Pentagon chief sees close partnership with Libya

TRIPOLI (AFP) – US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said on Saturday that Tripoli could become an important security partner of Washington as he visited Libya for talks with new regime officials.

“We are and will be your friend and partner,” Panetta said at a news conference with Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib.

“This new and free Libya can become an important security partner of the United States,” he said, adding that Washington was looking forward to building a close partnership.

“We stand ready to offer whatever assistance in the spirit of friendship and a spirit of mutual respect.”

But Panetta, who also met Defence Minister Osama Jouili, stressed that his talks in Tripoli did not involve military equipment.

“At this stage there was certainly no discussions involving arms or military equipment,” he said when asked about the type of security cooperation he envisioned.

Earlier he had told the travelling press, including an AFP correspondent, that his brief visit was to confer with Syria’s new rulers on their government’s security needs.

“The purpose of my trip to Libya is to have an opportunity to look at that situation up close but to also pay tribute to the Libyan people to what they did in bringing (former leader Moamer) Kadhafi down and trying to establish a government for the future,” Panetta said.

He acknowledged that Libya’s rulers would face huge challenges, but said he was confident they would “succeed in putting a democracy together in Libya.”

“I’m confident that they’re taking the right steps to reach out to all these groups and bring them together so that they will be part of one Libya and that they will be part of one defence system,” he said.

Panetta said he expected the Libyans “to determine the future of Libya” and “determine what assistance they require from the United States and the international community.”

Libya’s rulers face a major challenge in trying to disarm militiamen who fought to topple Kadhafi and secure thousands of surface-to-air missiles stockpiled under his regime.

Pressure to disarm the former rebels has mounted after local media reported several skirmishes between militia factions in Tripoli, with some resulting in casualties.

There are concerns that the Man-Portable Air Defence Systems, or MANPADS, could be used by militants against commercial airliners and helicopters.

Libya’s interim premier said Washington was willing to help Libya “without any interference.”

Kib also acknowledged that his government had a difficult task ahead.

“We know how serious the issue is,” he said, adding: “I’m very optimistic.

“The Libyan people are known to be peaceful and I’m sure that they will be back to that mentality,” he said in English.

Panetta’s visit came a day after the United Nations and the United States lifted sanctions on Libya’s central bank in a bid to ease a cash crunch in the post-Kadhafi era, diplomats said.

The UN Security Council ended a freeze on the assets of the Central Bank of Libya and the Libyan Foreign Bank, which was ordered in February as part of sanctions against Kadhafi.

The US government said it would be freeing more than $30 billion (23 billion euros) of assets belonging to the central bank and LFB in a bid to help the new government.

The Tripoli authorities have stepped up calls in recent weeks to release the estimated $150 billion frozen abroad to help pay salaries and keep services running.

On top of the $30 billion held in the United States, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said his government would immediately act to free about 6.5 billion pounds ($10 billion) held in Britain.

The easing of the sanctions “marks another significant moment in Libya’s transition,” Hague said in a statement.

“It means that Libya’s government will now have full access to the significant funds needed to help rebuild the country, to underpin stability and to ensure that Libyans can make the transactions that are essential to everyday life.”

Central Bank governor Al-Seddiq Omar al-Kabir said he expected the move to ease the liquidity crisis and “facilitate local and international banking transactions and consolidate social and macroeconomic stability in the new Libya.”

Panetta travelled to Libya from Turkey, where he held wide-ranging talks. On Thursday, he was in Iraq to take part in a ceremony marking the end of the US mission there.