Qatar pledges $500mn for Libyan rebel fund Publish Date: Friday,6 May, 2011, at 01:54 AM Doha Time
Agencies/Rome Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani speaks during a press conference with Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini after a meeting of the Contact Group on Libya yesterday in Rome. The meeting agreed on a new fund to aid Libya's rebels, with the US and Europe promising to tap frozen assets of Muammar Gaddafi's regime despite still unresolved legal issues Cash-strapped Libyan rebels won a financial lifeline potentially worth billions of dollars from Qatar, Kuwait, the US and other allies yesterday. The pledges came at a meeting of the Contact Group on Libya in Rome yesterday which was held under the co-chairmanship of Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. The Qatari Prime Minister said his country promised $400-500mn to a temporary special fund. Kuwait pledged $180mn to the fund. Ministers from an anti-Gaddafi coalition called the Libya contact group, including the US, France, Britain and Italy, as well as Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, agreed in Rome to set up a fund to help the rebels, who are desperately short of cash. The rebel Transitional National Council, based in the eastern city of Benghazi, says it needs $2bn to $3bn in immediate aid. A spokesman said the rebels only had funds to pay for basic needs until the end of May. However, others were more cautious about putting a figure on how much they might provide and Britain said it had already contributed enough. "The temporary financial mechanism is well defined now and will be operation in the next few weeks," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told reporters. He said Paris was still evaluating its contribution. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington would seek to unlock some of the $30bn of Libyan state funds frozen in the US to help the rebel movement. "It's a good start," said Mahmoud Jabril, head of the rebels' interim government. The Rome meeting discussed ways to stop Gaddafi from exporting crude oil or importing refined petroleum as the coalition searched for ways to isolate the Tripoli government from world markets. "The regime must not be allowed any access to oil and gas revenues to support actions against the Libyan people," a final statement said. At the outset of the meeting the Qatari Prime Minister gave a speech in which he said `'the meeting is convened amidst the continuation of the grave developments in Libya as the Gaddafi's regime is still irresponsive to the international resolutions and the demands and trends of the international community which emphasise the need to halt military acts on the part of Gaddafi's armed forces and regime''. HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim said: "They persist in setting ablaze a fierce war against civilians who suffer from the scourge and woes of such war that causes them to suffer inhumane catastrophic damages. Gaddafi's only response for these international demands has been the use of cluster ammunition against civilians, an attitude which reflects his indifference and utter disregard to the international community. "The situation in Libya is extremely precarious as regards humanitarian, political and military aspects. Therefore, we must address these aspects with due responsibility and commitment." He said: "We are all aware that since the Libyan Transitional National Council has taken the responsibility within the areas it controls, the difficulties of providing basic expenses, including salaries and support public services and food resources and the provision of drugs and urgent medical needs become clearly difficult. The first meeting of the Contact Group held in Doha dealt with these issues. "To implement the directives issued by that meeting, the State of Qatar hosted on second and third of May, the meetings of experts to discuss the appropriate mechanism, and I am pleased to inform you that we, in co-operation with our partners in the Contact Group were able to formulate the Temporary Financial Mechanism to assist the Libyan National Transitional Council in carrying out the tasks entrusted to it, including the proposed mechanism, which has been drafted in accordance with best practices and consistent with the desired objectives." Back to Article Homepage ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
