Germany says it has frozen the assets of the Libyan Central Bank and other state—run agencies in an attempt to cut off funding to Moammar Qadhafi’s embattled regime.
Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said in a statement on Thursday that the total amount blocked is “in the billions.”
He says the “measures are a clear reaction to the developments in Libya - the brutal suppression of the Libyan freedom movement can now no longer be financed from funds that are in German banks.”
The move comes after Mr. Bruederle’s ministry already provisionally blocked Libyan accounts on March 1.
Also affected are accounts belonging to the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio, the Libyan Foreign Bank and the Libyan Investment Authority.