IT DIDN’T take long for the grumbling over the make-up of Libya’s new cabinet to start. Complaints were inevitable given the competing tribal, regional and ideological forces shaping post-Gadafy Libya.
Sources in Benghazi, the eastern town that served as a cradle for the revolution that ended Gadafy’s 42-year rule, gripe about the decision to make a military commander from the western town of Zintan defence minister.
Yesterday, members of two small tribes protested outside a Benghazi hotel where the interim government known as the National Transitional Council has offices. They held banners reading “No to a government of outsiders”.
Meanwhile, representatives of the Amazigh, or Berber, ethnic minority calling themselves the Libyan Amazigh Congress say they are suspending all relations with the NTC in protest at the cabinet line-up named by prime minister designate Abdurrahim el-Keib on Tuesday. The Amazigh are pushing for greater recognition of their language and culture after decades of persecution under Gadafy.
The choice of ministers appears to have hinged on regional affiliation more than experience, profile or track record. Islamists were overlooked, despite speculation that Abdelhakim Belhaj, a prominent former jihadist who now heads the Tripoli Military Council, would get the defence portfolio.
The new government will oversee the country as Libya prepares for elections due to take place next June when voters will choose an assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution.
The cabinet faces the onerous challenge of taking the first crucial steps towards rebuilding Libya and its institutions after Gadafy’s long experiment in tyranny and more than eight months of war. Under no illusions as to the difficulties ahead are two Libyans living in Ireland who have been appointed to the new government.
Fatima Hamroush, a consultant ophthalmologist in Drogheda, is to be Libya’s new minister for health and Fathi al-Akkari, a lecturer in electronic engineering at Tallaght Institute of Technology in Dublin, has been appointed deputy minister for higher education.
Dr Hamroush, who will be one of two women in the cabinet, says her priorities as minister will be addressing the needs of those injured during this year’s war and rooting out corruption in the country’s medical sector.
The care of Libya’s war wounded has become a prickly subject. Protests have taken place in Tripoli and other towns calling on the interim government to do more to assist the injured, which include scores of amputees.
In recent weeks, Dr Hamroush, who serves as co-director of Irish-Libyan Emergency Aid and head of the newly established Libyan Health Office in Ireland, has been co-ordinating efforts to bring wounded Libyans to Ireland for treatment.
The appointment of Dr Hamroush, who has lived outside Libya for almost two decades, has also prompted criticism. “People feel Dr Hamroush is out of touch with the real health situation in Libya as she has been away for almost 20 years,” one doctor in Benghazi said. “She does not know about the day-to-day problems of the hospitals here.”
Dr Akkari, meanwhile, said his priority at Libya’s new education ministry would be developing Libya’s research capacity, particularly in the IT area. He also stressed the importance of encouraging Libyans to study foreign languages, particularly English.
“For 42 years all aspects of the Libyan educational system were dictated by Gadafy,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do to overcome the damage he caused.”