Libyans move for new regime

Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) on Wednesday handed power to a new assembly, in a symbolic move marking a peaceful  transition following the overthrow of Muammar Qadhafi’s 40-year rule.    “I hand over the constitutional prerogatives to the General National  Congress, which from now on is the legitimate representative of the Libyan  people,” NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said.     Libya’s interim leader passed the reins to the oldest member of the  200-seat legislative assembly elected on July 7 at a ceremony that was  scheduled late in the day because of Ramadan.     Minutes earlier the 200 congress members were sworn in by the president of Libya’s Supreme Court.     “The NTC no longer exists. It has been dissolved,” council member Othman  Ben Sassi said. Jalil welcomed what he said was “the first handover of power in  Libya’s history” as a “historic moment” for all Libyans.     But he admitted that “mistakes” had been made during an “extraordinary” transition period and that security and disarmament issues had not been  resolved in time.     He said the NTC had also failed to find a solution to the refugee crisis,  which he said was a “real tragedy.”     “We were unable to guarantee the security as we would have wished and as  the Libyan people would have wished,” he said.     Jalil announced that he would retire and quit his posts as NTC chief  and in the country’s top panel of magistrates, of which he had been a member  since the days of Qadhafi who was killed in October last year.     A conference room in an upscale hotel in the Libyan capital was arranged as  a makeshift venue for the assembly, which is due to begin its work a week from  now, according to the official Lana news agency.     Another room in the hotel will serve as the General National Congress  headquarters.    The authorities put in place tight security measures for the 40-minute  ceremony, in view of the ongoing violence in Benghazi and in the capital, where  a car exploded during a marketplace gunbattle on Saturday.     The congress decided to elect a president on Thursday pending the adoption of rules for the vote.  Representatives of civil society groups and diplomatic missions in Libya,  as well as NTC and government officials, attended the ceremony which opened with a reading from the Holy Quran and the national anthem, sung by a children’s  choir. It was marked by a minor incident when the NTC chief had a woman who  presented the inaugural session replaced, as she was not veiled and was visibly  made up.   “We believe in individual liberties and we expand them but we are Muslims  and have principles,” said Jalil. “Everybody must understand this,” he said.     The General National Congress will be tasked with choosing a new interim  government to take over from the NTC, and will steer the country until fresh  elections can be held, based on a constitution to be drafted by a constituent  authority of 60 members.     An official dismissed suggestions that a new government could be in place  before the Eid al-Fitr festival that follows Ramadan, which is due to conclude  in around 10 days.     “It is premature to discuss this now,” he said.     Libyans elected a legislative assembly of party and independent  representatives last month, in their first free vote since a popular uprising  last year escalated into a civil war that ousted the now-slain Qadhafi.