Libyan rebel leader calls for national unity
National Transitional Council senior figure urges restraint and says victims of Gaddafi’s rule will regain their rights.
Mahmoud Jibril said those who had suffered injustices under Gaddafi would regain their rights [Reuters] |
A senior figure in Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) has urged all Libyans to come together to rebuild the country.
Addressing a press conference in Qatar on Tuesday, Mahmoud Jibril said “Libyans need to heal and be united together, from every city and every neighbourhood”.
“After the transition and elections, people who suffered injustices will regain their rights,” he promised.
Jibril urged the victims of Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule to exercise restraint, saying “justice will restore your reputation, to show the world you can build a modern nation; we should prove that we are up to this revolution and are able to build a modern country”.
Jibril spoke as Libyan rebels celebrated the seizure of Gaddafi’s fortified Bab al-Azizya compound in Tripoli.
He refuted accusations against the NTC over the reported arrest of Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam – a claim that later turned out to be false. Jibril said a group of people posing as revolutionaries said they had detained Saif, and it was not confirmed by the NTC.
Saif’s appearance in Tripoli was a desperate last-minute plea and it was a “cinematic show,” Jibril said.
Overall, his comments were directed more towards building a better future for Libya.
On Wednesday, he will attend a summit in Doha, the Qatari capital, with representatives from the US, the UK, France, Qatar, the UAE and Turkey to seek funds to help rebuild Libya.
Jibril is also scheduled to meet Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, in Milan on Thursday.
Libyans urged to avoid revenge
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of leading Arab states called on the Libyan people to avoid revenge “for the sake of building a new Libya”.
The ministers of Arab states including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, convening in Doha, also called on the UN Security Council to urgently release $2.5 billion in frozen Libyan assets to pay salaries and meet humanitarian needs in Libya.
They reviewed “recent developments there which signal that the Libyan people are near to realising their aspirations for freedom and human dignity”, said an official statement released after the meeting and obtained by Reuters.
They proposed inviting the Libyan rebel council to an August 27 Arab League ministerial meeting to discuss events in the Arab world, including in Libya and Syria.