Libyan rebel leadership outlined on Friday a road map to rebuild their shattered country after they took control of Tripoli and many areas from Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.
Libyan rebel leadership outlined on Friday a road map to rebuild their shattered country after they took control of Tripoli and many areas from Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.
A rebel official said that Libyans should form a council tasked with drafting a constitution within eight months ahead of presidential and legislative polls in early 2013.
"We have outlined a clear road plan, a transition period of about 20 months," Guma al-Gamaty, the National Transitional Council's (NTC) representative in Britain, told BBC radio.
This council... will take over and oversee the drafting of a democratic constitution, that should be debated and then brought to a referendum," he said.
Within a year of the council being put in place, parliamentary and presidential elections should take place, he said.
"So we have eight months and a year that will take us to final elections with both parliamentary and presidential elections," said Gamaty.
"And then hopefully by the end of about 20 months, the Libyan people will have elected the leaders they want to lead their country."
GADDAFI ISOLATED
On the other hand, Gamaty said although Gaddafi was still at large in Libya, he was isolated.
"As long as Tripoli is stabilized and secure and safe, which is almost now, and the overwhelming majority of other cities and towns, Libyans can get on with the process of transition and stabilization and the new political process," he said.
"Gaddafi is still at large but he is hiding, he is isolated, surrounded.
"We think it's a matter of time before he is either apprehended or if he resists, he might be killed."
NATO “MISSION” TO CONTINUE
After talks in Paris between Libyan interim leaders and the international community on Thursday, NATO's secretary general said Western leaders have agreed to continue the military mission in Libya “as long as necessary”.
"We have announced that operations will continue as long as necessary, as long as there is a threat to civilians," Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron whose governments led the military campaign in the North African country, stressed their warplanes would continue operations in Libya.
"NATO and our allies will continue our operations to implement UN resolutions ... as long as we are needed to protect civilian life," Cameron said, at a joint press conference with Sarkozy and Libya's interim leaders.
UN Resolution 1973 authorized a no-fly zone over Libya, permitting all necessary measures to protect civilians against Gaddafi forces.
The Western military alliance has carried out 21,090 sorties, including 7,920 strike sorties on targets claimed to be of military nature.
However, hundreds of Libyan civilians have reportedly lost their lives since NATO took command of airstrikes on March 31. NATO airstrikes have also severely damaged Libya's infrastructure.
REGIME PM DEFECTS, GADDAFI DEFIANT
On the other hand, prime minister of Gaddafi's regime announced his support for the revolutionary forces fighting against the crumbling dictatorship.
Speaking to al-Arabia television on Thursday, al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi said he was still in Libya and had contact with the TNC which is the interim leadership of the country, Reuters news agency reported.
Also on Thursday, Gaddafi rejected calls from the NTC to surrender, saying he was prepared for "a long battle even if Libya burns”.
"Libya will not surrender and will not be colonized. We will fight them wherever they are and burn the earth under their feet ... you will not find sleep and rest in our land," he said in an audio message broadcast on TV channels.
