Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son and heir apparent Seif al-Islam has announced his withdrawal from politics. "I have decided no longer to intervene in state affairs," the 36-year-old told thousands of young supporters in the town of Sebha 800 kilometres south of the capital Tripoli late on Wednesday.
Seif al-Islam said he had been "obliged to intervene" in politics in the past despite his lack of any official position because of the lack of political institutions and a civil service but said he now saw no need to carry on.
"It's true that I have intervened in all fields, in foreign affairs and in domestic Libyan matters like development, housing, urban planning and so on," he said, according to AFP. He cited the settlement of the claims of the families of the 270 dead in the 1988 bombing of a US airliner and the release of six Bulgarian medics.
"I have achieved my programme," he said. "The train is currently on the rails." "I have no more big battles to fight and my position is becoming embarrassing," Seif al-Islam said. "The situation has changed. If I carry on, there will be a problem."
Seif al-Islam insisted the reforms he had championed had never been in conflict with the "people power" ideology his father had set out in his "Green Book." He said his proposals for a new de facto constitution would protect Kadhafi's political thinking and reiterated that any questioning of his father's role remained a "red line".
© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
