Mahmoud Jibril: the international face of Libya's rebels

London, where the British governmentwas hosting a meeting of foreign ministers to discuss theinternational intervention inLibya, wasthe focus of the Libyan rebels' latest diplomatic efforts on Tuesday.

Mahmoud Jibril,a formerofficial in Moammar Gadhafi's regime,was representing the rebels' so-calledinterim national council at the meeting, which included U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron,British Foreign Secretary William Hague and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The council was also in London to releaseits manifesto, dubbed "Vision of a Democratic Libya."

The rebels' effortscome in the midst of debate in Canada and other countries over what role to play in Libya, especially because so little is known about the rebels opposing Gadhafi.

That's one of the challenges for Jibril, who, along with ex-diplomat Ali al-Essawi, is responsible for the council's foreign affairs. The Boston Globe describes Jibril as "one of the opposition's most potent weapons."

The council does not represent the entire opposition to Gadhafi but is its best-known face on the international stage. After meeting with Jibril, Hague described the council as, "an important and legitimate political interlocutor" but added, "the U.K. is committed to strengthening our contacts with a wide range of members of the Libyan opposition."

Former government official, academic

Jibril is one of the council's 31 members, who claim to represent all parts of Libya. Like the council's chairman, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, Jibril served in Gadhafi's government. Jalil was the justice minister until he resigned Feb. 21. Jibril headed the national council for economic development and the national planning council.

Jibril, who was born in 1952, attended university in Cairo and then Pittsburgh. He earned a master's degreein political science in 1980 and a PhD in 1984 at the University of Pittsburgh.

He turned his dissertation into a book, Imagery and Ideology in U.S. Policy Toward Libya, 1969-1982. In the book, one of10 he has published, he writes critically of U.S. foreign policy. (On the book's cover, his name appears as "Mahmoud G Elwarfally," and his last name isalso occasionally written as Gebril.)

Jibril returned to the Middle East, teaching at Garyounis University in Benghazi, Libya, and running his own company, Gebril for Training and Consultancy, which operated across the region.

About six years ago, Gadhafi's son, Seif, persuaded Jibril to join his effort to restructure the Libyan economy.

In 2009, the U.S. ambassador to Libya at the time, Gene Cretz, wrote that Jibril "'gets' the U.S. perspective" in a cable released last year by Wikileaks.

Cretz wrote that at a meeting withJibril he "highlighted the need to replace the country's decrepit infrastructure and train Libyans" and requested American public and private assistance to do so. In his pitch, he told the ambassador that Libya, "has a stable regime and is 'virgin country' for investors."

Jibril must have been persuasive. The cable concludes, "we should take him up on his offer."

Tried to resign

Mazin Ramadan, a businessman in Seattle, told The Boston Globe that he had approached Jibril with a plan for starting up technology companies in Libya. Jibril was supportive but was overruled by hard-liners in the government. Ramadan claims that Jibril was frustrated in government and had tried to resign for years but Gadhafi would not let him. Jibril finally did leave the government in 2010.

The uprising in Libya began on Feb. 17, and10 days later, the council was announced. (At the time, it was calling itself the national transitional council, which survives in its domain name, ntclibya.org.)

Jibril was an early member, one of seven professors and one of several members educated in the West.

As an international representative of the council, he met with France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, on March 10. After the meeting, France became the first country to recognize the council.

Tuesday was Jibril's second meeting with Clinton. He has also met John Kerry, head of the U.S. Senate foreign relations committee.

A big challenge for Jibril's diplomatic efforts is allaying concerns that the rebels are fighting an east vs. west tribal civil war and that Islamists make up a significant part of their forces.

Rebels' vision for Libya

It was to address those concerns thatthe council's political and international affairs committee drafted the statement released Tuesday in London.

In it, the councilwrites about its desire for democracy, civil society, pluralism and a Libyan constitution that embodies those values. There are mentions of goals that will resonatewith differentparts of Libyan societyand in the West: "a green environment," "a free private sector," eradication ofpoverty and unemployment, guarantees for "the rights and empowerment of women" and respect for "the sanctity of religious doctrine."

As head of the council's crisis committee, in addition to foreign affairs, Jibril is also responsible for military affairs, and that has been at least as big a challenge.

The coalition bombing directed against Gadhafi's forces has certainly helped the rebels' military efforts but has not made up for their disorganization as a fighting force.

Last week, Ali Tarhouni, who is in charge of finance for the council, told reporters how thecouncil initiallyviewed the uprising against Gadhafi.

"We were betting 24 hours, and he's gone from the country," Tarhouni explained, adding, "we're not as organized as we thought or can be."

Tarhouni was teaching economics at the University of Washington before he returned to Libya last month. When he returned, he told reporters, "There was a total vacuum [of leadership]" but also said, "We will clean it up. I promise you."