Rebel Libyan Finance Minister Admits Mistakes

A U.S.-based economist appointed finance minister in the Libyan rebels' first attempt at a government admits they have made mistakes, missed opportunities and shown disorganization — but he says they aren't short of cash, and they'll get better at their jobs.

Ali Tarhouni told reporters Wednesday that in trying to begin governing themselves, the rebels have to counter the effects of a decades-long ban on a basic element of self rule: Dictator Moammar Gadhafi banned public groups, so now the rebels have to start organizing from scratch.

Tarhouni, who teaches economics and finance at the University of Washington, was appointed to the post by the rebels' national council as part of an interim administration headed by another U.S.-educated academic, Mahmoud Jibril.

Tarhouni, who received his doctorate in finance and economics from Michigan State University, left Libya first in 1973 and then three years later for good. He returned to the country only after the rebellion against Gadhafi started on Feb. 15.

He acknowledged that the rebels have struggled with a slew of issues, including basic organization and putting forward a clearly defined image of the rebellion for the world.

"So far, we didn't do a good job of defining who we are," Tarhouni told reporters in Benghazi, the rebels' de-facto capital. "I think the (transition) process was and still is very chaotic."

As the top financial official for the rebels, Tarhouni, 60, will also oversee oil affairs. He said oil is not an immediate issue because the only significant yields are coming from the Sarir and Sidra fields, which amount to roughly 130,000 barrels per day, a relatively small total.

"Right now, there is no immediate crisis kind of need for cash. We have some liquidity that allows us to do the basic things," he said, such as paying salaries and immediate needs.

He added that many countries have agreed to provide credit backed by the Libyan sovereign fund, and the British government has also agreed to give the rebels access to 1.4 billion dinars ($1.1 billion) that London did not send to Gadhafi.

Tarhouni said the national council, made up of representatives of the eastern cities that have torn themselves free of Gadhafi's rule, has "in general dropped the ball many places, although not by intention."

He attributed the occasional stumbles to the Libyans' lack of experience with any form of independent public associations, which were banned by Gadhafi.

"There was a total vacuum," Tarhouni said, pledging that the new interim executive administration that is being formed will help streamline things. "We will clean it up, that I promise you."

Part of the lingering disarray stemmed from an initial expectation that Gadhafi would quickly crumble and flee after the uprising's initial success, Tarhouni said.

"We were betting 24 hours and he's gone from the country," he said. "Now we're looking at longer. He's much more armed, and we're not as organized as we thought or can be."

Tarhouni acknowledged the rebel military is still weak and in the process of organizing itself.

"I think (it has) a very small number, the number of tanks is also limited, and there are no heavy armaments," he said. Because of that, he suggested that rebels will still be dependent on the young, untrained ragtag crew of fighters that have spearheaded the uprising's fighting force so far.

The rebels are "actively seeking, look for armaments," although Tarhouni said the political leadership realizes that just as pressing a need is better organization of the territory already under the uprising's control.

"You need a political body that defines what this revolution is about, and an army on the ground," Tarhouni said, but "we need to put our own house in order first."

Source http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=13207480

Remorse brings Libyan, too late, to the rebellion

Abdullah, a lean young Libyan in a soldierly blue beret, knows he came to the uprising against Moammar Gaddafi one day late. Unlike many members of the Libyan army, he didn't immediately defect to the rebel cause - he surrendered to it, racked with remorse, the morning after he obeyed orders to fire as protesters stormed the gates of his military base.

He hit at least one of them.

"I can still picture his face. He was very young," said Abdullah, who agreed to talk about his experience on the condition that he be identified only by his first name. He sat in a spare room of Benghazi's old courthouse, which now houses the rebels' provisional government. Officials agreed to let him speak but not to be photographed.

Abdullah came to the courthouse the morning after the shooting and turned himself in. "My life was miserable," he said. "I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep."

Abdullah is one of nearly 40 detainees housed by the rebels in three packed cells. Thirteen are Libyan soldiers who didn't switch sides fast enough. The rest are immigrants from elsewhere in Africa who were arrested out of fear that they might be mercenaries.

Given the state of the rebellion's fledgling justice system, the men are not likely to learn their fates soon. An official at the temporary attorney general's office said the Libyan fighters would face a military trial, but not until the contest for control of the country is over.

For the Africans, most of whom have been cleared of being part of Gaddafi's mercenary army, the future is even less clear. Most were swept up without passports, and the rebel council has no way to get them back to their home countries. But it could be disastrous to release them when tales of atrocities by hired soldiers, whether true or not, have fueled public rage.

"At least they are safe in here," said Sabah Eltwel, a lawyer investigating detainee cases for the attorney general's office. She wears a floral scarf over her hair and a somber black wool coat to protect against the sea wind that rattles the old windows. "If they go outside, the Libyan people would hurt them. It's not safe to have black skin in Libya right now."

One of the foreign detainees, Abdullah Mousa, agreed to be interviewed. Mousa, a 23-year-old construction worker from Niger, entered Libya illegally eight months ago after a 20-day trip across the desert in the backs of pickups.

When the fighting broke out in Libya, he joined thousands of foreign workers fleeing to the borders. But he and two friends were arrested in Benghazi.

"They asked me if I was a soldier," said Mousa, who can hear revolutionary crowds roaring each night in the nearby square. He held out rough and calloused palms. "See, I am just a worker. I did not carry a gun. They take any black person from Africa."

Mousa is in the cell next to Abdullah, the soldier who freely admits to a role in the fighting. But Abdullah said he stayed with the army only out fear for his life. His commanding officer told the soldiers that he would have any man who refused to fight the protesters killed and burned, Abdullah said.

But when the shooting began, he did his best to avoid hitting anyone. "I fired into the air, into the ground," he said. "I was afraid."

Then he saw a protester go down, hit in the leg. He knew the bullet had come from his rifle.

"It was an accident," he said, raising his hands to his drawn cheeks. "I didn't want to shoot a Libyan."

Abdullah says he has been told the protester survived. He hopes that, and the fact he turned himself in, will work in his favor at trial.

In the meantime, he wears a filthy white T-shirt with "Libya Is Free" emblazoned across the chest in Arabic. A wrinkled plastic patch of the red-green-and-black rebel flag is stuck to the back.

"I am part of the revolution now," he said as the guards led him away.

Source http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/08/AR2011030805363.html