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Libya overhauls govt, names new PM

TUNIS: Libya launched a sweeping overhaul of the government on Wednesday, replacing the prime minister and foreign minister and scrapping most ministries.

The move reflected Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's dissatisfaction with the outgoing cabinet's economic policies.

Mubarak Abdallah al-Shamikh, minister of Public Works and Housing in the outgoing government, was appointed the new prime minister in place of Mohamed Ahmed al-Mangoush.

Mohamed Abderrahmane Chalbak, a former ambassador to Germany, was named as the new Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation Minister in replacement of Omar Mustafa al-Montasser, who had been in the post for more than ten years.

Mohamed Beit al-Mal remained finance minister and Mohamed Belgacem Zwai kept the Justice and Public Order ministry. Fawzia Bashir Challabi, the only woman in the government, retained the information, culture and tourism portfolio.

The new appointments were contained in a statement issued by the General People's Congress, Libya's top legislative and executive body, at the end of a four-day meeting in the coastal city of Sirte, some 450 km east of Tripoli.

The energy ministry was among 12 ministries to be scrapped and their powers devolved to provincial committees or other bodies.

The defence ministry, which has always been kept out of government control and is run by Gaddafi's allies, will remain under some form of central supervision.

Gaddafi's disgruntlement with the government became plain on January 28 when he unexpectedly attended the GPC's opening session, tore up the 2000 draft budget and ordered it to be revised and the Congress postponed.

He said he was unhappy with the government continuing to prepare budgets by relying essentially on oil revenues while his aim was to diversify the economy. Oil revenues account for nearly 95 percent of Libya's foreign exchange income.

The Congress, which resumed its session on Sunday, had approved the revised 2000 administrative budget which sharply reduced the use of oil revenues. Spending would be cut to 3.07 billion dinars ($6.65 billion) in 2000 from 3.5 billion dinars in 1999. Only 20 percent would come from oil revenues.

Congress speaker Zenati Mohamed Zenati said the central government under Prime Minister Mohamed Ahmed al-Mangoush had been abolished because it was unable to implement policies approved by the popular congresses.

"There was an administrative laxism, a lack of control of the situation (by cabinet members). There are several weaknesses that we had pointed to each annual session," he said before the Congress approved the restructuring by a show of hands.

"This is a new step in the popular revolution," Ahmed Ibrahim, Deputy Speaker of the GPC told the Congress, composed of some 400 delegates.

The change came a day before the celebration of the "Popular Power" proclaimed by Gaddafi on March 2, 1977 that led to the scrapping of the Libyan Republic and the establishment of the Libyan Jamahiriya (State of the Masses). It is the only political system of its kind in the world.-Reuters