Planning For a Post-Gaddafi Libya

Six hundred miles east of the drama in Tripoli is Benghazi, where Libya’s National Transitional Council has been trying to plan for a post-Gaddafi Libya. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with the BBC’s Jon Leyne about the latest statements from the Council and what is holding them back from moving to Tripoli.

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Marco Werman: On the other side of Libya, to the east is Benghazi and it’s been the headquarters for the rebel leadership since the uprising against Gaddafi began in February.  The BBC’s Jon Leyne is in Benghazi and describes the mood there today.

Jon Leyne: Obviously, on the street they’re absolutely elated.  It’s quiet now because it’s Ramadan and everybody sleeps pretty much during the day, but at night it’s crazy with gunfire, celebratory gunfire and people out on the streets cheering and partying and singing.  That’s the people. The Transitional Council, the opposition body here seem a bit more nervous.  The head of it, Mahmoud Jibril, has arrived back here from a meeting in Qatar.  He said they’re now not going to move to Tripoli today or tomorrow as they had been planning to, to kind of setup what would be the new government effectively.  They’re not moving yet because it’s not secure enough. And at the same time he’s offered an amnesty to anyone who either hands in Colonel Gaddafi or kills him, but they’re also saying that they’re now prepared to see Colonel Gaddafi leave the country and have safe passage if he renounces the leadership of Libya.  So I think that’s quite a big concession, a sign perhaps they’re not quite as confident as you might think they would be after the recent dramatic events that they’re about to take complete control of the country.

Werman: There are still some small pockets of pro-Gaddafi resistance in Libya.  Any of them near Benghazi?

Leyne: Quite large pockets actually, you’ve got mainly his hometown of Sirte, which is about halfway between here and Tripoli, Tripoli is on the western edge of the country, we’re quite near the eastern side of the country.  And blocking the road in between is this substantial town of Sirte.  It’s his hometown.  He has bestowed many favors on it, so the population are better disposed to him there than elsewhere.  And more important than that, he’s got a big military bases there and a lot of people who fled, his loyalists who fled from this part of the country fled and are now there.  So, there’s a lot of people with a lot to lose. And there’s no sign really yet that the opposition fighters are even threatening it.  And there are other strongholds as well, a place called Sabha in the south and another in southern Libya called Juffler[?], both of which are substantial military bases with people loyal to Colonel Gaddafi. So, I think that may be what the opposition have in mind, but they really, really would like to see Colonel Gaddafi out of the picture because only when he goes really I think will they be able to establish full control of the country.

Werman: Jon, let me get back to the National Transitional Council.  It’s based in Benghazi as you said.  But how solid is their leadership?  Do they seem determined to lead the country now or have they given themselves really one real goal, getting Gaddafi out of power?

Leyne: Well, they’ve certainly setup some kind of roadmap or plan for the future under a lot of western urging.  They sent out a constitutional plan and so forth about what steps they’d do to setup a constitution and have a constituent assembly and so on.  However, the leadership at the top has always seemed slightly strained and desperate.  You have Mustafa Abdul Jalil, he’s a former minister for Colonel Gaddafi, albeit for four years, and somebody who emerged with a fairly good reputation, but nevertheless there will be suspicions against him by obviously, you know, outright opponents to Colonel Gaddafi. But more than that he’s always seemed frankly, slightly strange figure, a distant figure, not very charismatic, not one coming out to make great speeches.  He’s said a lot of slightly eccentric things in the last few days.  Yesterday I heard him saying he put himself on trial for his role in the Gaddafi era, not the kind of language you might expect from a leader in waiting.  And there are other figures perhaps in many ways which seem more competent, more managerial, more charismatic than him lower down.  So there is potential for a clash over the leadership.  That said, I personally think there are issues of divisions within the opposition has been over played.  So far here in the east it’s very peaceful, it’s quite all right it seems.  The streets are you know, the streets are kept in order, the lights are on, the electricity is on, there’s power, there’s petrol stations, gas in the petrol stations, and it has not fallen apart, it has not fallen into chaos by any means.

Werman: The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Benghazi.  Thanks very much, Jon.

Leyne: My pleasure.

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