Senior figures in Libya’s new leadership have written a letter to the United Nations asking it to release funds still frozen three months after the country’s civil war ended, the central bank chief said late Saturday. When a rebellion broke out in February against the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, the UN Security Council froze Libyan assets estimated at $150 billion (£95.7 billion), but the bulk of that sum remains beyond the reach of the new Libyan rulers.
Frustration at the delay has been growing inside Libya, where the interim government says it urgently needs the cash to pay the wages of public sector workers and to start re-building state institutions.
The letter, sent Thursday, was meant to offer reassurance to UN member states which had expressed doubts the new Libyan leadership was united and cohesive enough to be trusted with the cash, Central Bank Governor Saddeq Omar Elkaber said. He said, “We need this money to manage the country,” the central bank governor said on the sidelines of a conference.
