BENGHAZI, Libya – Transitional leaders named a new Cabinet on Monday and vowed to step down after the country is secured, a move meant to show Libya is moving on although fighting persists and Moammar Gadhafi remains at large.

The announcement was made jointly by the head of the National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, and de facto Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril in a news conference after weeks of political infighting over the formation of a new government.

In the end, the Cabinet lineup contained few changes, prompting many Libyans to question why it took so long, coming about six weeks after revolutionary forces seized the capital, Tripoli, and forced Gadhafi into hiding.

Jibril, who graduated from and taught strategic planning at the University of Pittsburgh, stays in his position but also takes over as foreign minister, meaning his current deputy, Foreign Minister Ali al-Issawi, is out. Ali al-Tarhouni, a U.S.-educated economist, will keep acting as oil minister until the national oil company is ready to take over.

The new leaders said they would remain in place until the country is secured and liberation is declared, then a new transitional government would be formed within a month.

“We have signed a pledge to the Libyan people that we will not be part of the future government not in any way,” Abdul-Jalil said to applause.

The pledge was meant to reassure the public they will not suffer under another dictatorship.

Revolutionary forces are still battling Gadhafi loyalists on two major fronts. But Jibril said he had asked that liberation be declared after Gadhafi’s hometown, Sirte, is captured because that would ensure that all sea, land and air entry ports are secure.

 

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