The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the money — currently frozen in French banks — must be used for humanitarian purchases, in accordance with European law.
The announcements came after French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe’s meeting Monday with Mansour Seyf Al-Nasr, the Libyan opposition’s new ambassador to Paris.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Al-Nasr said he would urge the NATO-led coalition to continue its air campaign against embattled Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s forces through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that began Monday.
France has been a top backer of the Benghazi-based National Transitional Council rebels and has played a key role in NATO’s 4-month campaign mandated by the UN to protect civilians from a crackdown by Qaddafi’s forces on an uprising against his four-decade rule.
France expelled Qaddafi’s diplomats in May.
