Rudd meets with Libyan PM

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has announced that Australia will stand by Libya and deliver support for democratic elections, education, health and agriculture after meeting with interim Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib in Tripoli.

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This morning Mr Rudd tweeted about Australia's support for the two-week-old interim government. “Met Libyan PM. We are helping with democratic election support, health and de-mining. Massive unexploded ordnance a danger to kids.”

He also visited the Tripoli Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery to pay tribute to Australian soldiers who fought in North Africa during World War II.

Laying a wreath marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the siege of Tobruk, Mr Rudd said Australia earned its first Victoria Cross of WWII in Libya in 1941.

"Here we are in the middle of a war-torn country, Libya, 70 years later, where people again have taken up the banner of freedom," Mr Rudd said.

"We come to this quiet place in the middle of this new democracy, Libya, to pay our respects to these fallen Australians ... bearing in mind the rallying call of freedom in the decades which lie ahead."

The cemetery is the resting place of more than 13-hundred servicemen who were engaged in the fight against Italian and German troops between 1940 and 1943.

Muammar Gaddafi's former compound is a few hundred metres away.

Libyan prime minister Dr Abdul Raheem al-Kib in a joint media conference with Mr Rudd, said the issue of disarming former rebels who fought Moamer Kadhafi's forces is "more complex" than it appears, but these militias will be demilitarised soon.

On Tuesday, the interim government announced its support for a two-week deadline for militias to quit Tripoli, backing up a threat from the capital's council to lock down the city if they fail to do so by December 20.

The militias took part in the liberation of Tripoli in August and have been in the city ever since, often occupying buildings to use as their headquarters.

But pressure is mounting to disarm the former rebels, whose factions have been engaged in skirmishes in recent weeks.

Mr Rudd said it was up to the Libyan authorities to determine their own priorities.

"While we are two countries a long way from each other on the map, we are close to one another in our hearts," he said.


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Source: AAP



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