Libya's NTC may delay forming government again: source

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Senior members of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) are leaning toward putting plans for a new caretaker government on hold because they cannot agree on a line-up, a source close to the council told Reuters on Sunday.

NTC members, Libya's rulers since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled last month, have once already postponed forming a government and more delays could hurt their credibility as a body capable of uniting Libya's disparate tribes and regions.

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, a senior NTC official, told Reuters last week that an interim government will be announced within the next few days.

But the source close to the NTC, who did not want to be identified, said: "There are disagreements about some portfolios so the trend is to extend the mandate of the NTC with some changes while the discussions continue to form the interim government."

An NTC spokesman in Tripoli, Mohammad al-Keish, said there was no plan to change the timeframe for forming a new cabinet, which would ideally come as the last remaining pockets of resistance were subdued.

"The schedule is what it is, it's unchanged," he said.

The al Arabiya television station reported the NTC had decided to extend the term of the current government line-up until the remaining pockets of armed Gaddafi loyalists are defeated and the whole country is under the council's control.

(Additional reporting by Joseph Logan in Tripoli, Tarek Amara in Tunis and Sami Aboudi in Cairo; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Sophie Hares)