[ 2011-12-17 ]

Pentagon chief eyes close partnership with Libya
TRIPOLI (AFP) - US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta
was in Libya on Saturday to confer on the security
needs of the new government, saying he envisioned
a close security partnership with it.

During the visit, which was to last only a few
hours and is the first by a Pentagon chief, he met
Defence Minister Osama Jouili and Prime Minister
Abdel Rahim al-Kib, an AFP correspondent
travelling with him said.

"The purpose of my trip to Libya is to have an
opportunity to look at that situation up close but
to also pay tribute to the Libyan people to what
they did in bringing Kadhafi down and trying to
establish a government for the future," Panetta
told the travelling press.

"There are going to be challenges here, there are
going to be difficulties, but I think any country
like Libya, that was able to do what they did and
showed the courage that they did... I'm confident
that ultimately they're going to be able to
succeed in putting a democracy together in Libya.

"The indications I've had are that they're making
progress, trying to bring the tribes together,
trying to get the country together.

"They have earned the right to try to determine
their future, to work their way to the issues that
they're going to have to confront.

"Obviously, we're prepared, if they want, to
provide whatever assistance they ask us to do.
NATO countries have indicated the same willingness
to do that."

Speaking later, Panetta said he believed "this new
and free Libya can become an important security
partner of the United States" and that Washington
was looking forward to building a close
partnership.

"We stand ready to offer whatever assistance in
the spirit of friendship and a spirit of mutual
respect."

Enforcement by the Atlantic alliance of a
UN-mandated no-fly zone over Libya was crucial in
the months-long battle to oust Kadhafi that began
in February.

Libya's new rulers are facing a big challenge as
they try to disarm militiamen who fought to topple
Kadhafi and secure thousands of surface-to-air
missiles stockpiled under the former regime.

Pressure to disarm the former rebels has mounted
after local media reported several skirmishes
between militia factions in Tripoli, with some
resulting in casualties.

There are concerns that the Man-Portable Air
Defence Systems, or MANPADS, could be used by
militant groups against commercial airliners and
helicopters.

Panetta will also lay a wreath at the graves of 13
US sailors killed in 1804 when their ship exploded
during the very first foreign intervention by
military forces of the recently independent United
States against pirates based in north Africa.

The Pentagon chief travelled to Libya from Turkey,
where he held wide-ranging talks. On Thursday, he
was in Iraq to take part in a ceremony marking the
end of the US mission there.

His visit came a day after the United Nations and
the United States lifted sanctions on Libya's
central bank in a bid to ease a cash crunch in the
post-Kadhafi era, diplomats said.

The UN Security Council ended a freeze on the
assets of the Central Bank of Libya and the Libyan
Foreign Bank, which was ordered in February as
part of sanctions against Kadhafi.

The US government said it would be freeing more
than $30 billion (23 billion euros) of assets
belonging to the central bank and LFB in a bid to
help the new Libyan government.

The Tripoli authorities have stepped up calls in
recent weeks to release the estimated $150 billion
frozen abroad to help pay salaries and keep
services running.

On top of the $30 billion held in the United
States, British Foreign Secretary William Hague
said his government would immediately act to free
about 6.5 billion pounds ($10 billion) held in
Britain.

Source - AFP

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