Libya: World Leaders Meet to Discuss Country’s Future

By Staff Writer

Representatives of around 50 countries are meeting in Paris to reflect on Libya’s post-Gaddafi future. The contribution of Italy, part of the NATO-led coalition implementing the United Nations resolutions, will be based on the diplomatic initiatives and cooperation with the Transitional National Council (TNC) that are already under way.

The conference agenda includes Libya’s political future, the national reconciliation process, and reconstruction through financial cooperation. This will entail the unfreezing of Libyan assets, a path Italy has already undertaken and suggested to the Contact Group countries as a feasible course of action. The UN Security Council is already taking steps in this direction, having begun to release some of Libya’s frozen funds for use in humanitarian assistance. The European Union is working, with Italy’s agreement, on the possibility of removing the restrictive measures on 6 Libyan ports, to help the TNC during the difficult reconstruction period.

Representing the European institutions at the international conference in Brussels will be the President of the EU Commission, José Manuel Durao Barroso, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, and the long-term President of the Council, Herman van Rompuy.

At the conference, the question of unfreezing Libyan assets will be one of the key elements on the road to concrete cooperation in the construction of a new future for Libya.
On Wednesday, the UN security council allowed Britain to release £950m in frozen assets to buy aid, but an attempt by France and Germany to release £5.3bn remains blocked by Russia.

The hunt for Gaddafi who has gone into hiding, is now focused on the town and the road which leads south towards the desert city of Sabha, near Libya's borders with Chad and Niger. The road is blocked, as is the exit north to Sirte.

Libyan officials believe that prominent members of Muammar Gaddafi's family – and perhaps the fugitive leader himself – have sought refuge in the town of Bani Walid, 100 miles south-east of Tripoli, which rebel forces have surrounded.