Libyan leaders, including National Transitional Council (NTC) chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil, opened a three-day meeting in Benghazi Sept. 25 to begin a discussion regarding the formation of the country's interim government, which is to include a premier, vice premier and 22 ministers. As the NTC's troops continue to scour the country looking for ex-colonel Moammar Qaddafi, who has publicly announced his refusal to surrender, the transitional council continues to make progress within the international community. Last week, the new regime vowed to investigate allegations of human rights abuses after the World Bank recognized the NTC as the official government of Libya. The NTC was responding to an Amnesty International report asserting that both sides of the Libya conflict are responsible for human rights abuses, and warning the NTC to act quickly to investigate these claims. During a meeting in Paris earlier this month chaired by French President Nicholas Sarkozy, the NTC assured world leaders that Libya will be a society of tolerance and respect for the rule of law.

Reviving a protest movement that had become moribund in recent months, some 10,000 Moroccans marched in Casablanca Sept. 25, calling for a boycott of the upcoming elections. The February 20 movement has been continuing to hold weekly Sunday marches in Casablanca, the country's biggest city; after dwindling since the spring they have been growing again as the November parliamentary elections approach. Demonstrators who took to the streets in the sprawling low-income neighborhood of Sbata chanted slogans against government corruption, and the power of the king. "Head of the army, it's too much—head of the religion, it's too much," was one popular slogan, referring to some of the many powers the king keeps under the newly amended constitution. (Miami Herald, Sept. 25; AP, Sept. 18)

As fighting continues in Sirte, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy toured Tripoli to cheering crowds and triumphalist headlines ("David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy given heroes' welcomes in Libya"—UK Metro). They pledged to continue NATO bombardment, even as Cameron assured: "This was your revolution, not our revolution." (Read: "This is our revolution." We're reminded of similar British assurances not quite 10 years ago when Afghanistan was invaded—which remains NATO-occupied today.) The New York Times acknowledged some "awkward" contradictions in the junket:

Tuaregs in Mali and Niger have founded an ad hoc human rights group, Defense of Foreigners in Libya, accusing anti-Qaddafi forces of detaining and abusing some 300 foreign nationals, mostly Tuaregs. "What is happening in Libya is very serious," said the group's Ousmane ag-Ahmed. "Foreigners, essentially Tuaregs from Mali and Niger, are being jailed and tortured." He said Tuarges in Libya are being "hunted in the streets," citing the case of six reported missing and rumored to have been killed and buried in a mass grave. The group is coordinated from Kidal, Mali, and Agadez, Niger. It has called upon the governments of both countries to help secure the release of their nationals.

Partisans of either side in the Libyan conflict are touting various claims that foreign fighters were on the other side. The pretty clear political agendas behind these claims makes it difficult to arrive at an objective reading of the situation. A sensationalist but rather confused Sept. 7 account in the DC-area Afro features quotes from former congressman Walter Fauntroy, recently returned from a "self-sanctioned peace mission" to Libya, during which his month-long disappearance sparked rumors of his death. Fauntroy claims much of the fighting attributed to the rebels was actually carried out by NATO special forces troops—who also brutalized the populace:

World War 4 Report editor Bill Weinberg, in the second Internet edition of the Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade, discusses the emerging struggle for post-Qaddafi Libya and the potential for ethnic war as Arabs are pitted against Tuaregs and Berbers. He also looks at Western Sahara—North Africa's forgotten conflict—where the struggle of the Sahrawi people against the Moroccan occupation presaged the Arab Spring.

Despite speculation that Moammar Qaddafi is onboard the convoy that arrived across the desert from Libya to Niger yesterday, an NTC source said Sept. 7 that the fugitive strongman has been determined to be at an unnamed desert location within Libyan territory. The claim comes from Anis Sharif, spokesman for Abdel Hakim Belhaj, who is the chairman of the Tripoli Military Committee and the leader of one of the biggest NTC-aligned militias. "We are waiting for the right moment to move in and in the meantime we are tracking his movements," Sharif said. "He doesn’t have a very strong protection with him, not as much protection as we had expected. He only moves at night to avoid NATO air strikes." He said that NTC forces had advanced to within 40 miles of the location and had surrounded the area. (NYT, Sept. 7) Meanwhile, conflicted reports are emerging from the oasis town of Bani Walid, one of the last Qaddafi strongholds, now ringed by NTC forces. Local tribal elders said to be representing the occupying Qaddafi-loyalists in talks reportedly agreed to a peaceful transfer of the town to NTC forces—but were also reported to be fired on by the Qaddafi forces during the talks outside the town. (AFP, Sept. 8)

A large convoy of about 250 armored vehicles believed to be carrying loyalists of Moammar Qaddafi has crossed into neighboring Niger, according to widespread reports. The convoy included officers from Qaddafi's army and Tuareg fighters, raising speculation that Qaddafi himself could be among them. Reuters, citing anonymous military sources from France and Niger, claims the convoy may represent a "dramatic, secretly negotiated bid" by Qaddafi" and his son Saif al-Islam to seek refuge in Burkina Faso, which has offered the ousted dictator asylum while also recognizing the National Transitional Council as Libya's new government. (AlJazeera, Atlantic Wire, Sept. 6)