At UN, Libya's new leaders seek support to thwart terrorist threat

Libya’s interim government may be this year’s darling of the international community, reaping praise from world leaders, including President Obama, at the United Nations’ annual gathering in New York.

But Libya’s new leaders say they are not getting the support of key African countries for their efforts to stabilize their country. Indeed, they worry that some African leaders in Zimbabwe, Algeria, and elsewhere still root for the deposed Muammar Qaddafi, who is on the run but still issuing defiant statements of resistance.

“Libya will need support from the international community to put pressure on those African countries who still support Qaddafi and benefit from his money,” said Mahmoud Nacua, charge d’affaires at the Libyan embassy in London, in an interview Tuesday with Reuters. “The international community has a vital role to stop any sabotage from Qaddafi and his sons and his supporters.”

Libyan leaders say that their country’s revolution is at risk and strides towards democracy will be halting until Qaddafi is captured and any forms of support he is receiving from outside the country – including moral – are stopped.

“This is no exaggeration to say that even beyond the African continent, Qaddafi with the means that he has, could return to his terrorist practices by providing arms across the continent ... that his absence from the political stage would be synonymous with the expansion of Al Qaeda and terrorist organizations,” said Mahmoud Jibril, interim prime minister and head of Libya’s Transitional National Council (TNC), in a UN Security Council appearance Monday.

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