If you were to say four years ago the leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and the American government would both back the same government I would have called you crazy.
(Almasry Alyoum) — The Islamist who commands one of Libya’s most powerful militias, Abdel Hakim Belhadj, said on Monday he will back the interim national government despite his supporters being overlooked for top posts.
But he would not commit to a date for the forces under his control to hand over their weapons to the government, a crucial test of whether Libya after the fall of dictator Muammar Qadhafi can form a cohesive state.
Some analysts had warned that caretaker Prime Minister Abdurrahim al-Keib risked sparking a confrontation with Belhadj’s Islamists after he handed the defense minister’s post in the new government to the head of a rival militia.
Belhadj is a former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which waged an insurgency against Qadhafi in the 1990s. He spent time with Islamist militants in Afghanistan, though he said he was not allied with Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda.
He was captured, detained by British and U.S. intelligence services, and sent to Libya in 2004, where he was jailed. He was given an amnesty last year after renouncing violence.
Belhadj heads the Tripoli Military Council, a heavily-armed force of about 25,000 men. It is one of dozens of competing groups which Western states backing Libya’s new leaders want to see brought under one command.