Libya reshuffles cabinet

Libya named veteran oil expert Fethi Omar bin Chetwane as its first energy minister in more than five years on Saturday ahead of negotiations on the return of US oil firms after the lifting of some US sanctions.

It replaced the finance minister but kept its prime minister and foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle decided by the top legislative and executive body, the General People's Congress, and announced on state television.

The reshuffle was the latest step in the north African country's drive to return to the international mainstream, following its decision to give up programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction and accept responsibility for the Lockerbie airliner bombing of 1988.

Opec member Libya had had no energy minister for more than five years, since leader Muammar Gaddafi symbolically scrapped the oil portfolio to give added weight to his policy of diversifying the country's oil-dependent economy.

Prime Minister Shokri Ghanem and Foreign Minister Mohamed Abderrhmane Chalgam kept their jobs in the reshuffle, but Mohamed Ali al Houeiz replaced al-Ujayli Abd-al-Salam Burayni as finance minister.

The People's Congress announced the cabinet changes at the end of a five-day meeting in Mr Gaddafi's home town, Sirte. Officials were not immediately available to give further information on the reshuffle.

Western diplomats in Tripoli had expected the appointment of an energy minister, as the oil and gas industry will be the first sector to benefit from the recent thaw in Libya's relations with the West.

The United States last month lifted a travel ban on Libya and allowed Tripoli to set up a diplomatic presence in Washington to reward Mr Gaddafi for dismantling Libya's weapons programmes, including those for nuclear arms.

The White House said on Saturday that Libya had sent to the United States all the known remaining equipment linked with its nuclear weapons programmes, along with longer-range missiles and launchers. A contracted ship containing 500 tonnes of equipment left Libya earlier in the day and was on its way to an undisclosed site in the United States, White House National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Libya is also expected to sign the UN nuclear watchdog's Additional Protocol to show it is fully committed to giving up all plans to develop weapons of mass destruction, diplomats in Vienna said.

Countries signing the protocol accept rigorous inspections procedures including snap inspections of nuclear facilities by IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) experts.

On Friday, Libya reported a stockpile of deadly mustard gas and precursors for the production of sarin and other nerve gas to The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the arms control body said.

The lifting of the US travel ban enabled US companies which had had operations in Libya before the imposition of sanctions to negotiate their return to the oil-rich country, and US oil firms are expected to send officials to Libya soon.

The Libyan government is eager to get foreign investment and new technology to increase its oil production capacity to two million barrels per day (bpd) by 2010 from 1.4 million bpd now.