Libya’s PM of First Transitional Government Dies in US

Libya’s late prime minister Abdurrahim el-Keib (File photo: Reuters)
Libya’s late prime minister Abdurrahim el-Keib (File photo: Reuters)
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Libya’s PM of First Transitional Government Dies in US

Libya’s late prime minister Abdurrahim el-Keib (File photo: Reuters)
Libya’s late prime minister Abdurrahim el-Keib (File photo: Reuters)

Libya’s prime minister of the country’s first transitional government Abdurrahim el-Keib died Tuesday after having a heart attack in the US, announced his family.

The Libyan opposition figure was prime minister for eleven months in 2011 after the Transitional National Council chose him to lead the government, before he voluntarily handed the position over to his successor Ali Zeidan.

During his tenure, the country held its first elections for the General National Congress in 2012, where he received 26 votes of the 51. The Congress later elected Zeidan as prime minister.

Keib, 70, was an engineering professor and held several positions in various universities in the Gulf and the US.

In 1967, Keib left the country and joined the opposition against the former regime, before returning to Libya immediately after the outbreak of the February events in 2011.

At his inauguration, Keib delivered a speech in English during which he vowed to build a state that respects human rights.

However, things didn’t go as announced and several UN reports indicated that human rights were repeatedly violated in the country.

Head of the internationally recognized Presidential Council Fayez al-Sarraj mourned the death of Keib saying the country had lost one of its loyal citizens who was a role model in taking responsibility and committing to the best interest of Libya.

The Council issued a statement describing Keib as “pure, friendly, and transparent, whose heart does not bear hatred or grudge.”

It indicated that the late PM added a great human and political value to the country, supported the national reconciliation, and was looking forward for the establishment of a democratic civil state.



'Tariff Man': Trump's Long History with Trade Wars

US President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 31 March 2025. EPA/ALEXANDER DRAGO / POOL
US President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 31 March 2025. EPA/ALEXANDER DRAGO / POOL
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'Tariff Man': Trump's Long History with Trade Wars

US President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 31 March 2025. EPA/ALEXANDER DRAGO / POOL
US President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 31 March 2025. EPA/ALEXANDER DRAGO / POOL

Donald Trump loves few things more than talking about his affinity for tariffs, but it's nothing new: he's been saying the same thing for decades.
"To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is 'tariff,'" Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail for the 2024 election, according to AFP.
He has since joked that it is now his fourth favorite word, after love, God and family -- but his commitment to them remains as strong as ever.
The 78-year-old Republican has promised a "Liberation Day" for America on Wednesday when he announces sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs targeting any country that has import levies against US goods.
The sudden trade war has sent leading world economies scrambling -- yet anyone surprised by the onslaught has not been listening to Trump himself.
Other policies have come and gone, especially on hot-button issues such as abortion, but Trump's belief that America is being ripped off by the world has remained one of his core values.
So has his innate conviction that tariffs are the solution, despite arguments by opponents and many economists that US consumers will suffer when importers pass on increased prices.
'Ripping off'
"I am a Tariff Man," Trump declared in a social media post back in 2018 during his first presidential term.
In fact, Trump has been saying as much since the 1980s.
His main target then was Japan, as Trump -- best known in those days as a brash property dealer and tabloid fixture -- discussed getting into politics in an interview with CNN's Larry King.
"A lot of people are tired of watching other countries ripping off the United States," Trump said in 1987, using rhetoric that has changed little in the intervening 38 years.
"Behind our backs, they laugh at us because of our own stupidity."
In a separate interview with chat show host Oprah Winfrey, he raged: "We let Japan come in and dump everything right into our markets."
By the 1990s and early 2000s, China entered his crosshairs, and Beijing remains one of his top tariff targets, along with Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
In his successful 2016 election campaign, Trump stepped up the rhetoric, saying: "We can't continue to allow China to rape our country."
'Very rich'
During his second term, Trump has also started citing a historical precedent going back more than a century -- President William McKinley.
McKinley's passion for both territorial expansion and economic protectionism during his time in office from 1897 to 1901 could have been the model for Trump's "Make America Great Again" policies.
"President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent -- he was a natural businessman," Trump said in his inauguration speech in January.
Trump's promises of a "Golden Age" harkens back to the so-called "Gilded Age" that culminated with McKinley's presidency, a time when America's population and economy exploded -- along with the power of oligarchs.
In addition to deploying tariffs, McKinley presided over a period of territorial adventurism for the United States, including the Spanish-American war and the purchases of Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.
Such moves echo Trump's own designs for Greenland, Panama and Canada.
The two also share the unwanted similarity of being struck by an assassin's bullet -- although Trump survived the attempt on his life at an election rally last July, while McKinley was killed by an anarchist in 1901.