France unfreezes Libyan assets

2011-12-15

France will soon release 230 million euros of frozen Libyan assets to the Libyan central bank, AFP quoted French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe as saying Wednesday (December 15th) in Tripoli. Paris was working with the UN Security Council to release billions of dollars in assets still frozen, Juppe said at a news conference with interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim El Keib.

Libyan leaders have regularly called upon world powers to release the assets to meet the daily needs of the government, including salaries, and to launch post-revolution reconstruction projects.

As to Libya's democratic transition, Juppe said that France "was ready to help… while respecting the sovereignty of Libya."

"It is upon the Libyan people and the Libyan people alone to choose their future, to build democracy as they conceive it and to choose their priorities," Juppe said after talks with the Libyan premier.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/12/15/newsbrief-03.