Libya requests UK not to push IRA compensation bill

Gaddafi supplied arms to IRA during conflict in Northern Ireland

The Tripoli-based head of Libya’s sovereign wealth fund has urged Britain not to pursue a demand that some of its $67 billion (Dh246 billion) worth of frozen assets be used to compensate past victims of Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacks.

The plea was made by Ali Mahmoud Hassan Mohammad, chairman and chief executive of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), to Britain’s Junior Foreign Minister Alistair Burt.

“There is no lawful basis for the United Kingdom to seize or change ownership of the frozen LIA assets. These belong to the Libyan people,” Mohammad said in a letter sent to Burt on Wednesday. “The UN Security Council has likewise ruled that frozen assets, when released, must be used for the benefit of the Libyan people.”