At a meeting of world leaders boycotted by South Africa, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged the UN to give Libya’s interim leaders the country’s seat in the general assembly.
Clinton also said that the Nato military campaign which supported the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi should carry on as long as civilians are under threat, despite his overthrow.
Clinton said foreign governments would watch closely to make sure the National Transition Council (NTC) holds to its promises to establish a fair democracy.
Leaders of the Libyan uprising that overthrew Gaddafi met with world powers in Paris on Thursday to map out the country’s rebuilding, 42 years to the day after the former strongman seized power in a coup.
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma was conspicuous by his absence, however. Zuma, who has objected to Nato’s air strikes on Gaddafi targets in support of the rebels, boycotted the meeting saying that Libya’s transition to a democratic state should be overseen by the UN instead.
Gaddafi defiant
Meanwhile, Gaddafi vowed again not to surrender, in a message broadcast on Thursday, the 42nd anniversary of the coup which brought him to power.
In the message put out by the pro-Gaddafi Syria-based Arabic-language Arrai Oruba satellite television, the fallen strongman said he was prepared for “a long battle” even if Libya burns.
He urged his supporters to keep up their resistance to the insurgency that has conquered most of the country and forced him into hiding.
“Even if you cannot hear my voice, continue the resistance,” Gaddafi said. “We will not surrender!”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron — who spearheaded the military campaign that helped rebels drive Gaddafi from power — greeted Libya’s interim leaders for talks with Clinton, European, Arab and African leaders and the heads of Nato, the UN and the EU.
‘Friends of Libya’
With the West anxious to avoid mistakes made in Iraq, the tight three-hour agenda of the first “Friends of Libya” meeting focused on political and economic reconstruction.
The conference gave Libya’s interim chairperson Mustafa Abdel Jalil and interim prime minister Mahmoud Jabril their first platform to address the world since the National Transition Council (NTC)’s forces overran Tripoli and drove Gaddafi from power.
Jalil opened the talks with an outline of the NTC’s roadmap, which targets a new constitution, elections within 18 months and ways to avoid reprisals.
Priorities include investment
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the priority was to help with humanitarian needs and restoring water, power and fuel, but investment opportunities loomed for a second stage.
“You know this operation in Libya costs a lot. It’s also an investment in the future because a democratic Libya is a country that will develop, offering stability, security and development in the region,” Juppe told RTL radio.
Libya, which boasts large reserves of top-quality crude oil, has been left badly underdeveloped by Gaddafi, who as a young army captain ousted Libya’s King Idris on September 1, 1969.
Eager to meet immediate civilian needs, the NTC is expected to push for rapid access to billions of dollars in foreign-held Libyan assets frozen under UN sanctions on Gaddafi.
The US and Britain have won UN permission to unfreeze $1.5-billion each of Libyan assets and France got approval on Thursday to release €1.5-billion of a total €7.6-billion of assets in France.
To the victor’s friends go the spoils
As well as big prospects for developing oil drilling, the end of the six-month conflict will open up big opportunities for infrastructure, construction, electric power, telecoms, water and tourism companies who are keen to challenge the privileged position enjoyed by Italian firms under Gaddafi’s long rule.
The NTC has said those who took a lead role in backing their revolt will be rewarded.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he wanted to see a closer trading and economic relationship between Europe and Libya. He also said British companies would not be “left behind” French and Italian rivals in jockeying for new business.
“This is a potentially rich country. They have oil. They have resources frozen around the world. If we could find a way to move over to a democratic better-governed Libya, this could actually be a prosperous country,” Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told reporters.
Russia and China, which opposed the Nato intervention but will also be interested in bidding for contracts in a stable Libya, both sent delegations to the Paris talks.
Zuma says no
South Africa has not followed suit. President Zuma declined an invitation to the Paris meeting mainly because of South Africa’s unhappiness with the Nato bombings in the country.
Without naming the countries, but generally understood to be referring to France and Britain, who led the military strikes, Zuma blamed leaders of the West for not respecting the AU’s road map on Libya.
At a press conference in Norway, where he is leading a state visit, he indirectly criticised the Paris meeting, saying Libya’s transition should be led by the United Nations, not a loose affiliation of interested parties.
“Now that the NTC has taken over a large part of Libya, the UN must take the process forward. We can’t have individual countries taking over the process,” said Zuma. — AFP, Reuters and additional reporting by Mmanaledi Mataboge