What's In Blue

Posted Wed 24 Aug 2011

Council Consultations on Libya Sanctions

Council members are meeting this afternoon on Libya. It seems that the US requested the meeting to discuss the unfreezing of assets for humanitarian use. These assets had been frozen under the sanctions imposed by resolution 1970. It appears that the US had made this proposal to the Libya Sanctions Committee in early August but there was no consensus which has led to the issue being brought to the Council. It appears possible that the US may also circulate a resolution on this issue this afternoon.

Yesterday, Council members were briefed on Libya by DPA head, B. Lynn Pascoe. It seems Pascoe told Council members that Mustafa Abdel Jalil, Chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC) had informed the Secretary-General that the UN would have an essential role to play in the post-conflict period and stressed the importance of unfreezing Libyan assets once the new government came to power. It appears that Pascoe also confirmed that the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Post-Conflict Planning on Libya, Ian Martin, and UN Special Envoy for Libya, Abdel-Elah Al-Khatib, are in Doha and will be discussing the UN’s plans to assist Libya in the post-conflict period.

It seems that there is consensus among Council members on supporting the NTC. However, most members would like more time to study the situation on the ground before discussing a resolution which could endorse the NTC as the future interim government and possibly set up a UN presence in post-conflict Libya.

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