Polish FM in Libya rebel city to show EU support

(BENGHAZI) - Poland's foreign minister travelled to the Libyan rebel capital Benghazi on Wednesday to show European Union support for the uprising but he stopped short of recognising their administration.

"We recognise the council as the legitimate interlocutor of the international community and as a representative of the democratic aspirations of the Libyan people," Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters.

But that did not mean Poland, which takes over the rotating presidency of the EU in July, recognises the National Transitional Council as the sole legitimate authority in the state, council vice chairman Abdul Hafiz Ghoga told AFP.

France, Italy, Qatar and Gambia remain the only four states to recognise the NTC as Libya's sole ruling body, Ghoga said.

Sikorski's visit came the same day that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the European bloc planned to open an office in Benghazi to shore up assistance to the opposition to Moamer Kadhafi.

Sikorski, who said he had travelled to Libya after consultations with Ashton, said: "We admire what you are doing." He added that the EU would work with the opposition to help bring democracy to Libya.

"We in Poland, like you here, are a revolutionary people. In Poland we cast away the chains of dictatorship 22 years ago... If we could do it... 22 years ago, so can you," he said.

"We believe that the best thing that Colonel Kadhafi can do is relinquish the reins of power," he said at a joint press conference with Ghoga.

Sikorski, the first European foreign minister to travel to the eastern rebel capital since the uprising began in mid-February, said in response to a question that he had not discussed the wave of illegal immigration from Libya to Europe.

Ghoga said if the NTC took power in Tripoli, "we asssure you that we will try to stop this immigration," stressing that the migrants were travelling from Kadhafi-controlled western Libya and not from the rebel-held east.

NATO, which is leading air strikes against pro-Kadhafi forces to protect civilians, has decided to establish its own civilian post in Benghazi in an effort to step up political contacts with the opposition.