Libyan Rebels Promised £780m by Western and Arab Governments

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Foreign leaders have finalised a funding mechanism to pump hundreds of millions of dollars to Libya's cash-strapped rebel forces, intensifying pressure on Colonel Gaddafi's weakened regime even as Nato warplanes bombed targets in the capital Tripoli.

Western and Arab leaders met rebel leaders in Abu Dhabi to plan for a Libya free from Gaddafi's clutches.

Donors immediately promised more than £780m for the fund, which is backed by billions of dollars in frozen Libyan assets.

At the start of the third meeting of the Contact Group for Libya, Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, urged the coalition to intensify pressure amid optimism that Tripoli would soon fall.

"Gaddafi's days are numbered. We are working with our international partners through the UN to plan for the inevitable: a post-Gaddafi Libya," she said.

While senior officials from the Contact Group – which includes Britain and France as well as Arab allies Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait – worked on ways to support the rebels, Nato air strikes rattled the Libyan capital with bombing runs believed to have targeted the outskirts of Tripoli.

There were eight explosions in a first series of strikes on Thursday.

Hours later, the sound of six more attacks boomed in the distance, according to reporters in the city. » | Rob Crilly, Dubai | Thursday, June 09, 2011