U.S. Asks UN Security Council to Release $1.5 Billion for Libya
The U.S. asked the United Nations Security Council today for permission to release $1.5 billion in frozen Libya assets to help the rebels’ National Transitional Council deliver aid and basic services to the war-torn nation.
The Security Council has scheduled a vote on the proposal for tomorrow at 3 p.m. in New York, pending the outcome of an earlier meeting of the African Union to consider whether to recognize the NTC. South Africa, a Security Council member, doesn’t want the full $1.5 billion released before Africa Union recognition is given.
The money is meant to be disbursed in three $500 million appropriations, for emergency aid, fuel to provide electricity and operate desalinization plants and for the health and education needs of the Libyan people.
South Africa blocked an initial U.S. request to release the funds, made to the Security Council committee on Libyan sanctions on Aug. 8. The initiative was put in resolution form because, unlike the sanctions committee where unanimity is needed, South Africa can’t block adoption of the measure.
“Our view is that there could be an implication that when you release this money to entities aligned to one party to the conflict you could be recognizing that entity,” South Africa’s Ambassador Baso Sangqu told reporters. “In this situation in flux, we have not yet made a determination as to who” should be recognized as the Libya government.
Sangqu asked that the Security Council vote be taken after the African Union meeting. He said his government might then approve release of the money by the sanctions committee, which would mean a vote wouldn’t be necessary.
Accountability
“Freezing is a lot easier than unfreezing,” said George A. Lopez, a sanctions expert and professor of peace studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. “The NTC is still a nebulous quasi-entity and there will need to be a degree of accountability. Freeing the assets, sure, but to who?”
The NTC is the rebel leadership group that the U.S. on July 15 recognized as Libya’s “legitimate governing authority.”
The $1.5 billion is a fraction of about $30 billion in Libyan assets held in the U.S., which has been beyond the reach of the rebels. A total of about $165 billion has been frozen worldwide.
Most of the U.S.-frozen $30 billion is tied up in property interests, including ownership interests in non-publicly traded companies or real estate.
“Part of the difficulty here is that some of this money, when you try to trace it back, you’re not exactly sure the chain of custody,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters today in Washington. “Some of it goes to the question of the value of real estate,” which fluctuates, she said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Bill Varner at the United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva in Washington at msilva34@bloomberg.net
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