A senior figure in Libya’s outgoing transitional government has blasted the country’s new leadership as an unrepresentative “elite” supported by outside powers.
Outgoing oil and finance minister Ali Tarhouni also suggested in a press conference late Thursday that at least one of those foreign powers is trying to meddle excessively in Libya’s internal affairs – an apparent reference to Qatar.
Tarhouni was one of the most visible and internationally respected faces of the Libyan revolutionary leadership that presided over the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.
But he said he refused an offer to join Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib’s transitional Cabinet, because he believes that those now in power are not representative. He accused them of being “supported from the outside by money, arms and PR.”
“The voices that we see now are the voices of the elite,” he said.
The U.S.-educated Tarhouni, who managed the then-rebel government’s financial system, is one of the first well-known Libyan politicians to openly question the new government’s legitimacy.
He said the countries who helped the rebellion have interests in Libya, “some which we know and some which we don’t know.”
Though he didn’t explain further, he did not object when a journalist suggested that he was speaking about Qatar.
Qatar was a leading Arab backer of the uprising that toppled Gadhafi’s regime. The Gulf state provided warplanes to the NATO-led air campaign and helped the rebels directly.
Tarhouni made his comments several hours after el-Keib’s new government was sworn in, and he said he felt relieved at finally being able to speak his mind freely.
“Some are thinking of imposing their will on the Libyan people and that’s a mistake,” Tarhouni said. “For me the question of sovereignty is the most important. This revolution was for re-establishing dignity and sovereignty.”
Earlier this week, the chairman of Libya’s National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, also indicated that Qatar was meddling in Libyan affairs.
He said Libyans remain grateful to “our brothers” in Qatar for supporting the revolt against Gadhafi.
But, he told a Wednesday news conference in Tripoli, there was some activity in Libya by Qatar” that we as the NTC don’t know about.” He said his leadership protested to Qatar’s leaders, but was told that the Gulf state had a right to be involved because it “betted on the success” of the revolution.
The new Cabinet, a gathering of mostly older men who are relatively unknown, face daunting challenges. They must prepare the country for democratic elections in seven months while establishing control over the fractured nation.
Tarhouni said that more than 90 percent of Libyans are not represented by this new leadership.
“It is about time that we hear the true voices of the masses,” he said.
Tarhouni said he plans to spend the coming months giving lectures and speaking to young Libyans about democracy and the creation of civic institutions. He also said he would be preparing for the upcoming elections, without giving further more details.
