The formal announcement that Libya has been freed from the former regime of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi will be made on Sunday, a senior official in the interim government told AFP.

"The announcement of the liberation will be announced in Benghazi at 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) on Sunday, at the court of justice," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The declaration is due to be made by Libya`s interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil.

It was in Benghazi, Libya`s second city, that rebels first rose up against the iron-fisted regime in February, and where the National Transitional Council, the country`s new regime, is still based.

Libyan premier Mahmud Jibril said on Thursday, following the death of Kadhafi and the fall of his hometown Sirte, that the promised declaration that the country had finally been freed would be made later that day, or at the latest on Friday.

The announcement would be followed by the formation of an interim 

government to oversee drawing up a new constitution and holding free elections after four decades of dictatorship.

But with Seif al-Islam -- one of Kadhafi`s sons and longtime heir-apparent -- and his intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanussi still unaccounted for, NTC leaders have waited, despite jubilation in towns across the country at the news that the once all-powerful tyrant was dead.

Source: ANTARA