France to hand Libya's NTC $259 mn in unfrozen funds

France will place $259 million at the disposal of Libya''s National Transition Council (NTC) after un-freezing Libyan assets in the country, the French foreign ministry announced Monday. "The Minister of State announced to his interlocutor that the process of unlocking Libyan funds succeed and has made the CNT available to the sum of 259 million US dollars," said a statement issued by the ministry. Earlier in the day, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, held a meeting with Mansour Seyf Al-Nasr, the NTC special envoy to France, who was regarded by France "a sign of closeness and trust that characterize relations between France and the NTC." France was the first country to recognize the rebel council in March. Since then, 31 other countries have formally recognized the NTC as Libya''s sole representative.