Head of Militia that Seized Gadhafi Son to Get Defense Job

Osama Juili, who commands the hilltown fighters who captured Moammar Gadhafi's most prominent son at the weekend, is set to be named defense minister, sources in Libya's interim government said Tuesday.

And the post of foreign minister is to be handed to Libya's ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Dabbashi, according to the sources in the National Transitional Council.

Interim Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib was due to announce his new cabinet line-up later on Tuesday, following a two-day delay apparently caused by the arrest on Saturday of Seif al-Islam Gadhafi by Juili's militiamen from Zintan, a mainly Berber hilltown that was an anti-Gadhafi bastion.

Ali Tarhuni, who is currently oil and finance minister, is expected to retain the finance portfolio after refusing a switch to planning. National Oil Company official Hassan Zoglam is expected to take the oil portfolio.

"We are still in discussions over some ministerial appointments," the NTC official said.

The interim premier confirmed on Monday that the new line-up would be announced on Tuesday.

"We have decided to announce the government tomorrow. We are working hard to ensure to have something solid, coherent, capable of doing the job," Kib said at a joint news conference with the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice.

Kib said he held a meeting on Monday with the National Transitional Council to discuss the new government.

Kib has said the new line-up will be formed of technocrats, although he has come under pressure from Libya's tribes and numerous armed factions which are demanding roles.

The defense ministry had been eyed by Islamists, who have been demanding that they be given a share of posts in the new cabinet that does justice to their role in the eight-month uprising.

The head of the military council in the Libyan capital, Abdelkarim Belhaj, is a former jihadist who became a key rebel commander.