The US, Britain and the European Union have called for the quick release of assets to help the opposition National Transitional Council rebuild the Libyan economy, restore essential services, reform the police and the army, and pay government salaries.
“We have called a meeting today and will introduce a resolution that would unfreeze roughly $1.5 billion of Libyan assets to meet urgent humanitarian needs,” Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the US Mission to the United Nations in New York, said Wednesday.
In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters “we are engaged at the United Nations and elsewhere to pave the way for the unfreezing of assets, the assets that have been frozen for five months but which ultimately belong to the Libyan people.”
The head of Libya’s opposition government, Mahmoud Jibril, held talks Wednesday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who promised to keep providing military support for the Libyan rebels trying to topple Muammar Qaddafi’s regime.
Although the rebels claim to have taken control of most of the Libyan capital of Tripoli, skirmishes with supporters of the regime continue. Qaddafi, whose whereabouts are unknown, has said he will fight to the death.
“We are inclined to continue military operations ... as long as our Libyan friends need it,” Sarkozy told reporters.
France was the first country to recognize Jibril’s government and has been a key supporter of the NATO airstrike campaign against Qaddafi’s forces.
Sarkozy said it would be up to the Libyan opposition government to decide when it was time for French troops to leave.
Jibril indicated the rebels still needed help, saying the fighting wasn’t yet finished and calling “strange” unconfirmed reports that Qaddafi’s camp was proposing a cease-fire.
But Jibril said plans for the future were already taking shape — and his government was talking to the UN about sending up to 200 monitors to help ensure security in Tripoli.
“The mission of protecting civilians is not over,” said Jibril. “The other bigger and more fierce battle has not started yet: it is the rebuilding of Libya.”
Tentative discussions have also begun on a second resolution to cover the UN’s mandate in Libya — which currently authorizes the NATO-led air campaign to protect civilians from attack, according to a British official, who demanded anonymity to discuss the ongoing negotiations.
One of the biggest questions facing the opposition government is whether they will be given access to funds frozen to punish Qaddafi’s regime and cripple his response to the insurrection.
The US and its allies have been trying for more than two weeks to get the Security Council committee that monitors sanctions against Libya to agree to unfreeze the assets. The decision to lift the sanctions must be unanimous.
Council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions have been private, said all 15 nations agreed except South Africa, so the US, Britain and France decided to introduce a resolution instead.
“We expect it to have the necessary support to pass,” a US diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
South Africa’s UN ambassador was not immediately available to comment.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has previously said the UK hopes to release about 12 billion pounds ($20 billion) in frozen Libyan assets, though it wasn’t immediately clear if any of those funds would be covered under the new resolution.
French officials said Jibril was in Paris to discuss the decisive final stages of Qaddafi’s regime and lay the groundwork for a Sept. 1 meeting in Paris to discuss how the international community can help Libya move to the post-Qaddafi era.
France was the first country to recognize Jibril’s government and has been a key supporter of the NATO airstrike campaign against Qaddafi’s forces.
Sarkozy, who championed the costly NATO airstrike campaign against Qaddafi’s forces despite a stalemate in recent months, lauded the oft-criticized military alliance.
“The tenacity of the allied forces paid off,” he told a Cabinet meeting Wednesday.
As nations — and companies — jostle for favor with the new rebel regime, officials acknowledged that Libya’s opposition has forged strong ties with those who backed the campaign to topple Qaddafi.
“Many, many countries have been very resolute and strong in coming out and siding with the Libyan people from day one — and I include in that the British government,” Guma El-Gamaty, a British-based coordinator for the National Transitional Council told BBC radio. “There are other countries who have been very slow, and, if you like, only came around very, very late — countries like China and Russia.”
He also said Libya was likely to improve its ties with the United States.
“Qaddafi’s relationship with the (United) States was very erratic,” El-Gamaty said.
China, which abstained from the UN resolution authorizing force against Qaddafi’s forces in Libya, said Wednesday it now wanted to take a role in post-conflict reconstruction.
Saket Vemprala, an analyst at the London-based Business Monitor International, said he believed Libya’s incoming regime wouldn’t likely restrict itself to current allies when it came to awarding new contracts, and may be open to striking deals with Russia and China.
“I think the most likely outcome is pragmatic dealmaking from the National Transitional Council,” Vemprala said.
El-Gamaty also confirmed the interim government would stand by commercial deals with foreign companies signed by Qaddafi’s regime. “They will be honored,” he said.
