Libya interim leader arrives in Tripoli

TRIPOLI: The leader of Libya's new interim government, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, arrived in the capital on Saturday for the first time since his forces seized the city last month, an AFP correspondent reported.

Shortly after landing at the Metiga military base in eastern Tripoli, Abdel Jalil was mobbed by the several hundred people waiting to receive him, and had to be protected by a thick human chain.

His arrival was eagerly awaited in Tripoli, in hopes he will tackle rivalries emerging among rebel groups that overthrew Moamer Kadhafi and begin mapping out a transition.

"This is a huge symbol, because it means the end of Kadhafi's era," said Ahmed Darrad, the interim interior minister inside the National Transitional Council headed by Abdel Jalil.

"There is no one else who can lead this revolution, except Abdel Jalil, and we give him our full trust," said Ahmed Farj al-Dersi, a 19-year-old dentistry student and brigade leader in Tripoli.

Before his arrival in Tripoli, Abdel Jalil told AFP his visit from NTC headquarters in Benghazi was temporary, and that the council he heads would be transferred to Tripoli only "after the (full) liberation" of the country.

Mahmud Jibril, NTC number two and the council's main spokesman abroad, was at the airport together with several other council members to receive Abdel Jalil.

"(This visit) is very important and I think it is correct timing," said Italian consul Guido De Sanctis, adding that Abdel Jalil is one of the key faces in the struggle against Kadhafi's regime.

"It is huge. This is what the country has been waiting for but we still have to see who is coming with Abdel Jalil and what he will say," said a Western observer.

Many NTC members, including half of the executive committee, moved to the capital shortly after the fall of Tripoli late last month. But the council's two top leaders were slower on the scene due to logistical and security reasons.

"This is a move he has to do so that Tripoli can confirm that they, too, are happy with his leadership," De Sanctis added.

Even with combat underway in pro-Kadhafi strongholds, political tensions are already surfacing between the capital Tripoli and other NTC strongholds, including Benghazi in the east and Misrata in the west.

Anti-Kadhafi fighters in Misrata, Libya's third city, say they feel overlooked by the NTC. They are already starting to challenge its authority, refusing to turn over abandoned tanks to the ministry of defence, still based in Benghazi.

And in Tripoli, power relations are in a state of flux with new bodies and councils created every other day, generating rivalries, complicating the chain of command and adding layers of complexity to Libya's emerging bureaucracy.

Many in Tripoli stress the importance of the NTC resettling its base in the traditional capital early so that the transition can get underway, regardless of whether Libya is fully liberated. (AFP)