Obama Praises Libya’s Post-Qaddafi Leaders at U.N.

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Source: The New York Times

UNITED NATIONS — President Obama met Libya’s transitional leader for the first time on Tuesday, and extolled what he called the Libyan people’s successful struggle to depose Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. The meeting came on the first of two days of annual meetings of the United Nations General Assembly, during which the most vexing issue confronting Mr. Obama will be the Palestinian quest for full membership.

“Just as the world stood by you in your struggle to be free, we will stand with you in your struggle to realize the peace and prosperity that freedom can bring,” the president said at a meeting on Libya’s future, which included other world leaders and emissaries from the Transitional National Council, the group of former Libyan rebels whose forces ended Colonel Qaddafi’s four decades of absolute rule last month. Before the meeting, Mr. Obama met privately with the leader of the council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil.

In his remarks at the meeting, Mr. Obama warned the Libyans that it “will take time to build the institutions needed for a democratic Libya — there will be days of frustration.” But he said the successful overthrow of Colonel Qaddafi, with aid from a NATO bombing campaign, had demonstrated that the world should “not underestimate the aspirations and will of the Libyan people.”

Mr. Obama announced that the United States was officially reopening its embassy in Tripoli, which was closed in the early days of the conflict. An advance military team has been in the Libyan capital for the past week to prepare for the reopening.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/world/obama-meets-with-world-leaders-at-united-nations.html