Libyans urged to unite after death of Gaddafi

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FE Team | Published: October 24, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

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MISRATA, Libya, Oct 23 (Reuters): Libya's interim prime minister said he was resigning Saturday and urged new leaders to seize a "very limited opportunity" and resolve rivalries now surfacing after Muammar Gaddafi's death. With regional differences emerging about what to do with Gaddafi's still unburied body, the formal end to the war and the carve-up of power, Libya's outgoing premier said the coming days posed a crucial test of resolve for the new men in power. Mahmoud Jibril confirmed he would step down Saturday after seven months as prime minister of the Western-backed rebel government now that the legal declaration of "liberation" was expected Sunday following Gaddafi's killing Thursday. But in a parting shot at an international business forum in Jordan, he warned Libyans to avoid in-fighting if Libyans were to keep to a plan to hold their first free election next year. Leaders required "resolve", he said, "in the next few days". In Misrata, the curious and the relieved filed for a second day through a market cold store to view the body of Gaddafi, whose surprise capture and killing in his hometown of Sirte sparked joy - and renewed jockeying for postwar influence. Visitors wore surgical masks against the stench, an image that may trouble some Muslims, for whom swift burial is a holy duty - even if few Libyans share the unease among their Western allies over what some believe was a summary execution.