Clinton: U.S. Trying to Free Up Billions in Libyan Assets to Help Rebels

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

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 Muammar al-Qaddafi, 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 Qaddafi 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.
Clinton declared that ousting Qaddafi was still a top goal.

"We have made it abundantly clear that the best way to protect civilians is for Qaddafi to cease his ruthless, brutal attack on civilians from the west to the east, to withdraw from the cities that he is sieging and attacking and to leave power," Clinton said. "This is the outcome we are seeking."

The Rome conference agreed to establish an internationally monitored fund the rebels can access to provide basic things like food and medicine. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, co-host of the Contact Group conference, said nations have already pledged $250 million in humanitarian aid.

It will be "an international fund in which nations can make their contributions in a transparent way," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said. Britain has so far provided 13 million pounds ($21.5 million.)

But Britain did not plan to offer direct funding to Libya's rebels beyond the aid money and the non-lethal equipment -- satellite phones and body armor -- it has already offered.
Mahmoud Jibril, head of the rebels' executive body, welcomed the financial pledges.

"We are more than satisfied," he told reporters.

Jibril said he briefed the conference for the first time on a "road map" for the future of Libya, including writing a constitution and calling parliamentary elections.
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All well and good, but the longer Qaddafi stays in power, the harder it will be to dislodge him IMO.