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| Africa North |
| Former Libyan rebels offered military jobs |
| 2011-12-26 |
| Libya will include thousands of former rebels who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in its armed forces from January, the defence minister said on Sunday, testing the government's ability to get rebel leaders to cede command of their fighters. Although rebels met a deadline imposed by the National Transitional Council (NTC) to withdraw this week from the capital Tripoli, militias led by rival commanders still guard key installations and checkpoints across the city. The lack of a fully functioning army and police force, has given militias free rein to fight turf wars after the uprising that ended Gaddafi's 42-year dictatorship in August. "The programme aims at including the revolutionaries in many fields including defence," Osama al-Juwali, interim defence minister told a news conference also attended by interim interior minister Fawzi Abd al-All. "The idea is to inject new blood in the army which was marginalised by the tyrant (Gaddafi)," said Mr Juwali who was commander of the Zintan militia that captured Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam in November. Abd al-All said the rebels were also invited to take up positions in the interior ministry which, he said, was understaffed. He said they could also apply for civilian jobs in government offices through the ministry of labour. |
| Posted by:tipper |