Clinton nurtures ties with Libya's NTC in Tripoli, raises Lockerbie issue

Senior leaders of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) Tuesday held talks in Tripoli with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who pledged efforts to help rebuild the war-torn country. Meanwhile, Libya's Civil Aviation Authority has already taken over the airspace above the eastern city of Benghazi from NATO to allow humanitarian flights into and out of its airspace. At a joint press conference in the capital, the head of the NTC's executive board Mahmoud Jibril said the two sides have agreed to form a high-level joint committee on bilateral relations. Clinton, the first U.S. cabinet-level official to visit the North African country, said the committee is welcomed by the United States as it will "look at the priorities of the Libyans themselves have." "This is Libya's moment. This is Libya's victory. And the future belongs to you," Clinton said. Speaking of the importance of unifying the militias, she stressed the need to bring the powerful and heavily-armed regional militias that emerged from the war against Gaddafi under central rule, saying members of all militia must "see the benefit of joining the new government." "We are encouraged by the commitment of the National Transitional Council to take the steps necessary to bring the country together," Clinton said. "From long experience one factor we know has to happen ... is unifying the various militias into a single military ... Getting a national army under civilian command is essential," she said. Confirming that the two sides are working together to return billions of dollars of frozen assets, Clinton said the first thing to focus on in Libya at the current stage is still security. "I am pleased to announce that we are going to put even more money into helping Libya secure and destroy dangerous stockpiles of weapons," she said, noting that a total of 40 million U.S. dollars will be used for this effort. She added that they will also work to destroy chemical weapons believed to be possessed by the fallen leadership of Muammar Gaddafi. Meanwhile, Washington will extend economic cooperation with Tripoli, enhance educational and cultural exchanges as well as civil society engagement, Clinton said, who also vowed to send some of the seriously injured in the war to specialized medical facilities in the United States. But the two sides yet need to reach consensus on the Lockerbie case, in which a Libyan convict was involved. The NTC said last month that Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 bombing which killed 270 civilians (mostly Americans) aboard a plane over Scotland, should not be put on trial again as the case is already closed. However, Clinton stressed that the United States believes that al-Megrahi should never have been released. Al-Megrahi was imprisoned in Scotland before he was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 due to serious illness. Clinton said the United States will continue to pursue justice for the Lockerbie victims, and it is "still an open case." At the same time, a NATO spokesman said Tuesday the military alliance has handed over the airspace above the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi to Libyan authority. "Although NATO's no-fly continues to be enforced, Libyan air control services will now direct humanitarian flights into and out of the airspace in the 50 miles radius around Benghazi," NATO military spokesman Colonel Roland Lavoie said via video link from Naples, Italy. The decision was made in close consultation with NATO and the International Civil Aviation Organization, marking the first step of a gradual transition of complete airspace responsibility to the NTC. At the press briefing, NATO Deputy Spokesperson Carmen Romero said NATO ambassadors will meet Wednesday to discuss the situation in Libya, including when to end the military campaign. "Key benchmarks for ending the mission will be whether or not there are threats to the civilian population and the capability of the National Transitional Council to protect civilians," she said. Clinton's unannounced visit, after the one made by British Foreign Minister William Hague on Monday, came as the NTC fighters are striving to conclude the siege of remnant pro-Gaddafi forces in their last hideouts in Bani Walid and Sirte.