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By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 7 May 2013:
The General National . . .[restrict]Congress voted this morning to look at appointing a new Chief of Staff in a month’s time. According to GNC spokesman Omar Hemidan, they cited the poor performance in rebuilding the army by the current Chief of Staff, Major-General Yousef Mangoush.
The spokesman denied, however, that Mangoush had resigned following the decision.
Eighty one out of 130 Congress members voted for the move, giving a month to the Defence Ministry to provide them with suitable alternative names who, they said, had to be well qualified for the post as well as meet the Political Isolation Law rules. Additionally, candidates should have been not involved in Qaddafi’s 1969 coup, not to be less than 35 years old, or a member of any political party or movement.
Nonetheless, Congress did open the door to Mangoush remaining in office, according to Hemidan. The Chief of Staff would will stay in post and run the military until 7 June, he said. At that point Congress would meet to either replace him or vote him into office once again. However, the general view is that, as a senior officer in the Qaddafi regime, Mangoush would anyway be barred from office under the Political Isolation Law. Article 1, Clause 7, lists military commanders during the Qaddafi era as being disbarred from future office. Mangoush was a colonel until 1999 when he retired. [/restrict]
