Canada is preparing to release $2.2-billion in frozen assets to Libya’s new government.
The National Transitional Council has pressed Canada to quickly release the funds, frozen in February under UN sanctions against the regime of Moammar Gadhafi, to help finance basic services in a chaotic transition to a post-Gadhafi government.
The United Nations sanctions committee has now given Ottawa permission to release the funds, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said on Monday. He did not say precisely when the money will be transferred to Libya’s new government.
“These funds will help the Libyan people in the short and the medium term,” he said. “Whether it’s helping to pay for police officers or teachers, restoring electricity or water, or helping to ensure hospitals have what they need to operate, this money will help the new government of Libya get back on its feet.”
Other countries, including Britain and the United States, have already received UN permission to release some of the sums frozen in their country. But unlike those countries, which only released a small portion of the frozen assets, Canada’s exemption appears to cover most or all of the assets frozen in February, when officials put the sum on ice at $2.1-billion.
The government is also preparing to re-open the Canadian embassy in Tripoli, with Ambassador Sandra McArdell and others already working from a temporary location in the capital, Mr. Baird said. He did not mention the presence of Canadian soldiers, reported to be on the ground in Libya to try to secure the embassy that was used until the anti-Gadhafi rebellion.
“Having now taken stock of the situation, we are starting the work of refurbishing and securing our embassy in Tripoli,” Mr. Baird said.
He said the new embassy will have more diplomats than before to expand trade and commercial services – as businesses from Canada and many western countries seek to resume and expand their operations in the oil-rich nation now that Col. Gadhafi’s regime has been displaced.
Mr. Baird did not say precisely when the embassy will re-open, or make any comment on whether the Harper government will seek to extend the Canadian military mission in Libya, now slated to end Sept. 27.
His news conference, held in the foyer of the House of Commons, was cut to a brief, four-question session when reporters started asking about Mr. Baird’s parliamentary secretary, Mississauga–Erindale MP Bob Dechert.
It emerged last week that Mr. Dechert had exchanged amorous e-mails with a reporter for China’s state news agency, Xinhua, long judged by Canadian and other western governments to be deeply connected to Beijing’s spy services.
Mr. Baird said over the weekend that Mr. Dechert would not be fired from his post as parliamentary secretary for what the MP called a flirtatious relationship.
And when reporters asked about it Tuesday morning, his press aide immediately yelled “last question.” Mr. Baird, his voice lowered, said he had nothing further to say, and walked away from the podium after taking reporters’ questions for just under two minutes.
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