The first anniversary of the February 17 revolution that toppled Muammar Gaddafi regime Tripoli – Emad Agag Days before the first anniversary of the February 17 revolution that toppled Libya's Muammar Gaddafi regime, the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) issued a pardon to those charged with crimes before the revolution. The pardon encompassed all lawes except murder, rape, torture and crimes related to public money.
Capital Tripoli is however tense as the country prepares to mark the anniversary of its revolution, amid claims by a son of the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi that an uprising is imminent.
NTC Interior Minister Fawzy Abdel-Aal told reporters Sunday that the country was on high alert because of Gaddafi’s son statement.
Saadi Gaddafi, who fled Libya for exile in Niger, was quoted at the weekend saying that a loyalist uprising will happen "everywhere in the country".
Gaddafi told Al-Arabiya TV in a telephone interview that he would return to his country where, he said, a nationwide rebellion was brewing against its new rulers.
He said: “I will return to Libya at any time. There is a rebellion that is going on day after day, and there will be a rebellion in the entire country." He added that the Libyan people were ruled "by gangs".
After his interview, Libya's NTC renewed its call to the Niger authorities to extradite Saadi Gaddafi, saying that relations between the two neighbours were at risk.
Niger officials said they would not extradite 38-year-old Saadi Gaddafi even though the son of the former Libyan dictator has violated his asylum conditions with his "subversive" comments in an Al Arabiya television interview.
Niger government spokesperson Marou Amadou told reporters in Niamey, that Niger's position remained the same. “We will hand Saadi Gaddafi to a government that has an independent and impartial justice system."
Saadi's comments have added to an already febrile situation in a country where the governing NTC has failed to exert control over Libya's disparate militias.
The capital is dotted with vehicle checkpoints, with concerns that loyalist groups may be planning bomb attacks as Libyans take to the streets to mark the overthrow of the dictatorship.
NTC forces recently claimed to take control of town, Kufra that witnessed three days of fighting between tribal militias that have left 17 dead. Eyewitness however told "Arabstoday" that clashes were continuing.
While the incidents of militia-on-militia violence in Tripoli itself are now down to about one a week – a marked improvement – skirmishes outside the main cities are a constant problem.
The governments own national army is distrusted by many militias because it is controlled by Gaddafi-era officers, and because distrust of the NTC is running high.
On Monday, the NTC announced the allocation of seats for the country’s first, post-revolution parliament, to be elected in June. The west, including Tripoli and the Nafusa mountains, will have 102 seats; the east, including Benghazi where the anti-Gaddafi uprising began, will have 60; the south will have 29; and central cities including Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte will have 9.
The national congress will be tasked with forming a new government and establishing a committee to write a constitution.