Libyan Opposition Seeks to Build Self-Styled Government

April 18, 2011

A soldier walks past a wall of posters appealing for information about missing people, at a hospital in Benghazi, Libya, April 17, 2011

Every Friday thousands of people gather in front of opposition headquarters at Benghazi’s courthouse. Its walls are a memorial to the hundreds of people who died in the struggle against the government of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

National Transitional Council

The preacher denounces the abuses of the Gadhafi regime. Despite the military stalemate on the ground and the continuing conflict, opposition leaders have set up a National Transitional Council to replace the 41-year dictatorship.

Heavy gunfire pockmarks houses in the Bira neighborhood in Misrata, a rebel bastion 120 kms (75 miles) east of Tripoli, on April 15, 2011

Council Spokesman Mustafa Gheriani says there is a lot of work to do.

"We are building a country from scratch and it’s testimony that we are doing great job that the entire east part of the country is functioning better than ever before and better than the areas that Colonel Gadhafi is ruling," said Gheriani.

The Council has 31 members representing all of Libya’s political districts. Only 10 have been announced. The others are kept secret for security reasons and because the Gadhafi forces still control large parts of central and western Libya.