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Libyan government to review its ambassadors

TRIPOLI,Jan30,2012(Reuters):  The Libyan government is reassessing its ambassadors worldwide and will dismiss those who had ties with ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi, a foreign ministry official said.The move appears to be a bid by the National Transitional Council (NTC) to quell growing discontent from Libyans who fear that the corruption of Gaddafi’s rule did not die with him and that his cronies continue to hold positions of power. “There is a plan to reassess the embassies and there is a new list for the ambassadors and embassy staff,” the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. Libya is trying to rebuild and reconcile after 42 years of rule under Gaddafi, and a civil war last year that toppled and killed him. Many Libyan ambassadors defected from Gaddafi during the war and still hold their posts under the new leadership. “These are the people whose jobs will be reassessed,” the official said, adding that ambassadors is some countries have already resigned in anticipation of the move. A week ago, NTC vice-president Abdel Hafiz Ghoga resigned a few days after he was jostled by an angry crowd of students when he visited a university in Benghazi in eastern Libya. Many in Benghazi said Ghoga should be barred from working for the NTC as he was secretary of the solicitors’ syndicate under Gaddafi.