U.K. boots Qaddafi envoys, recognizes rebels
LONDON - Britain is officially recognizing Libya's main opposition group as the country's legitimate government, and expelling all diplomats from Muammar Qaddafi's regime.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said Wednesday Britain was unfreezing 91 million pounds ($150 million) of Libyan oil assets to help the National Transitional Council, which the U.K. now recognizes as the country's sole legitimate authority.
Hague's announcement in London came just hours after Libya's state TV showed video of the only man convicted in the 1988 bombing of a U.S. aircraft over Lockerbie, Scotland attending a pro-Qaddafi rally in Tripoli - a symbolic show of defiance by the Libyan regime.
Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was shown wearing a white turban and sitting in a wheelchair during Tuesday's rally.
He was convicted in the bombing of a Pan Am plane that killed 270 people, most of them Americans, over the Scottish town.
He was released from a Scottish prison in 2009 on medical grounds after being diagnosed with prostate cancer and returned to a hero's welcome in Libya.
The decision to release Megrahi was made by Scottish justice officials based on evidence from doctors in the country who examined him in prison and determined he likely had just two months to live.
Hague slammed that medical advice as "pretty much worthless" Wednesday, the most stinging rebuke to the Scottish decision to date by a senior British official.
Qaddafi is locked in battle with Libyan rebels who have seized control of the east of the country and pockets in the west since a civil war erupted in February.
Britain's announcement came a week after France suggested a possible way out of Libya's civil war would be to allow Qaddafi to stay in the country if he relinquishes power.
Qaddafi insists he will neither step down nor flee the country he has led for four decades. With the NATO-led air campaign against Qaddafi's forces entering its fifth month and the fighting in a stalemate, the international community is seeking exit strategies.