U.S. Secretary of States Hillary Clinton has recommended up to 25 million dollars in non-lethal aid to the Libyan opposition, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Wednesday.
"This is not 25 million dollars in actual cash or money, it's actually in goods and services that would be drawn down from items already in government stocks that correspond with the needs" of the Interim Transitional National Council, Toner told reporters at a news briefing.
He noted that President Barack Obama has yet to authorize the recommendation made on the basis of Clinton's consultations with her interagency counterparts and the proposed aid is not connected to the frozen assets of the Libyan government in the United States.
He said the proposed aid would come in the form of things like radios, body armour and MREs (meals ready to eat).
The Libya Contact Group, which comprises Western powers and some Middle East states, agreed to fund and provide "material support" for the Libyan opposition at a meeting last week in Qatar's capital Doha.
Britain, which is spearheading air raids on ground targets of Libyan government forces along with France, has supplied satellite phones and body armour to the opposition. In another move on Tuesday, the British government decided to send experienced military advisors to assist the
opposition in their deadlocked battle against government forces, with France and Italy following suit on Wednesday.
The Western powers have made clear their goal of removing Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi from power, but it is not part of a UN Security Council resolution authorizing "all necessary measures" to protect the Libyan civilians.