Libya's rebels appeal to west to release aid money
The number two in Libya’s rebel National Transitional Council, NTC, Mahmud Jabril has called on the West to release all Libya's frozen assets in order for a new government to succeed following the uprising against Moamer Kadhafi.
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"There will be high expectations after the collapse of the regime. The frozen assets must be released for the success of the new government to be established after the Kadhafi regime," said Jibril.
His appeal comes a day after senior diplomats of the Libya Contact Group met in Istanbul and agreed to speed up release of some of the frozen funds by the middle of next week.
On Thursday, the UN Security Council released 1.5 billion dollars of seized assets to be used for emergency aid.
Following the move, the rebels announced on Friday the transfer of their leadership to Tripoli from their Benghazi base.
An NTC official says their leader Mustaga Abdel Jalil will arrive in Tripoli as soon as the security situation permitted.
On Sunday, rebel forces overran Tripoli going on to capture Kadhafi's headquarters and vast swathes of the capital.
However pockets of resistance remain in Tripoli while Kaddhafi's hometown Sirte in the centre of the country remains in loyalist hands and Libya's west has yet to be fully won.
And Amnesty International says pro-regime forces in Libya have raped children and rebels are holding African migrant workers as prisoners. The group is urging both sides to respect detainees' rights.
A delegation from the London-based human rights group this week uncovered evidence of boys being taken from their cells at the city's Abu Salim prison by loyalist forces and raped by a guard
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