Kuwait gives $180 million to Libyan rebels

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait — Kuwait on Sunday gave 50 million dinars ($180 million) to the Libyan opposition Transitional National Council (TNC), its chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said.

"This amount will help us pay part of the salaries of employees," Jalil told reporters after talks with Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. "We are in need of urgent assistance."

Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah said "Kuwait will provide large and urgent humanitarian aid through the national council."

Sheikh Mohammad said Kuwait and the TNC "will work closely so that it becomes the legitimate channel of the Libyan people," but stopped short of officially recognizing the council.

"Recognition is a secondary issue," Abdel Hafiz Ghoqa, spokesman for the TNC in Benghazi told reporters, adding that the quality of cooperation with Kuwait showed the friendly nation's "approval" for east Libya's nascent government.

France, Gambia, Italy and Qatar are the only countries so far to have recognized the TNC, Libya's parallel government.

The Kuwaiti foreign minister also said the emir informed Jalil that Kuwait fully complies with UN Security Council resolution 1973 which called for using all means necessary to protect Libyan civilians.

Jalil, on his first visit to Kuwait, said the TNC welcomes any initiative that would lead to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and his sons leaving the country, "but there is no initiative on the ground right now."

He also repeated allegations that Kadhafi used Algerian planes to fly African mercenaries to fight with his forces.

"We have evidence that there are mercenaries from Mauritania and Serbia, military experts from Russia and women from Columbia," Jalil said.

Libyan rebels have not received any weapons or military training from Arab neighbors Egypt or Tunisia, said Jalil, adding that the TNC understood their situation.

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