Japan to recognize Libya's rebel council as legitimate on Fri.+

TOKYO, July 14 Kyodo -
Japan will declare on Friday its recognition of Libya's main antigovernment group, the Transitional National Council, as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people, State Foreign Secretary Chiaki Takahashi said Thursday.
Parliamentary Vice Foreign Minister Hisashi Tokunaga will announce Tokyo's recognition of the political body as ''the legitimate interlocutor'' at an international meeting on Libya in Istanbul, Takahashi said.
Japan has been working with the international community to stop fighting between the rebel group and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces and will follow decisions by some European countries, the United States and Turkey to support the council, the state secretary said.
The Istanbul meeting will mainly discuss reconstruction steps after the situation in the conflict-ravaged country stabilizes, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.