Libyan rebels seek $5 billion in aid

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Libyan rebels seek $5 billion in aid

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Libya's National Transitional Council has sought five billion dollars in emergency aid.

25 August,2011 10:29 am

Libyas rebel National Transitional Council sought five billion dollars in emergency aid from frozen Libyan assets at a meeting with foreign representatives. The sum was twice that announced Tuesday by NTC number two Mahmud Jibril.The participants in the meeting supported the Libyan demand for five billion dollars to be unfrozen urgently from blocked assets of Moamer Kadhafis regime, Aref Ali Nayed, the TNCs envoy to the United Arab Emirates said.The meeting, attended by representatives in the Libya contact group of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey and the United States, was held at the request of the NTC, the political organ of Libyas rebellion.Jibril said Tuesday the funds were needed to pay salaries of Libyans before the end of the month, and for humanitarian support, NTC number two Mahmud Jibril said in Doha on Tuesday.The UN Security Council began meeting later on Wednesday to discuss a US proposal to release frozen Libyan assets to pay for emergency humanitarian aid.Nayed said he expected it to agree by Thursday to release 1.5 billion dollars, taking the total to 6.5 billion.Those assets were frozen on February 26 by a UN resolution that imposed tough international sanctions on Kadhafi, his family and his close associates, in response to the brutal repression of rebel forces in Libya following their revolt.