UK calls for fund to help pay for Libyan rebels' bills

DOHA: Britain called on Wednesday for a temporary financial mechanism to be set up to help pay for public sector costs in rebel-held areas of Libya.

"We should move forward quickly to ensure that nations wishing to support the Libyan rebel  interim National Council in meeting its public sector costs can do so in a transparent manner," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said at the start of a meeting of an international contact group on Libya.

"So I hope we can agree to set up a temporary financial mechanism in the region for the benefit of the interim National Council-controlled areas of Libya," he said.