Libya declared the liberation of the country after 42 years of one-man rule by Muammar Gadafy came to an end with his capture and death this week.
The declaration in front of tens of thousands of people sets the North African state on course for a transition towards democracy.
"We declare to the whole world that we have liberated our beloved country, with its cities, villages, hill-tops, mountains, deserts and skies," said an official who opened the ceremony in Benghazi, where the uprising began in February and which has been the headquarters for the National Transitional Council (NTC).
NTC leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil kneeled in prayer after taking the stand at the celebration. "We as a Muslim nation have taken Islamic sharia as the source of legislation, therefore any law that contradicts the principles of Islam is legally nullified," he said.
Mr Jalil thanked the Arab League, the United Nations, and the European Union for supporting the uprising which ended with Gadafy's death on Thursday. "All the martyrs, the civilians and the army had waited for this moment. But now they are in the best of places ... eternal heaven," he said, shaking hands with supporters. "The revolution began as a peaceful one. But it was faced with violence."
Crowds listening to Libyan music and waving the tri-colour flag cheered after the declaration. Omar Hariri, one of the officers who took part in Gadafy’s 1969 coup but was later jailed, was appointed head of the military. He was one of the interim government's senior military commanders during the revolt. He promised that Libya's army would side with the people. "It will completely side with the people, its doctrine will be protecting the nation, protecting democracy and will not be an aide to a tyrant," he said.
Crowds listening to Libyan music and waving the tri-colour flag cheered.NTC official Salah el Ghazal paid tributes to all those who died, and referred to the "humiliating" death of Gadafy. "This is the humiliating end that God wanted to set as example for anyone who practices the worst forms of injustice .. against their people," he said.
The victory has been clouded by questions over how Gadafy was killed after images emerged showing he was found alive and taunted and beaten by his captors. Gadafy, who vowed to fight to the end, was found hiding in a drain after fleeing Sirte, the last bastion of his loyalists.
The country's chief forensic pathologist Dr Othman al-Zintani said today a postmortem confirmed that Gadafy was killed by a shot to the head.
The postmortem was carried out at a morgue in the city of Misrata, about 200km east of Tripoli. Local officials said Gadafy's body was brought back to a cold store at a market in Misrata where it has been on public display. The interim leaders in the NTC have yet to decide what to do with the corpse.
Gadafy's family have demanded his body be handed over to them for a funeral. In a statement on a Syria-based pro-Gadafy television station yesterday, the ousted dictator's family asked for the handover of the bodies of Gadafy, his son Mutassim, and others who were killed by fighters who overran the deposed dictator’s hometown Sirte.
The UN human rights arm said an investigation was needed into whether Gadafy was summarily executed.
Departing prime minister Mahmoud Jibril said the coroner's medical report showed Gadafy was already wounded when he was found in a drainage tube. "He was taken out, put in that truck and on their way to the field hospital they got crossfire on both sides and they didn't know if the bullet in the head was coming from his own security brigades or from the revolutionary people," he told reporters. "I have no reason ... to doubt the credibility of that report.”
Mr Jibril said today consultations were under way to form an interim government within a month, replacing the country's National Transitional Council.
"There are consultations which started to form an ... interim government. This process will take, I think, from one week to one month approximately. This is my expectation. It might go longer, it might be less than that," Mr Jibril told reporters in Jordan.
Elections to the country's new national congress that would replace the NTC would follow as soon as possible afterwards, he said, adding that he did not plan to stand for any official position in Libya.
The long-awaited declaration of liberation comes more than two months after revolutionary forces swept into Tripoli and seized control of most of the oil-rich North African country. It was stalled by fierce resistance by Gadafy loyalists in his hometown of Sirte, Bani Walid and pockets in the south.
Sirte was the last to fall, but Gadafy’s son and one-time heir apparent Saif al-Islam and many of his fighters have apparently escaped, raising fears they could continue to stir up resistance.
In Tripoli, residents said they were relieved Gadafy was killed, not captured, allowing the nation to move forward without fear that his supporters would try to sabotage the transition to democracy.
Reuters