Libyan PM Abdurrahim al-Keib talks to AA in his first exclusive interview

TRIPOLI (A.A) - November 3, 2011 - Murat Unlu, AA correspondent - Libya's new interim prime minister has said his cabinet would be composed of technocrats, adding he would announce the new cabinet in three or four weeks.   "I think we will have a cabinet that our people will be proud of. This is a technocrat group of people that would be there, we have lots of work to do," Abdurrahim al-Keib told the Anadolu News Agency, speaking in English in his first exclusive interview to a foreign news media since assuming the post three days ago.          Al-Keib was born in Tripoli, and he spent much of his life abroad after leaving the country to escape the oppression of Moammar Gadhafi's 42-year rule. "And I left the country as an example of many who left the country because of the brutal regime that has been, that was here in Libya. We had to leave the country or otherwise we had to do things that are not necessarily peaceful which I did not want to do. Why I came back? I came back because I felt that I cannot just sit back and watch my people dying, watch my people paying heavy price, watch my people taken arms when they started peaceful demonstration of demanding freedom, basic human rights. I just couldn't take it. I had to come back," al-Keib said. Al-Keib was elected to the post on October 31 by 26 votes of the 56-member National Transitional Council to replace Mahmoud Jibril, who stepped down to honor a promise that he would quit once Gadhafi's regime was over. "I felt that this is a major responsibility. I cannot appreciate enough the trust that my colleagues representing the Libyan people have in me. I felt that I have a major responsibility on my shoulders and a job, heavy job that I have to take care of in the next eight months," Al-Keib said.  "We have two hundred and forty days and that is about it. That is about it. We have people who are ready and fired up. We are ready to move," Al-Keib said. The new prime minister will lead Libyans to what is expected to be their first democratic elections scheduled for next year. "We want to have democracy, we want to have civil society in operation. We would like to have country where people can dream to be president. We have a country where we have high quality education, high quality medical treatment and respect for humanity and for people views. We have lots of dreams, but I am telling you that we simply want to a live normal life and be a positive force in the world affairs," he said. One of the most pressing challenges the new government will face is security, Al-Keib said as disarmament of rebel fighters remains as a difficult question. "We know that people are holding arms, most of them [...] I know that this will take a little bit of time, they need to feel secure, they need to be given the opportunity for a better life. I think we will try to have some programmes that would help them go to back to normal life and then the issue of arms will not be an issue," Al-Keib said. On relations with Turkey, Al-Keib said Libyans had "a lot of respect for the Turkish people and the Turkish leadership."  "We know that they stood as brothers and sisters with us, during this hard times we have this situation printed in our hearts and history books in the future," he said.