Libya snubs Islamist in forming government

Guardian:

Prime minister Abdulrahman El Keib has sent Libya on a bumpy road towards democracy by naming a cabinet of secularists and thereby snubbing prominent Islamists.

The biggest surprise on the list was Osama al-Juwali, chief of the Zintan military council, who was appointed defence minister at the expense of Islamist Hakim Bilhaj.

Juwali is an accomplished commander whose forces were originally a militia from the small city of Zintan that went on to play a central role in storming Tripoli in August, but until now he had no national political profile. Sources in the city in west Libya told the Guardian at the weekend its leadership demanded a cabinet post in return for handing over Saif al-Islam, Muammar Gaddafi's son and heir, captured in the south on Saturday. He is now held at a secret location in Zintan.

In Tripoli, the international criminal court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, confirmed the ICC had accepted Saif al-Islam would be tried in Libya, but said it would take part and "help" the authorities guarantee him a fair trial. The court would ensure its judges had a role, Ocampo said.

In the new cabinet, there was no place for financial strategist Ali Tarhuni, previously minister for oil, gas and finance. He was expected to get the finance portfolio, but Keib picked Hassan Ziglan, thereby removing Tarhuni from what had been the key economic role in the National Transitional Council (NTC) government. As expected, the job of running the oil and gas was given to a technocrat.

The other loser was Abdul Hakim Bilhaj, who once fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan and was jailed both in Libya and Guantánamo Bay. He fought the Gaddafi regime backed by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and was expected to win a place after stating he now supports democracy and the rule of law.

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This is a more promising start than many expected.  We will have to wait to see if this holds after an election.