Liberated Libya begins task of forming govt

NTC vice chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga on Sunday declared Libya "liberated" at a massive rally Libya's new leaders began Monday the tough task of forging an interim government uniting the nation's disparate political forces after 42 years of Muammar Gaddafi's iron-fisted rule, promising a system of Islamic sharia law.
"Today, we begin preparing for a new phase... the phase after the liberation, the phase that we will plan and work hard for the future of Libya," said Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of the National Transitional Council.
"Let us start work on the adoption of the constitution," he said late on Sunday as he declared Libya's "liberation" from Gaddafi's rule at a colourful ceremony attended by tens of thousands in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the uprising against the despot was launched eight months ago.
The long-awaited declaration came amid raging controversy over the circumstances of Gaddafi's death after he was taken alive during the fall of his hometown Sirte on Thursday. Britain said the incident had "stained" the NTC.
"Declaration of liberation. Raise your head high. You are a free Libyan," Ghoga told the jubilant crowd.
Tens of thousands of voices echoed him chanting, "You are a free Libyan."
Under the NTC's roadmap, an interim government is to be formed within a month and elections for a constituent assembly to draft a new basic law held within eight months -- the first democratic vote since Gaddafi came to power in a coup 42 years ago.
Parliamentary and presidential elections would be held within a year after that -- or within 20 months of Sunday's declaration.
NTC leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil insisted that sharia law will prevail in liberated Libya.
"As an Islamic country, we adopted sharia as the principal law," Abdel Jalil told the swarming crowds in Benghazi.
"Any law that violates sharia is null and void legally," he said.
Concerted attempts last month to form a transitional government collapsed due to what Abdel Jalil said were "differences in views" between members of the NTC and the interim executive council.
"We are faced with the Libyan mentality that every tribe, every region, every city has a share in the new government," Abdel Jalil said late September, when the NTC decided to postpone the government-forming exercise until after all of Libya had been freed.
Interim prime minister Mahmud Jibril said on Sunday the formation of a new government was expected to take up to a month.
"There are consultations to form a new government and this process would take approximately from one week to one month. It might take longer and or less," he told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Jordan.
"Then there will be real hard work to minimise the period to have elections to elect our national congress, which would be the new parliament instead of the NTC which is going to be dissolved."
Worldwide leaders hoped for a peaceful transition to democratic rule in the new Libya, with U.S. President Barack Obama leading pleas for national reconciliation.
 Obama hailed the declaration of freedom in Libya on Sunday, saying “a new era of promise” is under way in the African nation. He also urged its new leaders to turn their attention to the political transition ahead.
The leader of Libya’s transitional government, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, declared the country liberated Sunday, three days after the capture and death of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
In a statement issued by the White House, Obama congratulated the Libyan people and said: “After four decades of brutal dictatorship and eight months of deadly conflict, the Libyan people can now celebrate their freedom and the beginning of a new era of promise,” The Associated Press reported.
Obama said the U.S. looks forward to working with officials as they prepare for free and fair elections.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement later Sunday congratulating Libyans on their liberation, saying the U.S. was proud to have supported “the work of ordinary, brave Libyans who demanded their freedoms and dignity,” according to AP.
Abdel Jalil earlier told Al-Jazeera that an investigation was being conducted into the circumstances of Gaddafi's killing after several foreign governments and human rights watchdogs posed questions.
"We are dealing with the subject with transparency," Abdel Jalil said.
Disquiet has grown internationally over how Gaddafi met his end after NTC fighters hauled him out of a culvert where he was hiding following NATO air strikes on the convoy in which he had been trying to flee his falling hometown.
Mobile phone videos show him still alive at that point.
Subsequent footage shows a now-bloodied but walking Gaddafi being hustled through a frenzied crowd, before he disappears in the crush and the crackle of gunfire can be heard.
NTC leaders are adamant he was shot in the head when he was caught "in crossfire" between his supporters and new regime fighters soon after his capture.
Jibril said in Jordan that the autopsy report showed that Gaddafi was killed in "cross-fire from both sides."
But Doctor Othman al-Zentani, who examined Gaddafi's body, said later only that the dictator had been "killed by bullets" adding: "My autopsy report is not finished."
Zentani said he could not give more details as he had to "wait for the green light from my superior," prosecutor-general Abdelaziz al-Ahsadi.
Jibril added he did not know "whether the bullet that hit him in the head came from his own security brigades or from the revolutionaries."
Gaddafi's body has been stored in a vegetable market freezer in the eastern city of Misrata, drawing large crowds wanting to view and take pictures of the remains of the despot who ruled Libya with an iron fist.
Human Right Watch meanwhile urged the NTC to probe the killing of 53 people whose decaying bodies were found in Sirte.
"We found 53 decomposing bodies, apparently Gaddafi supporters, at an abandoned hotel in Sirte," said Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch (HRW), who investigated the killings.
"Some had their hands bound behind their backs when they were shot," he added.