Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says he will travel to Benghazi to meet Libya's rebel leaders, and is considering ways to speed the release of frozen Libyan funds in a transition to a post-Gadhafi Libya.
Ottawa moved Tuesday to recognize the rebels' National Transitional Council as the "legitimate representative" of the Libyan people, and is now seeking ways to help solidify its claim to be an alternative government-in-the-making to Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
Mr. Baird met Thursday with Libyan-Canadian businessman Sufyan Maghur, who is acting as the council's representative in Canada. He said Ottawa is trying to find ways to help the council plan for a post-Gadhafi Libya, and weighing when frozen assets can be transferred to the transitional council.
"We talked also about when we could end sanctions," Mr. Baird told reporters Friday, "and when would be the moment when this would be not just the legitimate representative of the people" but an administration that's effectively in control in Libya, so the outside world could allow the resumption of more normal economic flows now barred by sanctions.
Canadian officials said in February that authorities here have frozen $2.3-billion in Libyan assets under UN sanctions that cut off economic ties to Col. Gadhafi's regime. And at the moment, the Libyan strongman is defying attempts to dislodge him that are backed by heavy NATO air strikes.
But the council that represents the rebels, who control the eastern third of Libya and pockets further west like the port city of Misurata, wants the international community to transfer those assets to its control to fund the administration of the partitioned east.
"The council would like it to be released immediately," said Mr. Marghur. But he noted that it is a complex issues - the assets frozen in Canada are probably not all in cash, and there are issues about how it might be transferred. "How and when is something that would have to be discussed," he said.
A group of 40 countries in the so-called "Libya contact group" have sent up a temporary fund to finance the transitional council, and some have used frozen Gadhafi-regime funds to finance it; France said it would release about $420-million in frozen funds, and Italy said it would provide cash and fuel which is essentially borrowed against the collateral of the frozen funds.
In an op-ed piece published Friday in the Wall Street Journal, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the council needs funds, and urged countries to contribute.
But while Canada has recognized the council as the "legitimate representative" of the people, it has not recognized them as the Libyan government - and the Harper government's view now is that lifting sanctions would require the council to be in control of the country and for the United Nations Security Council to vote to alter the sanctions regime.
"There's a significant amount of funds which have been frozen. We want to expeditiously be able to unfreeze those assets when we can," Mr. Baird said. "Obviously, a small part of that decision is Canadian. A big chunk of that would be when the United Nations Security Council lifts the sanctions as well."
The recognition of the transitional council is part of a move by several nations to try to encourage elements of the Gadhafi regime to defect, and to help them prepare for a cohesive transition if Col. Gadhafi does depart.
Mr. Baird said he made an offer to Mr. Maghur that Canada would help the rebel council with governance issues as it builds an administration in the country's east and seeks to take power in the whole country. Mr. Maghur said the council could use such help, but the details will have to be discussed directly with the council.
Mr. Baird said he will soon travel to Benghazi, where the rebels are based, to hold talks with council leaders - though the date has not yet been set. "What we brought forward in our motion was greater diplomatic engagement and we're very serious about that," he said.
Campbell Clark