By Umar Khan.
Tripoli, 26 December:
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has agreed to appoint at least three deputy ministers from . . .[restrict]the revolutionaries in a bid to calm down the tensions between the newly formed government and the revolutionaries.
According to a well placed source Prime Minister Zeidan has assured the revolutionaries that the government is committed to achieving the goals of the revolution and to help reintegrate the revolutionaries into the society. The notification to appoint the deputies is expected to be issued in a few days time.
After the protests that followed the announcement of the ministers by Prime Minister Zeidan, contacts were established between the revolutionaries and Zeidan to reach an agreement on how to solve the problems. According to a senior source that was present at the meetings the Prime Minister offered the revolutionaries to nominate 11 people that he will appoint as the deputy ministers.
“Prime Minister (Zeidan) said he will appoint 11 deputy ministers from the revolutionaries as well as the foreign minister but later he backed out because of the pressure from the parties to appoint their nominees for the posts.” The source continued, “He wants to solve the issue with the revolutionaries but his hands are also tied as he has to consider the response from the parties that supported him in the congress.”
The three ministries in question are Interior, Defense and Martyrs & Missing and the names touted to take on the roles are Abdullah Zwai, Khalid Sharif and Mohammed Rajeyli. The move comes after rounds of negotiations and efforts of many influential leaders of the revolution.
Abdullah Zwai was very active on the eastern front during the revolution and enjoys good reputation among the revolutionaries. Khalid Sharif is the founder and head of National Guards of Libya
The appointment of these deputy ministers should diffuse the growing tensions between the government and revolutionaries and help improve the overall situation of Libya. However, the other standoff between the two, over the issue of Minister of Religious Affairs (Awqaf) is still unresolved.
This can still affect the overall situation if a consensus is not reached between the different parties as the revolutionaries and many religious leaders have made it clear that they will not accept Abdulsalam Mohammed Abusaad as the minister for Religious Affairs.
It will be recalled that Prime Minister Zeidan had made a decision to replace all Deputy Ministers from the previous Kib government.
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