Libya’s interim Prime Minister, Abdurrahim El-Keib, has appointed a new oil minister as part of a cabinet intended to prepare the country for elections and bridge regional divisions.
The new cabinet also seeks to soothe tensions raised by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the previous transitional national leader, whose official liberations speech raised eyebrows with its strong Islamist character and seeming promises of Sharia polices that Jalil was not in a position to make.
The new oil minister is Abdurrahim Ben Yazza, a former executive at Eni, the Italian major with significant oil and gas interests in Libya and employee at the National Oil Corporation, according to the NOC’s website. Ben Yazza is tipped to be a technocrat with no particular political ideology.
Oil and Finance Minister Ali Tarhouni, once tipped to take a prominent role in Libya’s development, was no-where to be seen. He was, reports the Los Angeles Times, due to give a press conference yesterday which was canceled.
The cabinet reflects el-Keib’s secularist bent, with no room for Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, a prominent Islamist figure who commanded rebels during the war, heads the Tripoli Military Council, and claims to have been tortured by the CIA during America’s ‘war on terror.’ Ministers include an ophthalmologist previously resident in Ireland.
The head of the Zintan region’s militia, Osama Jweli, has been appointed as defense minister. The move is seen as one of appeasement, as following their role in taking Tripoli and capturing Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the province has been calling for a significant share of the country’s oil revenue and restoration investment.
Saif al-Islam remains in custody in Zintan and there have been reports that the Zintan militia would refuse to hand him over for trial in Tripoli unless a representative was given a cabinet post.
Â
