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France wants 1.5 bln euros Libyan assets unblocked Move comes in response to transitional council's attempts to secure Libya's food supplies and rebuild shattered economy
France has asked the United Nations Sanctions Committee to unfreeze 1.5 billion euros ($2.16 billion) of Libyan assets in France, a French government source said on Wednesday. The source told reporters that Libya -- where the ruling interim council is eager to gain access to billions of dollars in frozen assets around the world as it rebuilds the economy after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi -- has 7.6 billion euros of assets parked in French banks. "We have already initiated the process to free up to 1.5 billion euros. We hope it will be done by the end of the week," the source said. Libya's interim government has already begun buying wheat using funds held by Gaddafi's government in France that were unfrozen this month. The French government said in early August that it would release $259 million of Libyan assets and place them at the disposal of the interim council. The United States, which had frozen about $30 billion in Gaddafi government assets under U.N. sanctions, won approval last week to release $1.5 billion for immediate civilian needs. And Britain said on Tuesday the U.N. had agreed to its request to release $1.55 billion of Libyan bank notes blocked there. France, which spearheaded the West's military intervention in Libya, is hosting an international "Friends of Libya" conference on Thursday to coordinate support for the political and economic rebuilding of the North African state. The French source said that Russia and China, which did not support the NATO-led military intervention, would both dispatch representatives to the meeting. Russia will send its Africa special envoy Mikhail Margelov, he said.
