France to hand over frozen Libyan assets to rebels

PARIS (AP)  France said Monday it was handing over $259 million in frozen Libyan funds to the country's opposition and allowing the rebels' new ambassador to use the country's mothballed embassy in Paris.

The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the money — currently frozen in French banks — must be used for humanitarian purchases, in accordance with European law.

The announcements came after French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe's meeting Monday with Mansour Seyf al-Nasr, the Libyan opposition's new ambassador to Paris.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Al-Nasr said he would urge the NATO-led coalition to continue its air campaign against embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that began Monday.

France has been a top backer of the Benghazi-based National Transitional Council rebels and has played a key role in NATO's 4-month campaign mandated by the U.N. to protect civilians from a crackdown by Gadhafi's forces on an uprising against his four-decade rule.

France expelled Gadhafi's diplomats in May.

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