By Umar Khan.
Tripoli, 11 January 2013:
The Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has now . . .[restrict]appointed three deputy ministers whose nomination had been expected. Khalid Sharif is to be Deputy Minister of Defence, Abdullah Mansour Zwai Deputy Minister of the Interior and Mohammed Rajeyli Deputy Minister for Martyrs and Missing Persons.
According to a well-placed government source, all existing deputy minister will be replaced but not all at once. Some will go quicker than others. It will depend on each individual’s skills, their value to the government and the work they are involved in. However, they will gradually leave their post in the coming few months and there will be a complete handover to the new deputies.
Khalid Sharif and Abdullah Mansoor Zwai have both confirmed their appointment as deputy ministers. Mansoor told the Libya Herald that his priority would be to normalise the situation in Benghazi and restore security nation-wide.
Sharif told this paper that he would work to restore the confidence of Libyan people in its armed forces and to make it a highly professional force.
As earlier reported by the Libya Herald, the new appointees enjoy good relations with the revolutionary forces because of their active participation in the revolution that toppled the Qaddafi regime. Revolutionaries have repeatedly expressed concern about a number of ministers and have staged a number of protests in front of the General National Congress calling for their removal.
Zeidan’s move to appoint deputies from the revolutionaries is seen as a bid to get the latter on board and to avoid any further chaos but it remains to be seen if this will work.
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