SEIFTY DANCE:

New openness on 38th anniversary of Kadhafi coup (AFP, 9/02/07)

While official newspapers have long been published on green paper, the new dailies Oea and Cyrene, the ancient Greek names for Tripoli and the second city of Benghazi, are printed on blue paper.

The two dailies, which have a more attractive page layout than their official counterparts, are owned by the Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) firm which launched in August Al-Libiya, the nation's first private television station.

They have criticised members of the government, tackling subjects that have been taboo.

Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi was the first to pay the price. Commenting on a development project in Tripoli, Oea reproached him for having disfigured the capital by ordering buildings demolished without plans to replace them.

Cyrene went further by raising the cases of Libyan opposition members exiled abroad.

An editorial urged the authorities to allow opposition members to return home, saying they had left their country after having had "a feeling of political or economic injustice."

Created by young writers and journalists encouraged by Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam, Al-Ghad hopes for a "rebirth" in Libya's media landscape, dominated for nearly 40 years by the General Libyan Press Office.