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Libya Contact Group to meet in Rome

Other News Materials 5 May 2011 10:43 (UTC +04:00)
The Libya Contact Group, which includes the United States, European powers, allies from the Middle East and international bodies, was set to meet Thursday in Rome for talks on how to assist rebels fighting Moamer Gaddafi's regime, including financial measures.
Libya Contact Group to meet in Rome

The Libya Contact Group, which includes the United States, European powers, allies from the Middle East and international bodies, was set to meet Thursday in Rome for talks on how to assist rebels fighting Moamer Gaddafi's regime, including financial measures, DPA reported.

Also scheduled to attend the talks was US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was not present at the last Libya Contact Group meeting held in mid-April in Doha, Qatar.

Clinton was scheduled to address a joint news conference with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who is co-chairing the meeting with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani.

Participants were also set to hold a concluding news conference at 2.30 pm (1230 GMT).

The Libya Contact Group meeting is being held against the backdrop of heavy fighting in and around the Libyan city of Misurata and comes some seven weeks after the beginning of a NATO air campaign, which has so far been unable to stop Gaddafi's forces from moving to crush the uprising.

On Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who is also scheduled to attend the Rome meeting, said hostilities would stop only when the mission's objectives had been fulfilled.

He listed these as ending attacks on civilians, securing the withdrawal of military forces and guaranteeing unhindered access to humanitarian aid.

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