Benghazi: Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) has officially declared the liberation of Libya from the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.
NTC Vice Chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga made the announcement on Sunday at a ceremony held in Libya’s second largest city of Benghazi.
The announcement came three days after former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi was killed in his hometown Sirte. Benghazi is the seat of the NTC and the birthplace of Libya’s anti-Gaddafi rebellion.
A huge crowd took to the streets at the main square in Benghazi to celebrate their liberty, many of them waving the red, black and green flags of new Libya. The crowd cheered when Ghoga read out a statement, announcing the liberation of Libya.
Ghoga took the podium after NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil addressed the crowd, calling for national unity and voicing hope for a better future for the new Libya.
The revolt in Libya began in February inspired by events in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt.
Speaking to reporters earlier Sunday in Jordan, Mahmoud Jibril, head of the NTC’s executive committee said an interim Libyan government will be formed within a month to run the country’s affairs.
“There is work currently to form an interim government from one week to a month and there will be also hard work to minimize the time needed to hold elections to select the parliament,” said the NTC’s de facto prime minister, who is in Amman attending the World Economic Forum.
“The first election should take place within a period of eight months, maximum, to constitute a national congress of Libya, some sort of parliament,” he said.
“This national congress would have two tasks — draft a constitution, on which we would have a referendum, and the second to form an interim government to last until the first presidential elections are held,” said Jibril.
The formation of a new government in Libya has been postponed repeatedly due to differences among factions within the NTC, formed by anti-Gaddafi forces not long after the revolt erupted in Benghazi.
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