Africa
The Rise of El Mouatassim Kadhafi
By Mahgreb Confidential 25/1/07
Jan 30, 2007 - 11:14:00 AM

The General People’s Congress (GPC) which wound up on Jan. 24 made a number of surprising decisions such as “firing” Taeb Safi, the country’s economy, trade and investment minister. The dismissal was specially surprising because it was thought he could shortly become prime minister in succession to Baghdadi Mahmoudi. But he probably won’t remain long without a portfolio in ruling circles. Not only did he oversee the “purges” in Benghazi last February but he has also drawn closer to the National Security Council headed by colonel El Mouatassim Kadhafi, son of the Libyan leader. He has emerged as an ever-stronger rival of his brother, the heir apparent, Saif El Islam. According to our sources, El Mouatassim has the backing of Abdallah Othman, the strongman of the revolutionary committees and new ally of Ahmed Ibrahim, the cousin of Muammar Kadhafi who is resign from the presidency of the GPC. The dismissed minister Safi had been expected to visit Paris on Feb. 12 at the invitation of the government and the Paris Chamber of Commerce, so uncertainty reigns in the French capital. Will his successor, Ali Aissaoui, an unknown young technician named economy and trade minister, turn up in his place? Or will it be Mohammad Houij, who had previously been deputy prime minister and has now been given the finance portfolio? (Houij was himself replaced by the former head of the National Oil Corporation, Abdelhafidh Al Zlitini). But the appointment of ?Omrane Abou Kraa to the new post of gas, electricity and water supply minister reassured the French because he is well known to many French corporations, particularly Electricite de France. The key posts of heads of the National Planning Committee (previously held by Zlitini) and the National Investment Committee were handed respectively to Mahmud Jibril and Abderahmane Gamudi, who have ties with American business circles and spent several years in the U.S. The “liberals” Shukri Ghanem, boss of NOC, and foreign minister Abdel Rahman Chalgam, retained their jobs.