French, UK leaders to visit Libya

PanARMENIAN.Net - The French and British leaders will visit Libya on Thursday, September 15, to congratulate the new rulers they helped install, Reuters reported.

The visit will be a victory lap for Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron, who defied doubters at home to lead a NATO bombing campaign that succeeded in ushering in a victory by forces who swept away Gaddafi's 42-year rule last month.

Both leaders are hugely popular on the streets of Libya, where "Merci Sarkozy" and "Thank you Britain" are common graffiti slogans. Both may hope to earn political dividends back home from what now appears to have been a successful bet.

But on the eve of their visit, the leader of Libya's National Transitional Council said heavy battles lie ahead against Gaddafi loyalists who have refused to surrender.

NTC Vice Chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghogo told Reuters the two leaders would visit both Tripoli and Benghazi, where the NTC rulers are still based even though Gaddafi opponents seized the capital more than three weeks ago.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is expected in Libya on Friday. Egypt's Foreign Minister, Mohammed Kamel Amr, is also due to visit. A U.S. assistant secretary of state visited on Wednesday.

Libya's new leaders say the international community has been slow to release frozen assets; diplomats said on Wednesday Britain had circulated a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council to ease sanctions against Libya's National Oil Corp (NOC) and central bank and hoped for a vote this week.

NOC chairman Nouri Berouin said Libya would start exporting crude oil from the eastern port of Tobruk within ten days and could produce 1 million barrels a day within six months.