الرئيسية
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told Libya's
leaders on Saturday they faced a long, hard road in moving on from 42
years of one-man rule and uniting rival militias that still hold the
streets in the oil-producing North African state.
Panetta, the first U.S. defence chief ever to visit Libya, said
Washington stood ready to help but offered no specific aid to a
leadership struggling to stamp its authority two months after the
capture and killing of Muammar Gaddafi.
He warned of tough challenges ahead in uniting the armed groups that
emerged from the war, in securing arms caches and building an army,
police and democratic institutions.
"This will be a long and difficult transition, but I am confident
that you will succeed," the defence secretary said at a news conference
after meeting interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib and Defence
Minister Osama Al-Juwali.
The authority of Libya's interim government is being challenged by
militias who took Tripoli in August, six months after the start of a
rebellion against Gaddafi that drew NATO into an air war.
Some withdrew after Gaddafi was killed in October, but others remain,
heavily armed and holding out for a share of the power they say they
are owed.
"I'm confident they (the interim leaders) are taking the right steps
to reach out to all of these groups and bring them together so they will
be part of one Libya and one defence system," Panetta said.
Clashes between militias and rival tribes since Gaddafi's over thrown
are threatening to spiral out of control in the absence of a
fully-functioning government or national security force to unite the
thinly populated desert country.
Late on Friday, senior military leader Khalifa Haftar said two of his
sons had been wounded in separate gunfights with militias from the
western town of Zintan which control Tripoli's airport and other
locations in the capital.
A week earlier, a convoy carrying Haftar, the commander of ground
forces in the Libyan national army, clashed with militiamen at a
checkpoint near the airport.
Prime Minister Keib promised job programs and other "opportunities" to help coax the militias off the streets.
U.N. LIFTS BANK SANCTIONS
leaders on Saturday they faced a long, hard road in moving on from 42
years of one-man rule and uniting rival militias that still hold the
streets in the oil-producing North African state.
Panetta, the first U.S. defence chief ever to visit Libya, said
Washington stood ready to help but offered no specific aid to a
leadership struggling to stamp its authority two months after the
capture and killing of Muammar Gaddafi.
He warned of tough challenges ahead in uniting the armed groups that
emerged from the war, in securing arms caches and building an army,
police and democratic institutions.
"This will be a long and difficult transition, but I am confident
that you will succeed," the defence secretary said at a news conference
after meeting interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib and Defence
Minister Osama Al-Juwali.
The authority of Libya's interim government is being challenged by
militias who took Tripoli in August, six months after the start of a
rebellion against Gaddafi that drew NATO into an air war.
Some withdrew after Gaddafi was killed in October, but others remain,
heavily armed and holding out for a share of the power they say they
are owed.
"I'm confident they (the interim leaders) are taking the right steps
to reach out to all of these groups and bring them together so they will
be part of one Libya and one defence system," Panetta said.
Clashes between militias and rival tribes since Gaddafi's over thrown
are threatening to spiral out of control in the absence of a
fully-functioning government or national security force to unite the
thinly populated desert country.
Late on Friday, senior military leader Khalifa Haftar said two of his
sons had been wounded in separate gunfights with militias from the
western town of Zintan which control Tripoli's airport and other
locations in the capital.
A week earlier, a convoy carrying Haftar, the commander of ground
forces in the Libyan national army, clashed with militiamen at a
checkpoint near the airport.
Prime Minister Keib promised job programs and other "opportunities" to help coax the militias off the streets.
U.N. LIFTS BANK SANCTIONS