“Mr. Jibril is sowing discontent, he is fueling resentment, he’s putting incompetent ministers in place,” the official said.
Some also have criticized Jibril, a U.S.-educated political science professor, for having worked for the Gaddafi regime before the revolution.
In contrast, the council’s president, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, continues to enjoy wide support. He was justice minister under Gaddafi but is seen by Libyans as trustworthy.
On Sunday, the council decided that the de facto cabinet would remain largely unchanged, said Abdurrahim el-Keib, a council representative for Tripoli, adding that despite “heated discussion,” he is not worried by the council’s inability to announce a lineup.
“I think this is healthy,” he said. “People haven’t had a chance to exercise this kind of discussion. I think in this case people are exercising some real democracy on some level.”
U.S. Ambassador Gene Cretz, who returned to Libya last week after nine months, also said the delay does not worry him. “I think it’s natural that in the first blush of forming a political body there’s going to be difficulties,” he said. “I don’t think that we should be concerned at this point that they haven’t formed a full-fledged government.”
Noman Benotman, a senior analyst at the London think tank Quilliam, said the criticism of Jibril may not all be fair, but he added that the council has failed to adequately communicate with Libyans.
“The thing annoying the man on the street is the uncertainty, the unpredictability,” he said. “They don’t know what is the policy of the officials, so they don’t know what their future will be.”
Some are already making their displeasure known. Jamal al-Haggi, a human rights and political activist who was a political prisoner under Gaddafi, said he is disappointed by the delay and is considering forming an opposition party or watchdog nongovernmental organization.
When Tripoli fell, “we thought people would work together to help the street instead of everybody working for his agenda,” he said. “They’ve used the revolution, they’ve used this victory in the wrong way, and . . . soon I think we will have to take this to the streets.”
There have been a few small demonstrations around Tripoli in recent days by citizens demanding more money for wounded veterans and protesting corruption at the national oil company.
But others say they will remain patient.
“We’re fed up from the term ‘revolution,’ ” said Mohamed El Gamoudi, 33, a dentist who is working with Aradi on building a civil society group. He says he trusts the council but expects answers soon. “These [council] people are human beings. We need to show them that there are living people in this country and tell them to not fool us anymore.”
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