US to give surplus goods to Libyan rebels

The Obama administration tonight announced plans to give the Libyan opposition millions of dollars of aid.

Amid a debate over whether to offer the rebels broader assistance, including cash and possibly weapons and ammunition, the administration has informed Congress that President Barack Obama intends to use his so-called “drawdown authority” to give the opposition, led by the Transitional National Council in Benghazi, up to $25m (€17.23m) in surplus American goods to help protect civilians in rebel-held areas threatened by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who recommended that Mr Obama authorised the assistance, said the aid would go to support the council and “our efforts to protect civilians and the civilian populated areas that are under threat of attack from their own government in Libya”.

She said the aid “will be drawn down from items already in government stocks that correspond with the needs that we have heard from the Transitional National Council”.

Congress was notified in writing of the plan late last week and was briefed in greater detail yesterday by Gene Cretz, the US ambassador to Libya, officials said.

Initially, the administration had proposed supplying the rebels with vehicles and portable fuel storage tanks but those items were dropped from the list of potential aid today after concerns were expressed that those could be converted into offensive military assets, the officials said.

The list is still being revised but now covers items such as medical supplies, uniforms, boots, tents, personal protective gear, radios and Halal meals, with most of the items expected to come from Pentagon stocks, they said.

“This is not a blank cheque,” Mrs Clinton said, and she added that the move is consistent with the UN mandate that authorised international action to protect Libyan civilians.

“This opposition, which has held its own against a brutal assault by the Gaddafi forces, was not an organised militia,” she said. “It was not a group that had been planning to oppose the rule of Gaddafi for years. It was a spontaneous response within the context of the broader Arab spring.

“These are mostly business people, students, lawyers, doctors, professors who have very bravely moved to defend their communities and to call for an end to the regime in Libya.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney said today that Mr Obama was aware of other nations’ decision to send in military advisers “and hopes – believes - that it will help the opposition. But it does not at all change the president’s policy on no boots on the ground for American troops”.

There has been much debate over whether to supply the rebels with weapons and the officials said that option remains on the table.

They added that the non-lethal assistance would be monitored to ensure it is used properly, although they noted that the items to be sent present a low risk of misuse.