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Unveiling of New Libya Govt. Delayed as Sirte Battle Rages

The unveiling of a new Libyan government due on Sunday has been put off "indefinitely," Mahmoud Jibril, the number two official in the National Transitional Council (NTC), said.

"The announcement of a new transitional government has been postponed indefinitely in order to finalize consultations," Jibril told a news conference in the eastern city of Benghazi.

"I hope that the consultations will be over quickly," he said.

Earlier Jibril had said that last-minute haggling had delayed the announcement of the new cabinet line-up.

Jibril, a former Gadhafi regime official, appeared unwilling to hold the news conference and only reluctantly agreed to address journalists.

"There has been agreement on many portfolios but there are still other portfolios which have not been debated enough and they need more discussions," he said.

"But I believe that an essential part of these consultations was completed today."

He said the NTC would also look into a list of "deputy ministers" in order to give a greater voice to women and young people.

"It has been generally agreed that youths and women should play a key role, at least as deputy ministers and directors general of cabinet ministries," he said.

Jibril has been accused by some of his colleagues of failing to consult enough with long-standing grass roots opposition groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

Jibril was still expected to retain his post as interim premier, while Ali Tarhouni was touted to be named vice president in charge of economic affairs.

The defense portfolio was expected to go to Osama al-Juwili and oil to Abdul Rahman bin Yezza.

On the military front, Libya's victorious rebels on Sunday met fierce resistance from loyalists of fugitive strongman Moammar Gadhafi in his last strongholds.

The new regime's military spokesman, Ahmed Omar Bani, said Gadhafi diehards in his hometown Sirte and the oasis of Bani Walid to its southwest would be defeated in a "matter of days," despite the intensity of the fighting.

Fighters loyal to the new government prepared for a new multi-pronged advance on Sirte on the Mediterranean coast.

Troops moving in from the east were some 50 kilometers of Sirte and came under steady rocket and machine-gun fire from Gadhafi loyalists on Sunday, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

He reported at least 12 tanks loaded with fighters massing east of Sirte, along with dozens of pick-ups filled with anti-aircraft guns and hundreds of combatants.

There was sustained and intense rocket and machine-gun fire from both sides.

On either side of the road to Sirte, crouching fighters advanced slowly through the desert scrub. Fighters said they had heard one of their colleagues had been killed, but there was no confirmation of casualties.

"There are steady rocket attacks from the other side. We are also firing but we are gaining ground," one NTC commander, Mustafa bin Dardaf, told AFP.

On the western front, advancing NTC forces swept into Sirte on Saturday before retreating under heavy artillery fire after two hours of clashes, commanders said.

"We are retreating to regroup and re-enter again from three fronts," said Al-Dhahira Brigade commander Saleb Abu Shaala.

Doctors at a field hospital reported at least 10 killed and 40 wounded in the fighting.

Front line fighters and commanders gave contrasting reports of progress in Sirte, with men on the ground acknowledging tough opposition and those in charge downplaying the resistance.

"We don't even have five percent of Sirte because we just go in and out," said one fighter, Abdul Raouf al-Mansouri.

However, the NTC's Bani claimed that "in a few days the situation will completely change in Sirte and Bani Walid which will be under our control."

Speaking at a news conference in Tripoli, Bani said the "geographical nature and the strong presence of snipers" in Bani Walid prevented a quick victory in the oasis, 180 kilometers southeast of Tripoli.

"We managed to enter the town on the north side that we control. We have advanced towards the center but we were attacked by snipers and mercenaries who have launched rockets from the mountains," he said.

Gadhafi loyalists were putting up a stiff resistance in Bani Walid, an AFP correspondent said.

The new leadership's forces are trying to gain new ground there, with some pushing further into the town while others gathered some six kilometers from its center.

A leader of the NTC fighters told AFP that the battle resumed at midday after unrelenting clashes from midday on Saturday until early dawn.

"There is an unconfirmed number of wounded from today's fighting," Dr. Mabrouk Kornfan said.

Correspondents heard loud explosions and intermittent gunfire from inside Bani Walid, and rockets exploded near NTC positions on the outskirts.

Some fighters left the town with prisoners from Gadhafi loyalists, as residents of Bani Walid fled.

"There is no electricity and no food in the town," Mohammed al-Khazmi told AFP. "There are many rebels inside fighting forces loyal to Gadhafi, but they are meeting stiff resistance."

At least seven NTC fighters have been reported killed over the past two days in Bani Walid.

In Tripoli, Bani predicted that "in the coming days all of Libya will be entirely under the control of the revolutionaries."

NATO has kept pounding Gadhafi’s remaining armor, saying its warplanes hit 11 targets around Sirte on Saturday.

They also hit 11 targets in al-Jufra oasis and three in Sabha in the deep south.

Meanwhile, two Libyan pilots who had defected with their fighter jets to Malta seven months ago, refusing to bomb protesters in Benghazi who had risen up against Gadhafi, finally returned home on Sunday.

"I am proud of what my father did," said Ali Rabiti, whose father Mohammed defected along with colleague Abdullah Salhin just days after the revolt erupted in mid-February.

Source: Agence France Presse


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