Libyan Uprising - Page 134

Libya’s national transitional council will ask its international allies to release an initial $2.5bn in Libyan money during a conference in Doha on Wednesday, as the rebels who have all but ousted

Colonel Muammer Gaddafi seek to shore up their tentative control of the country.
The meeting takes place as Britain, France and the US begin pushing for a new UN Security Council resolution on Libya to secure international agreement to release about $100bn of Gaddafi regime assets frozen when the crisis began.
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As the Libyan rebels continued to consolidate their hold on Tripoli on Tuesday, senior British diplomats said agreement on a new resolution by the Security Council was crucial to help stabilise the new leadership in Libya and was the next important step for the international community.

“The one thing that the international community can do to help shape events in Tripoli is to make sure the new leaders get financial resources they need,” said a UK official. “What New York now needs to do is unfreeze assets quickly.”

Mahmoud Jibril, the head of the NTC’s executive committee, said the rebels hoped to secure $2.5bn in funds before the religious festival of Eid, which marks the close of the holy month of Ramadan at the end of August. He will meet French president Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Wednesday to discuss prospects for the political transition.

Representatives of countries including the US, UK, France, Italy, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are expected to attend Wednesday’s meeting in Doha.
Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of the NTC, earlier asked Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, to release the assets frozen through a UN sanctions resolution as countries rushed to block the regime’s access to its funds overseas.

Mr Jalil made the request during a phone call with Mr Ban on Tuesday morning but diplomats said the Security Council had not yet made any formal move on a new resolution reversing the freeze.
Agreement on a new resolution would require approval from Security Council members – Russia, China, Brazil and India – which have been lukewarm about the Nato operation in Libya until now.
“The question people are asking in New York is whether these countries will be problematic about a new resolution,” said the official. “One would assume they would not have a problem backing such a move now that Gaddafi is gone. But this does need to be tested.”

The US has frozen about $37bn of assets held by Libyan regime bodies, while the UK has frozen some £12bn and Germany has blocked about €7.3bn.
Washington is now working to release about $1.5bn in liquid assets to the NTC for humanitarian purposes and to “help it establish a secure, stable government”, said Victoria Nuland, a state department spokeswoman.

The rebel group has made “strong commitments” that it would use the money transparently, she said on Tuesday. “We would not have taken this step if we didn’t have confidence that the money would get to the people who need it,” she said.
European Union member countries were also preparing to unfreeze Libyan assets once the UN moves, said Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief.
“This is a rich country. The question is how to get the economy moving again quickly,” Lady Ashton told reporters in Brussels.

Western diplomats believe the UN has a crucial role to play in assisting the new authorities in Libya and say it is essential to establish a mission on the ground as soon as possible, possibly with a military group providing protection.

The mission will have several important tasks, including the co-ordination of a humanitarian effort that is needed to aid many hospitals that are overburdened as a result of the fighting.

“The UN needs to co-ordinate international advice and assistance,” said a European diplomat. “But the emphasis is on advice. The NTC are inheriting a reasonably going concern and the richest country in Africa. You do not need to have the UN coming in and doing everything for them.”
A new resolution will also need to end an embargo on the export of refined fuel to Libya. This is now urgently needed for the provision of electricity and desalination plants.