Libya elects little-known scientist new PM

ibya's ruling National Transitional Council has elected little-known academic Abdul Raheem al-Keeb as the new interim prime minister to guide the country as it emerges from a bitter civil war toward a new constitution and democratic elections.

With vast oil and gas reserves and a relatively small population, Libya has the potential to become a prosperous nation, but regional rivalries pent up during Muammar Gaddafi's 42 years of one-man rule could descend into a cycle of revenge.

Keeb, a professor of electrical engineering, will have to rein in the armed militias that sprang up in each town to overthrow Gaddafi and reconcile those remaining loyal to the old rule while brokering a new system to govern the country.

The NTC has promised to hold elections for a national assembly after eight months. The assembly will then spend a year drawing up a constitution ahead of parliamentary elections.

"This transition period has its own challenges. One thing we will be doing is working very closely with the NTC and listening to the Libyan people," Keeb said after 26 of the 51 NTC members elected him for the post in Tripoli on Monday.

An academic and a businessman, Keeb has spent much of his life outside Libya, studying in the United States before taking up academic posts in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

NTC members described Keeb as "quiet and friendly" and said he had helped with the financing of the revolt against Gaddafi.

The prime minister said he expected to choose his cabinet ministers within two weeks.

"We said we would (elect a cabinet) a month from the liberation. We have two weeks left and we intend to meet that deadline."

Keeb did not set out any specific plans for the coming months, but said that worries over foreign oil contracts were unfounded. "We understand that we had 42 years with a brutal dictator ... concerns are in order. But there should be none of them," he said. "We demand respect for our national rights."

Interim Oil Minister Ali Tarhouni had been favorite to become prime minister, but received only three votes, highlighting the unpredictable nature of the emerging politics in the North African state.

Many analysts have pointed to the divisions emerging within the NTC, but Keeb said any fears were unfounded.

The hoped-for departure toward peaceful politics comes as NATO ended its military intervention in Libya which helped bring about the death of Gaddafi.

Raza Gilani: Pakistan will recognise new govt in Libya

Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that his country will recognise the new government in Libya.

The Express Tribune quoted Gilani as saying that Pakistan believes in the sovereignty and independence of all countries, and does not interfere in the internal affairs of any country.

It was reported earlier that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had asked the government to recognise the National Transitional Council (NTC) government in Libya that has taken control after overthrowing the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

In a letter written to Gilani, PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar warned that lives and jobs of over 55,000 Pakistani expatriates would be highly vulnerable if there is a further delay in recognising the council.

On August 25 this year, the Libyan envoy in Islamabad, Ibrahim al Ebad, removed the Gaddafi regime’s green coloured flag, and hoisted the de facto flag of Libya, used by the National Transitional Council at the Libyan embassy in Islamabad. According to official sources, however, the Libyan ambassador hoisted the new flag without the prior approval of the Pakistani government.

“It was mandatory for the Libyan ambassador to obtain prior permission from Islamabad to hoist the new flag of his country,” an official said.

Nicolas Sarkozy, David Cameron arrive in Libya

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Tripoli on Thursday to meet with Libya's new interim leaders.

The leaders will meet with National Transitional Council head Mustafa Abdul Jalil and Mahmoud Jibril, chairman and head of international affairs of the NTC.

It was the first visit by the two leaders to Tripoli since the city fell, and they arrived under heavy security.

The two leaders were key players in the NATO bombing campaign that aided the NTC in toppling Gadhafi.

Their visit came as families fled Bani Walid, one of Gadhafi's last strongholds, ahead of a Thursday night deadline to leave the besieged city.

Libya's interim leaders gave residents in Bani Walid a 48-hour notice to leave as it dispatched hundreds of fighters to reinforce troops struggling to take the loyalist stronghold.

Fighters were regrouping on the outskirts of Bani Walid -- one of three cities firmly in the hands of Gadhafi loyalists -- after encountering stiff resistance during a weekend assault. The fighting began after weeks of negotiations to surrender the city broke down.

Residents were given the ultimatum late Tuesday, Abdulrahman Busin, a spokesman for the National Transitional Council, told CNN. The deadline warns civilians to leave the city before a planned offensive by NTC forces.

Forces also have been sent to reinforce troops outside Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte and Sabha, another stronghold in the western part of the country.

At a checkpoint about nine miles outside Bani Walid, families fleeing the city Wednesday complained about a shortage of water and food. They said they no longer felt safe in the city, which has been under siege by NTC forces for weeks.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also expected to visit Tripoli this week.

Erdogan's anticipated visit follows one a day earlier by Jeffrey Feltman, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs.

"I am encouraged by these individuals and these organizations' efforts," Feltman said following meetings with Jalil and Jibril.

In New York, a draft Security Council resolution circulated Wednesday that would establish a United Nations Support Mission in Libya under the leadership of a special representative of the secretary-general for an initial period of three months.

According to the draft, the mission's mandate would be to help Libya extend state authority, protect human rights, support justice and take steps needed to get the nation back on its feet economically. A vote on the proposal is expected within a few days.

As Libya's new leaders plotted a course for the country, a man identifying himself as Gadhafi's spokesman warned of "a holy struggle for years."

"Do not think that the battle is over," a man identifying himself as Musa Ibrahim said in a purported live phone call to Syrian-based al-Rai TV.

Al-Rai, a privately owned station, has taken over for Libyan state media in filling the role of Gadhafi's mouthpiece.

On Wednesday, al-Rai read a statement purportedly from Gadhafi that called for a halt to the NTC assault and NATO bombing of his birthplace of Sirte.

"The terrorism and aggression of NATO in Sirte cannot be described and has no other similarity in the past or in the history of wars," the statement said.

Gadhafi's whereabouts remain unknown, though some of his relatives have fled to neighboring Algeria and Niger.

Libya: Million-dollar bounty on Gaddafi's head

Libya's new masters have offered a million-dollar bounty for the fugitive Muammar Gaddafi, after he urged his men to fight on in battles across parts of the capital.

A day after rebel forces overran his Tripoli headquarters and trashed symbols of his 42-year rule, scattered pockets of loyalist diehards kept the irregular fighters at bay as they hunted Gaddafi and his sons. Rebels also reported fighting deep in the desert and a stan-doff round Gaddafi's tribal home town.

In Tripoli, rockets and shooting kept largely kept civilians indoors and gunfire rang out in the centre into the night. Most were anxious but hopeful the war would soon end, and with it the worsening shortages of food, water and medical supplies -- both for hundreds of wounded and for the sick.

Gaddafi's forces and his accomplices will not stop resisting until Gaddafi is caught or killed, said Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC), who offered amnesty to any of his entourage who killed the fallen strongman and announced a reward worth over $1 million for his capture.

The end will only come when he's captured, dead or alive, Abdel Jalil said in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Until then, he said, Gaddafi would not give up easily and could still unleash a catastrophic event. In a poor-quality audio tape broadcast by satellite on Wednesday, Gaddafi, 69, urged Libya's tribes to exterminate traitors, infidels and rats.

There was no clear indication of where Gaddafi is, though his opponents surmised he was still in or around Tripoli after what Gaddafi himself described as a tactical withdrawal from his Bab al-Aziziya compound before it was captured on Tuesday.