Arab Ministers Urge Libyans to Avoid Revenge

DOHA, Aug 23 (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of leading Arab states called on the Libyan people on Tuesday to avoid revenge "for the sake of building a new Libya" after rebels overran Muammar Gaddafi's headquarters in Tripoli.

The ministers of Arab states including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, convening in Doha for a meeting of the Arab League's peace process committee, also called on the U.N. Security Council to urgently release $2.5 billion in frozen Libyan assets to pay salaries and meet humanitarian needs in Libya.

They reviewed "recent developments there which signal that the Libyan people are near to realising their aspirations for freedom and human dignity", said an official statement released after the meeting and obtained by Reuters.

They proposed inviting the Libyan rebel council to an Aug. 27 Arab League ministerial meeting to discuss events in the Arab world, including in Libya and Syria.

"The attendees called on all Libyan forces to show a spirit of mercy and a rejection of revenge ... for the sake of building a new Libya," it said.

They said the $2.5 billion in frozen funds should be released before Eid al-Fitr, a holiday which falls next week and marks the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. (Writing by Tom Perry in Ramallah Editing by Maria Golovnina)