Allies offer Libyan rebels cash lifeline

[Baclava]

Source: Reuters

Cash-strapped Libyan rebels won a financial lifeline potentially worth billions of dollars from the United States and other allies on Thursday, as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi pounded a rebel town in the west.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington would seek to unlock some of the $30 billion of Libyan state funds frozen in the United States to help the rebel movement... "I'm pleased to announce that the Obama Administration, working with Congress, has decided to pursue legislation that would enable the U.S. to tap some portion of those assets owned by Gaddafi and the Libyan government in the United States, so we can make those funds available to help the Libyan people," she said.

While the fighting has generally descended into a stalemate, the rebel Transitional National Council (TNC), which has been recognized by France, Italy and Qatar, has appealed for loans of up to $3 billion as it seeks to tip the balance.

Other rebels have spoken of needing $2 billion- $3 billion to try to shore up an administration created from scratch with no substantial sources of funding, and to pay the state salaries on which most people depend.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/05/us-libya-idUSTRE7270JP20110505

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edit - (Messing me up - they changed the headline just as I was posting - can they do that?)

Stalemate? So I guess this will be an expensive nation-building.

[msongs]

1. evidently their African and Middle East sympathizers are not going to help out lol nt

[Baclava]

3. In related news...France sees Libya rebel fund operational in weeks

(Reuters) - A special fund to help cash-strapped Libyan rebels should be operational within weeks, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Thursday, adding that Paris was evaluating its possible contribution.

He said more work was needed to free up Libyan assets held abroad despite legal problems in overcoming hurdles set up to cut Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi off from foreign financing.

Speaking at a meeting of the anti-Gaddafi "contact group" in Rome, Juppe said that another international forum, the so-called "Friends of Libya" mooted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, should include Russia and other countries.

He also expressed surprise that the United Nations had not asked for the opening of a humanitarian aid corridor into Libya backed by European Union forces.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/05/us-libya-meeting-juppe-idUSTRE7443NU20110505

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Looks like the checkbooks are opening.

[Iterate]

2. "unlock some of the $30 billion of Libyan state funds frozen in the United States"

I believe is the salient piece of text.

In simple terms, it's their money; they aren't asking for anything other than access to the funds that belong to the Libyan people, not to the Gaddafi family.

[Baclava]

4. Wouldn't that take years to get through US courts?

Qatar is handing them cash.


Qatar pledges $400-500 million to Libya fund

(Reuters) - Kuwait has pledged $180 million for a fund to help cash-strapped Libyan rebels, while Qatar is putting in $400-500 million, Qatari Prime Minister Hammad bin Jassim al-Thani said Thursday.

The fund was announced by ministers at a meeting of the so-called Libya contact group in Rome.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/05/us-libya-meeting-qatar-idUSTRE7443US20110505

[Iterate]

5. Parts of it could be contested by the family.

So, yes this is a mechanism to help them avoid that. Similar circumstances in other countries.

So thank you Monitor Group (and so many others) for helping the regime set up impenetrable layers of nested companies. The more I learn about the financial structures, especially the dealings of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the more it's clear that the regime had degenerated into one family rule.

[TheLastMohican]

6. This is thievery of the international proportion

Imagine someone confiscating your bank account to pay the robber of your house.

I can imagine now why the US government is so despised all over the world.

Bank secrets and sovereign bank holdings mean nothing to them.

[al bupp]

8. Sovereign bank holdings in this case, sir...

Could be likened to the Swiss banks of Nazis, since the assets derive from similar sorts of thuggery. How self-professed leftists here on DU can convince themselves to carry water for Gaddafi's regime simply boggles my mind.

[Turborama]

7. US wants to give frozen Libyan assets to rebels

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO and MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press – 26 mins ago

ROME – The United States is trying to free up part of $30 billion it has frozen in Libyan assets so it can better support opponents of Moammar Gadhafi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told a conference Thursday on Libya.

Twenty-two nations and international organizations met in Rome to figure out how to help the Libyan rebels, who say they need up to $3 billion in the coming months for military salaries, food, medicine and other basic supplies.

Clinton said the Obama administration, working with Congress, wants "to tap some portion of those assets owned by Gadhafi and the Libyan government in the United States, so we can make those funds available to help the Libyan people."

The U.S. has already pledged $53 million in humanitarian aid and authorized up to $25 million in non-lethal assistance to the rebels, including medical supplies, boots, tents, rations and protective gear. The first shipment is to arrive in the western, rebel-held city of Benghazi in the coming days.

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110505/ap_on_re_eu/libya_diplomacy