Libyan Rebel Feuds May Delay Forming Govt

Promised Cabinet To Be Put 'On Hold'

Libyan rebel officials are reporting that the National Transitional Council (NTC) is close to announcing another delay in the forming of their government, with reports that disagreements about cabinet ministries mean they will likely put the government “on hold.”

This comes just two days after officials announced a “crisis government” was on the verge of being appointed, promising that all but a few ministries had been settled on. As usual, those last few ministries are more difficult than they expected.

It isn’t surprising, however, because the rebels are increasingly divided between two major factions, the Islamists and the Gadhafi defectors, and neither side wants to give an inch. Though the last few ministries are “minor” in the grand scheme of things, they are meaningful in the power struggle.

Increasingly, this has meant a struggle not only on the national level, but on the local level as well, with whichever side is in the majority in a town trying to push out their rivals, setting the stage for another civil war in the nation before the first one is even finished.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.