REUTERS

HOW WAS IT FORMED? Leaders of the February 17th Coalition, a Benghazi-based rebel movement formed as an uprising spread against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, said local councils were formed in towns that threw off Gadhafi’s control and they sent representatives to form the NTC.

The council has 40 members, each responsible for representing a geographical area or a social segment such as youth, women or political prisoners. Other members come from regions that have until recent days been under Gadhafi’s control including Tripoli and the council has said naming them would put them in danger.

WHAT HAS IT BEEN DOING? The council says it aims to ensure territorial security, lead efforts to “liberate” all the country and support town councils in restoring normal life. It also oversees initial efforts to create a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution to be put to a referendum and to guide conduct of foreign policy. It has committees on areas such as economics, political affairs, legal affairs security and defense.

An executive committee, has been set up, although it was officially dismissed this month over “shortcomings” related to the unexplained killing of military commander Abdel Fattah Younes.

WHAT IS ITS LEGITIMACY? Rebel officials say they won tentative popular backing in the first days of the uprising when thousands massed in front of Benghazi’s seafront courthouse and cheered support as members of the February 17th Coalition announced their first steps to defend the city, manage hospitals and guarantee basic services.

WHO IS IN CHARGE? Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the council. A mild-mannered consensus builder in his late 50s who used to be Gadhafi’s justice minister but quit in February over what he saw as the excessive use of violence used against the Benghazi protesters.

Jalil had tendered his resignation several times after resisting high-level pressure to execute detainees he believed were innocent, say people who know him. Mahmoud Jibril, head of the council’s executive committee, is referred to as the NTC’s prime minister. A strategy consultant who spent most of his career abroad, Jibril was head of Libya’s state economic think-tank but resigned after Gadhafi overruled his suggestions for liberalizing the economy.

Confusion over who heads the rebels’ military wing has at times echoed their chaotic strategy on the ground. Omar Hariri, who was one of the officers along with Gadhafi who overthrew King Idris in 1969 but was then jailed, heads military affairs on the NTC.

The joint chief of staff was Abdel Fattah Younes, who was Gadhafi’s interior minister and an experienced military man before defecting to the rebels, until he was killed. His deputy, Suleiman Mahmoud has been asked to take over and is considering taking up the post. The executive committee’s acting defense minister is Galal Degheli.

Ali Tarhouni is a U.S.-based academic and opposition figure in exile who returned to Libya to take charge of economic, financial and oil matters on the executive committee.

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, the council’s official spokesman and its vice chairman, is a human rights lawyer who represented families of victims of a 1996 massacre.

The head of the NTC’s political committee is Fatih Baja. Baja previously worked on the staff at Gar Yunis University and has a degree in political science. Salwa Fawzi al-Deghali previously taught at the Academy of Graduate Studies in Benghazi and has a degree in constitutional law. Deghali is responsible for Legal Affairs.