US targets Libyan PM, ministers with sanctions

WASHINGTON: The U.S. government has reached the Prime Minister of Libya and its oil and finance ministers sanctions Friday in a new bid to break the inner circle of Moammar Gadhafi.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced it had frozen the assets of top five assists Gaddafi, including Shukri Ghanem, head of the oil company's powerful country.
He also targeted Prime Minister Mahmoud Baghdadi.

The United States has frozen about $ 34 billion in Libyan assets since mid-February and tried to use the release of funds as a carrot for aid to a fault.

"We will continue to expose and impose sanctions on the Libyan government officials who choose to stay next to Gaddafi," said U.S. sanctions Czar David Cohen.

"They have a choice to make, and we will make that choice as hard as possible."
Earlier this month, the U.S. government lifted sanctions against the former Foreign Minister Musa Kusa, having defected to Britain.

On Friday, the Treasury Department has also placed sanctions on Qaddafi International Charity and Development and the Waatasemu Charity Association, two organizations controlled by the Libyan leader and his children. - (AFP)