EU extends sanctions on Gadhafi's Libyan regime

[March 10, 2011]  BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union is hitting the regime of Moammar Gadhafi with more financial sanctions just as France says it is recognizing the Libyan opposition's Interim Governing Council and plans to exchange ambassadors with it.

The EU extended its financial sanctions, adding five financial institutions whose assets and resources will be frozen to a list of more than two dozen individuals close to the Libyan leader.

France became the first country to recognize the opposition group. President Nicolas Sarkozy met with two representatives of the transition council, based in the eastern city of Benghazi, which was taken over by rebels in a deadly uprising against Gadhafi.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BRUSSELS (AP) -- France is recognizing the Libyan opposition's Interim Governing Council and plans to exchange ambassadors with the newly formed body, the president's office said Thursday. It is the first country to recognize the group.

President Nicolas Sarkozy met with two representatives of the transition council based in the eastern city of Benghazi, which was taken over by rebels in a deadly uprising against Moammar Gadhafi.

The European Parliament is encouraging EU member states to recognize the opposition government. The council representatives were in Strasbourg, the parliament's base, earlier this week, but EU policy is normally to recognize states, not governments.

Details of the meeting between Sarkozy and the envoys were not immediately available. The president's office had said that the humanitarian situation in Libya and the actions of the Interim Governing Council were to top the agenda.

Meanwhile, Germany said it had frozen the assets of the Libyan Central Bank and other state-run agencies in an attempt to cut off funding to Moammar Gadhafi's embattled regime.

Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said in a statement Thursday that the total amount blocked is "in the billions."

The "measures are a clear reaction to the developments in Libya -- the brutal suppression of the Libyan freedom movement can now no longer be financed from funds that are in German banks," he said.

Bruederle's ministry had already provisionally blocked Libyan accounts March 1. Also affected are accounts belonging to the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio, the Libyan Foreign Bank and the Libyan Investment Authority.

The actions by France and Germany came as NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of which the United States is a member, said it had started round-the-clock surveillance of the air space over Libya, where government jets have been pounding rebel positions in an effort to defeat a widespread uprising.

NATO defense ministers began a two-day meeting in Brussels, and the alliance extended its coverage of Libya's coastal area by keeping an airborne warning and control plane on patrol 24 hours a day.

A NATO official said the first airborne warning and control plane went on patrol at 6:30 GMT (1:30 a.m. EST) Thursday morning. He said each of the Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft will remain over the Mediterranean for eight hours before being replaced by another plane.

NATO has 17 E-3s and several planes are currently operating over Afghanistan. The entire fleet is registered in Luxembourg, a country without an air force.

NATO decided Monday to provide the surveillance and orders to the E-3 squadron went out on Tuesday, said the official who could not be identified under standing rules.

At the same time, the Libyan government was mounting a diplomatic press to stave off tough action by the European Union and NATO.

Mohamed Tahir Siala, a Libyan envoy, met Thursday with two Greek foreign ministry officials. Similar talks were held in Lisbon on Wednesday with Portugal's Foreign Minister Luis Amado.

EU foreign ministers were also meeting Thursday, and EU heads of government have an emergency summit set for Friday.

[Associated Press; By DON MELVIN]

Associated Press writers Slobodan Lekic and Raf Casert in Brussels and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

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