UK, France for unlocking Libyan assets

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UK, France for unlocking Libyan assets

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Britain and France are seeking a new United Nations resolution to unlock frozen Libyan assets.

25 August,2011 10:42 am

Britain and France said they were seeking a new United Nations resolution to unlock frozen Libyan assets in a bid to deliver urgently needed funds to the anti-Gaddafi rebels as the United States requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday to discuss a move to ease Libya sanctions.As rebels battled to cement victory a day after storming the Tripoli compound of embattled leader Moamer Gaddafi, London and Paris, both veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, said a resolution was being discussed.In Britain alone, around £12 billion of the Libyan regimes assets were frozen this year after Gaddafi launched a bloody crackdown on the rebels.Diplomatically were engaged at the United Nations and elsewhere to pave the way for the unfreezing of assets... that have been frozen for five months but which ultimately belong to the Libyan people, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said.A govt source in London confirmed Britain was working with its international partners on a UN resolution to release funds to help support the new leadership in Libya. A diplomatic source in Paris said France was also seeking a new resolution.The European drive came a day after the United States said it was working through the UN to release up to $1.5 billion in frozen Libyan assets for the cash-strapped rebels. Some $30 billion of Libyan assets are frozen in the United States.Billions of dollars of cash, property and other assets belonging to the Gaddafi regime in the West were frozen in February under a UN Security Council resolution.Elsewhere, Germany, which currently holds a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and Turkey called for a UN resolution to be passed swiftly to unfreeze Libyan assets.Meanwhile, the Pentagon said Wednesday that Libyas stockpile of chemical weapons are secure but that an arsenal of thousands of shoulder-launched missiles remained cause for concern. Asked if sites containing chemical weapons, including over 10 tons of mustard gas, were safe, spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan said: Yes.