional constituencies, who ultimately have
the power to make or break the next government.

Under the transition plan for Libya, a new
government will be in power for roughly a year
only, until fresh elections on the basis of a new
constitution are held.

Source - AFP

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