LIBYA_ Rebels' road map for Libya elections

Rebels' road map for Libya elections
James Bone in Rome From: The Times May 07, 2011 12:00AM

LIBYAN rebels unveiled a detailed "road map" to democracy yesterday, as international powers pledged funds to help them in the battle to oust strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
The planned transition, starting with local elections even before the fall of the Gaddafi regime, was announced at a meeting of the 22-nation Contact Group on Libya in Rome.

The US said it was trying to free a "small fraction" of the $US30 billion ($28bn) of frozen Libyan assets to set up a trust fund for use by the rebels.

Mahmoud Jibril, the head of the Benghazi-based administration, won applause as he outlined the road map.

"We are not in the Transitional National Council to rule Libya. We are managing the situation until the Libyan people choose their form of government," he said afterwards.

Mr Jibril said the Benghazi administration would approach the UN for help in organising local elections in liberated parts of Libya within several months.

The road map also sets out the structure of an inclusive unity government if Gaddafi stands down. The government will include members of the current council, alongside three members of the Gaddafi regime.

There will also be two high-ranking military officers, two police or intelligence officials who have not been involved in the bloodshed, and a Supreme Court judge.

Under the plan, a National Congress of representatives of all towns and cities will be held to elect a committee to draft a new constitution. That will be submitted to a referendum. The road map foresees parliamentary elections four months later, with presidential elections two months after that.

Questions have been raised in Western capitals about the rebels' credentials after revelations that one commander is a former Guantanamo inmate.

Mr Jibril was at pains to underline the rebels' democratic intentions. He said the Benghazi administration had no links to Iran and Syria.

The new trust fund, based at the Qatar Central Bank, will be overseen by a five-member committee that includes three Libyans nominated by the rebels, a Qatari representative and delegates from Italy and France.

The fund will initially receive international donations before being financed by blocked assets.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the new body could be up and running "within weeks" but that the unblocking of assets "poses legal problems".

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, host of the Rome meeting, said Italy and France had urged the EU "to seek a solution", adding that the money "belongs to the Libyan people".

Mr Frattini said $US250 million was already available in immediate humanitarian aid. The rebels have said they need $US2bn to $US3bn to operate for the next six months.

The regime denounced the action to fund rebels.

"Libya still, according to the international law, is one sovereign state and any use of the frozen assets, it's like piracy on the high seas," Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told a news conference in Tripoli.

The Times, AFP