Libyans queue at Tripoli banks ahead of holiday

Libyans wait to get money inside a bank in Tripoli. (epa)

 Author: Nehal El-Sherif

   Cairo/Tripoli (dpa) - A stream of Libyans queued to access their accounts as three banks opened in the capital on Monday, just in time for the Eid al-Fitr feast.

   The banks were the only three that opened in Tripoli, making it harder for the people who wanted to get cash ahead of the long Muslim holiday.

   Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy fasting months of Ramadan, is expected to begin Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the sighting of the crescent moon.

   A resident in the city told the German Press Agency dpa that the Transitional National Council asked banks to provide those who have no cash with 250 dinars (around 210 dollars) as a loan.

   The council asked the Arab League to lend its support in pressuring for the unfreezing of Libyan assets abroad. The council seeks authorization from the United Nation's security council to unfreeze more assets abroad, after international body enforced sanctions earlier this year.

   On Thursday, the UN Sanctions Committee on Libya unfroze for humanitarian aid 1.5 billion dollars, a fraction of what has been frozen.

   Normal life began returning to the Libyan capital Tripoli on Sunday - almost a week after rebels swept into the city.

   On Monday, streets were more crowded, shops opened for customers eager to stock up on basic goods and public buses were seen driving across the capital.

   Tripoli is still suffering from a shortage of water supplies and frequent electricity outages, whilst the capital's hospitals reported a severe shortage of medical supplies.

   In a sign of international support for the new regime, France's embassy in Tripoli reopened Monday, the foreign ministry in Paris announced.

   A team of diplomats led by a deputy to Antoine Sivan, France's representative to the Transitional National Council in Benghazi, "arrived this morning in the Libyan capital and immediately installed itself in the embassy premises," the ministry said in a statement.

   The embassy had been closed since the personnel were evacuated on February 26, out of security concerns.

   Meanwhile, the London-based Amnesty International said Monday that key prison records and other documentation are at risk of being lost as sites remain unsecure and documents destroyed or taken away in Libya.

   "The Transitional National Council authorities must protect such evidence where it is found or collect it in a central repository for safe-keeping. They should also appeal to those individuals who have taken any such documents to return them to the authorities as soon as possible," the statement said.

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