Libya's Transitional Leader Says Interim Government To Be Announced This Week

Libyan Transitional National Council Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil speaks during a meeting on Libya at United Nations headquarters in New York on September 20.

The head of Libya's National Transitional Council says a new interim government will be announced in the coming week.

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil's announcement comes as the council failed to seat a new cabinet of ministers last week.

Jalil spoke to reporters after returning from New York, where he and the National Transitional Council's premier, Mahmoud Jibril, represented Libya at the first UN General Assembly since longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi was deposed with the aid of NATO air strikes to protect civilians and neutralize pro-Qaddafi forces' weapons advantage.

Meanwhile, Qaddafi's daughter says her father is in high spirits and fighting alongside his supporters.

Aisha Qaddafi, speaking in an audio recording broadcast on a Syrian radio station, also called on the people of Tripoli and other cities to rise up and fight the country's new rulers.

Qaddafi's whereabouts have been unknown since rebels took Libya's capital in late August and now control almost all the country except for a few holdouts of Qaddafi's forces.

compiled from agency reports