TRIPOLI: Libya’s transitional government was sworn in Thursday before the country’s interim leader, another step in the oil-rich country’s road map to elections next year.
Starting with Prime Minister Abdul-Rahim al-Qeeb, each minister faced the transitional council’s leader, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, placed his hand on the Koran and swore to “remain loyal to the goals” of the revolution that overthrew longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Each shook Abdul-Jalil’s hand as he stood in front of two national flags, and some also embraced him.
The country faces huge challenges now, but Qeeb said he and his ministers were “upbeat” and optimistic about leading Libya toward elections by June.
“We are looking forward to having an exciting seven months ahead of us, with lots of things to do and hopefully good results,” Qeeb said.

The lineup of relative unknowns, almost all of them older men, will confront daunting challenges, like establishing control over the fractured nation after the ousting of Gadhafi’s 42-year regime, along with building up state institutions practically from scratch.
Qeeb pledged to represent the interests of all Libyans.

“I am a son of all Libyans,” he said. “I will represent everyone and share wealth with everyone.”
The transitional Cabinet includes 24 ministers, though several, including the defense minister, were missing from Thursday’s ceremony. The prime minister explained that they were out of Tripoli, some of them attending to personal preparations in their hometowns before taking up their new posts.

Foreign Minister Ashour Bin Hayal, from the eastern city of Derna, told Reuters that he plans to meet with “friends” who supported the revolution but said it was too soon to say if countries that did not openly support the uprising, such as Russia and China, will be snubbed.

Planning Minister Aisa al-Tuwajar said the government will ask for help from other countries and private organizations to prepare the country for nationwide elections in several months to form a national assembly that will then be given a year to draw up a new constitution before a parliamentary poll.

Among the institutions that must be built is a justice system that will be able to put on trial two key members of the Gadhafi regime – Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the dictator’s recently captured son and one-time heir-apparent, and the ex-intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi.
The International Criminal Court has charged them both with crimes against humanity for alleged atrocities committed during the recent civil war.

Libyan authorities insist they be tried in Libya, and not at the court in The Hague, Netherlands, a decision aimed at asserting their national authority. And Thursday, Libya told the ICC it wants to try Seif al-Islam, in accordance with Libyan law, according to a letter seen by AFP.
The letter from Abdul-Jalil follows apparently contradictory comments from the ICC and its Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo Wednesday.

“The National Transitional Council affirms the Libyan judiciary has primary responsibility to try Seif al-Islam and the Libyan state is willing and able to try him in accordance with Libyan law,” said the letter, addressed to ICC pre-trial chamber President Sanji Mmasenono Monageng.

Abdul-Jalil said Libya was “undertaking investigations into crimes committed by him [Seif al-Islam], including crimes committed since Feb. 15,” when the uprising against Gadhafi’s regime began. Abdul-Jalil added that the NTC would continue to work with the prosecutor and the court “to facilitate this process.”
The ICC said Wednesday that it had “exclusive competence” over the prosecution process of Seif al-Islam, while Moreno-Ocampo said Libya had priority in the case.

Moreno-Ocampo told The Associated Press Thursday that the court had received a formal pledge of cooperation in a letter from Abdul-Jalil, and that he was very satisfied with that move. He said the most important thing is for the “face of the old regime” to face justice.

“It is very important for the world and for Libya to understand what happened here, how they attacked these people, how they killed these people,” Moreno-Ocampo said.
He said that investigations are under way into the alleged crimes committed by Gadhafi’s son and that he believed it would be ready for trial “in a few months.”

Seif al-Islam was captured Saturday and is being held by fighters from the Libyan town of Zintan, who flew him there after his arrest in the south. He appeared to be in good health despite a hand injury, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which visited him Tuesday.
Officials with the NTC have reported that former intelligence chief Senussi, has also been captured. But some cast doubt on that assertion, as his whereabouts remain unknown.