Tribal opposition to new government line-up threatens Libya’s stability

Interim Prime minister Abdurrahim El-Keib named a cabinet line-up last Tuesday which aimed to placate Libya's patchwork of tribes, regional interests and ideological camps which are competing to fill the vacuum left by Col. Gaddafi's fall from power.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said during a visit to Tripoli that the trial of Gaddafi's captured son, Saif al-Islam, could take place inside Libya as long as certain conditions were met.

The protests over the government were on a small scale and by groups which do not have huge influence.

There was no immediate sign of dissent over the cabinet from the most powerful interests, in particular the Islamists who were given none of the biggest government posts, but smaller groups complained they had been neglected.

Announcing the government was the latest step in Libya's halting progress towards building new institutions, three months after the bloodiest of the "Arab Spring" uprisings ended Gaddafi's 42-year rule.

The head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), urged the protesters to put narrow interests to one side.

"We didn't intentionally exclude or marginalise any entity or any place or any region or any ethnicity. Libya, on the contrary, is for everybody," Mustafa Abdel Jalil told a news conference.

"We have to rally in one line behind this revolution which has been protected and safeguarded by Allah. And therefore we only ask them to have patience and to renounce envy and grudges," he said.

About 150 people protested outside a hotel in the eastern city of Benghazi where the interim leadership, the National Transitional Council, has offices.

The protesters held up banners saying: "No to a government of outsiders!" the witness said. The demonstration was led by members of the Benghazi-based Awagi and Maghariba tribes, who were angry their representatives were not in key posts.