Libya’s ambassador to the United States, Ali Suleiman Aujal, said today the rebel-run Libyan Transitional National Council (TNC) will in time succeed in a peaceful transition from the decades-old rule of despot Moammar Gadhafi and he expects there will be elections within a year.
Aujul, who also served as U.S. ambassador under Gadhafi, but resigned because of the despot’s civil crackdown, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” the United States and the world needs to stand by in case Gadhafi loyalists stand fast and continue to fight the rebels.
“We have the TNC, we have the executive bureau, and this little body down there that [has operated in] the country since February, and we are confident that the TNC — they proved to the people, they proved to us, they proved to the world — they are very well organized now, they know what they are doing, “ said Aujul, who returned to his post last week under the rebel flag.
“They have plans after Gadhafi’s collapse — and this plan worked very well in the controlling of Tripoli,” he said. “I am really surprised that to control Tripoli took them less than one full day. The challenge now we are facing is how we keep the city clean — and how we can clean it from Gadhafi’s activities and Gadhafi’s snipers.”
Aujul was asked who will control the Libyan army and how will the command-and-control structure work to, among other things, avoid tribal conflict.
“We have a minister of defense in the Transitional National Council — the minister of defense will act, of course, under the order and instruction of the TNC,” Aujul said. “And in every city of Libya now, we have a military council — they are composed of the local revolutionary people, who have been taking care of the cities and organizing themselves to move in the right time.
“I’m not worried at all about tribal conflict — you will not see this happening in Libya at all,” he said. “This is not an issue for us — the issue for us is how to get rid of Gadhafi and it is happening now. I can promise you here — and you can tell me after one year — that we will be able to manage our country, we will be able to have a clean election, and we will join the democratic community.
“This is why the Libyans — the young Libyans — they are fighting and they are dying for the cause of democracy.”
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