OnIslam.net

TRIPOLI – Libya's ruling National Transitional Council has elected little-known technocrat Abdul Raheem al-Keeb as the new interim prime minister, with many challenges facing the war-torn country towards drafting a new constitution and democratic elections.

"The main aspects of his program were the stability of the country, of course, the security file and the military file, which will be under the control... of the interior ministry," Fathi Baja, the NTC's head of political affairs, told Agence France Presse (AFP).

"He also promised to provide for the basic needs of the Libyan people."

An academic and a businessman, Keeb has spent much of his life outside Libya as an opponent of Muammar Gaddafi, before quickly joining the pro-democracy revolution that erupted in February and finally triumphed on October 20.

Born in Tripoli in 1950, al-Keeb belongs to a prestigious family from Sabratha, a coastal town 70 kilometers (45 miles) west of the capital.

He trained as an electrical engineer in the United States in the early 1980s, teaching at science faculties there, at Tripoli university and in the United Arab Emirates, where he worked for the state-run Petroleum Institute.

In 2005, he founded the International Company for Energy and Technology in Libya.

In the first practice of democracy in post-Gaddafi Libya, Keeb won 26 out of 51 votes to become Libya's new PM, seeing off four rival candidates, notably interim oil minister Ali Tarhuni and Idriss Abu Fayed, a Gaddafi opponent who was jailed by the former regime.

"This vote proves that Libyans are able to build their future," NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil said after he voted.

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

"Within the NTC, what you see is democracy in practice," he said.

“This is new for us in Libya. This is democracy in practice.”

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.

Challenges

A technocrat university professor, al-Keeb has a challenging task of reining in the armed militias that sprang up to overthrow Gaddafi as well as reconciling those remaining loyal to the old rule while brokering a new system to govern the country.

"We salute and remember the revolutionaries who we will never forget. We will not forget their families," al-Keeb said after his election, Reuters reported.

"I say to them that the NTC did not and will not forget them and also the coming government will do the same."

Al-Keeb said his administration would work with the NTC fighters to restore stability and demilitarize.

"We are very aware that our brothers, the revolutionary fighters, share the same opinion as us. They also believe that the stability of the country is extremely important."

The newly elected Libyan prime minister also vowed to make human rights his priority, as the new regime faces accusations over human rights, including international controversy over the circumstances of Gaddafi's death.

"We guarantee that we are going to build a nation that respects human rights and does not accept the abuse of human rights. But we need time," he told reporters.

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," al-Keeb said.

“One thing we will be doing is working very closely with the NTC and listening to the Libyan people.”

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."

Al-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."