Libya to annouce new govt

TRIPOLI - Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) said Friday it would announce a "crisis" government in the next few days while its troops are reported to have entered the eastern gate of Sirte, hometown of the ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi.

The announcement came as an apparent breakthrough after talks failed to form an inclusive interim government last weekend to run the war-torn North African nation up until the elections promised to be held in 20 months.

"We've agreed on a number of portfolios and who would hold the most important ones. There will be 22 portfolios and one vice premier...It will be a compact government, a crisis government," said NTC spokesman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga.

NTC chief Mahmoud Jibril told a press conference at the end of the last round of talks that differences over a number of positions in the new cabinet were not solved, but said the NTC would announce a new government as early as possible.

Jibril said earlier that an interim government would bring together representatives from all parts of Libya, including areas that are still controlled by pro-Gadhafi forces.

He added all military units which had been fighting forces loyal to Gadhafi would also be brought under the umbrella of the upcoming government.

Meanwhile, after a series of inorganized campaigns, NTC fighters claimed on Friday that they have entered and controlled the eastern gate of Sirte, one of the two key remaining bastions loyal to Gadhafi, with the other being Bani Walid.

A NTC commander Ahmed Zlitni told AFP on Friday that his fighters entered Sirte from the east and did not encounter any resistance.

Another commander Mohammed al-Marimi confirmed the penetration, adding that "Three to four brigades have entered through the eastern gate."

There are also reports saying desperate residents inside Sirte are fleeing the city. Al-Marimi said NTC forces have postponed their final assault on Sirte for another day to try to get local families out.

However, the NTC fighters' attempt to sweep into Bani Walid was frustrated by strong resistance even though they brought along tanks and rocket launchers.

The hindered offensive was partly because of the lack of unified command within the NTC forces, which are said to be poorly-equipped and carry out their attacks in disparate units. Some of them do not take orders from the NTC, but from their own commanders.

As the NTC fighters are maneuvering to eliminate the remainder of the toppled leader's sphere of influence and show the world it has the ability to control Libya's entire territory, Gadhafi's daughter Aisha Gadhafi verbally attacked Libya's new governing body on Friday, calling them "traitors."

"Remain reassured, your great leader is doing well. He carries weapons and is fighting on the fronts," she said in a telephone message broadcast by Syria's Arrai television, adding that "You can be proud of your leader."

Aisha Kadhafi called on the Libyans to rise up against the NTC's rule and said NTC was a group of "traitors who have broken their oath of allegiance" to his father.

She also warned that "those who have betrayed their allegiance could do the same with you."

Gadhafi's wife Safiya, two sons Mohammed and Hannibal and daughter Aisha escaped to Algeria late last month. Algeria said it had allowed them in only on "humanitarian grounds."

As Aisha slammed the NTC, a manhunt for Gadhafi, whose whereabouts remain a myth, is still actively implemented.

Belgasem al-Abaaj, a captured Gadhafi's general, told the NTC that the strongman had contacted him via phone some ten days ago, and he was moving between the oases towns of Sabha and Ghat.

In Vienna, the UN atomic agency confirmed the existence of raw uranium in Libya after CNN reported the NTC forces had found potentially radioactive material.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) spokeswoman Gill Tudor said the the organization had received the reports on the uranium stored by Gadhafi's government and hoped to examine the material "once the situation in the country stabilizes."