Libya's new interim Prime Minister Abdel-Rahim el-Keeb is an academic and businessman who spent decades in the United States before returning to Libya to support the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi.

He is technocrat not widely known before his election Monday, but has been praised as a moderate with wide appeal.

El-Keeb was educated in the United States as an electrical engineer, earning a doctorate from North Carolina State University before going on to teaching posts at the University of Alabama and the Petroleum Institute in the United Arab Emirates.

He is from the coastal town of Sabratha, about 70 kilometers west of the capital, Tripoli.

The longtime anti-Gadhafi dissident represented Tripoli on the National Transitional Council and provided financial support to the opposition effort to overthrow Gadhafi's 42-year rule.

El-Keeb has pledged to make human rights a priority as Libya works to form an interim government and prepare for elections.