Mahmud Jibril, the former head of the Libyan rebel government that overthrew dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, died Sunday of the coronavirus, his party said. Jibril, 68, died in Cairo where he had been hospitalised for two weeks, said Khaled al-Mrimi, secretary of the Alliance of National Forces party founded by Jibril in 2012. He had been admitted to the Ganzouri Specialised Hospital in Cairo on March 21 after suffering from cardiac arrest and three days later tested positive for coronavirus, hospital director Hisham Wagdy said. “He started… recovering the day before yesterday but then he began deteriorating again”, Wagdy told AFP in Cairo, confirming that Jibril died at 2:00 pm.
Jibril headed the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), the interim government during the NATO-backed rebellion that toppled and killed Kadhafi. He had been an economic advisor to the Kadhafi regime in its final years, before joining the revolution in 2011 and briefly serving as premier. Jibril resigned three days after Kadhafi was captured and killed when NTC fighters overran his hometown Sirte on October 20, 2011.
In the early days of the Libyan uprising, Jibril made several trips abroad to rally European and US support for the rebels against Kadhafi. In 2012, after the veteran leader was ousted and killed, Jibril stood in the country’s first ever democratic elections and his party won the vote but failed to clinch a majority in parliament which chose an independent candidate to become prime minister. Amid the chaos and violence that erupted in the following years, Jibril left Libya to live abroad.
Libya, now divided between a UN-recognised government based in Tripoli and a rival administration in the country’s east, announced its first death from coronavirus earlier this week. Health authorities said an 85-year-old woman was confirmed to have had COVID-19 on examination after her death, without giving further details. The UN-recognised Government of National Accord which controls the west of the country has officially recorded 10 cases. No cases have been declared in the south and east, which are largely under the control of the rival administration supported by military strongman Khalifa Haftar who has been battling to seize Tripoli.
Wagdy, the hospital director in Cairo, said that Jibril was in and out of consciousness during his time in the hospital’s intensive care unit, where he had been quarantined since his admission. Mrimi said that Jibril had appeared in stable conditions in recent days “and was even getting ready to leave the hospital” before his condition deteriorated again. (AFP)
Profile
Mahmoud Jibril el-Warfally (: محمود جبريل الورفلي), also transcribed Jabril or Jebril or Gebril (28 May 1952 – 5 April 2020), was a politician who served as the interim for seven and a half months during the overthrow of and the , chairing the executive board of the (NTC) from 5 March to 23 October 2011. He also served as the Head of International Affairs. As of July 2012, Jibril was the head of one of the largest political parties in Libya, the .
Toward the end of the conflict, Jibril was increasingly referred to by foreign governments and in media as the interim prime minister of Libya. Jibril's government was recognized as the "sole legitimate representative" of Libya by the including , , the , the , , and .
Career
[]Jibril graduated in Economics and Political Science from in 1975, then earned a master's degree in political science in 1980 and a doctorate in political science in 1985, both from the .
Jibril led the team which drafted and formed the Unified Arab Training manual. He was also responsible for organizing and administering the first two training conferences in the in the years 1987 and 1988. He later took over the management and administration of many of the leadership training programs for senior management in Arab countries including , , , , , , , , and the .
From 2007 to early 2011, he served in the regime as head of the National Planning Council of Libya and of the National Economic Development Board of Libya (NEDB). While there, he was a protégé and close friend of and promoted and policies.
National Transitional Council
[]On 23 March 2011, amidst the , the officially formed a transitional government and Jibril was appointed to head it. Jibril led meetings and negotiations with President , a meeting that resulted in France officially recognizing the National Transitional Council as the sole representative of the Libyan people. He also met with UK Foreign Secretary and then- Ambassador to Libya , successfully persuading them to publicly back the NTC.
Following his appointment as the NTC's head of government, Jibril was referred to by foreign officials as both as the interim prime minister and the chairman of the Executive Board, the title attributed to him by the NTC official website. References to Jibril as the prime minister, including by news organisations, foreign government ministries and world leaders, have increased significantly after rebels in late August 2011.
In his capacity as the NTC's top diplomat, Jibril was also referred to as the council's foreign minister, though this may have been a colloquial title. -based news organization also called him "the NTC's chief of staff" on at least one occasion.
The Executive Board was sacked en masse by decision of the NTC on 8 August over its sluggish response to the assassination of General , 's top commander. Jibril was asked to form a new board subject to the council's approval. Though Jibril stayed on as the board's chairman, a spokesman for the NTC said he would be required to spend less time out of the country.
On 21 August, amidst the , Jibril gave a televised speech urging revolutionary fighters against looting, killing, abusing foreign nationals, and mistreating . He also called for unity and asked that police and army units in disavow Gaddafi but remain at their posts. Jibril declared, "Today, all Libya's people are allowed to participate in the building of the future to build institutions with the aid of a constitution that does not differentiate between a man and a woman, sects or ethnicities. Libya is for everyone and will now be for everyone. Libya has the right to create an example that will be followed in the Arab region."
In September, Jibril "proposed 36 names for a new cabinet, including friends and relatives, and retained the prime minister and foreign minister slots for himself." He later retracted the proposal when NTC members objected, but an anonymous council official said it had "left a bitter taste".
Resignation
[]On 3 October 2011, Jibril announced that he would resign from government once the country had been "liberated". He later specified this meant the capture of from loyalist holdouts. On 20 October 2011, Sirte was and was killed. Keeping his promise to leave at the war's end, Jibril resigned three days later. He was succeeded by on 31 October.
In the National Forces Alliance
[]In 2012, Jibril became a member of the newly founded political union, the . On 14 March 2012, he was elected leader of the alliance. Jibril represented his party in the .
In the national elections of 7 July 2012, Jibril described his party as a supporter of and also as an advocate of . The NFA won the largest number of seats in . At the time, Jibril ran for a second term as prime minister. Jibril won the first round of voting, with 86 votes, significantly more than the 55 votes obtained by his primary opponent, . However, in the second round of voting, Abushagur ultimately defeated Jibril.
Death
[]On 21 March 2020, Jibril suffered a , and was admitted to the Ganzouri Specialized Hospital in , Egypt. Three days later, he tested positive for , which he died from on 5 April 2020, at the age of 67.
Works
[]- el-Warfally, Mahmoud G., Imagery and Ideology in U.S. Policy Toward Libya, 1969–1982, University of Pittsburgh Press (December 1988), 978-0-8229-3580-3
- Media related to at Wikimedia Commons