France steps up efforts for Libya no-fly zone

TRIPOLI (Agencies)

France was stepping up efforts on Monday to persuade world powers to impose a no-fly zone over
Libya, as Muammar Gaddafi’s troops battled revolt fighters for control of the strategic oil town of Brega. France said on Sunday it would consult other powers “in the coming hours” to try to set up such a zone to assure the protection of civilians “in the face of the terrible violence suffered by the Libyan population.” It said the Arab League’s weekend call on the United Nations to impose such a zone showed the world’s concern for Libyan civilians. Arab support satisfies one of three conditions set by NATO for it to police Libyan air space. The others were proof that its help was needed, and a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that any NATO military operation in Libya would be unhelpful and fraught with risk.

“We have seen from other examples that foreign interventions, especially military interventions, only deepen the problem,” Erdogan said at a conference in Istanbul.

“Therefore we see a NATO military intervention in another country as extremely unbeneficial and, moreover, are concerned that it could create dangerous results,” said Erdogan, whose country is the only Muslim member of NATO.

China, Russia & India

China and Russia, both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, have expressed skepticism about the need for a no-fly zone in Libya. India, a temporary Security Council member, has come out against the idea.

On the ground, government troops advancing east took Brega early on Sunday in what looked like an increasingly confident drive towards the revolutionaries stronghold of Benghazi.

However, the protesters, inspired by the overthrow of the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents to try to end Gaddafi’s four-decade rule, said they had re-taken Brega on Sunday night. There was no way of verifying the rival claims.

The government, whose forces had previously captured Ras Lanuf, another oil town 100 km west of Brega, said earlier it was certain of victory and threatened to “bury” the rebels, whom it linked to al-Qaeda and “foreign security services”.

Gaddafi himself met the Russian, Chinese and Indian ambassadors and urged their countries to invest in Libya’s oil sector, badly disrupted by the uprising and the flight of tens of thousands of expatriates oil workers.

Libyan oil exports have been badly disrupted by the fighting, lack of staff, international sanctions and the refusal of international banks to fund trade deals. Some experts say it may take a year for output to recover to its previous level of about 1.6 million barrels per day.

International crude prices fell by about $1 a barrel on Gaddafi regaining territory over the weekend.

No-fly zone consultations

At the United Nations, a diplomat told Reuters the Security Council would hold consultations on a no-fly zone on Monday.

Russia and China, diplomats said, would have difficulty vetoing authorization for a no-fly when the Arab League had requested it.

Envoys said Moscow and Beijing might prefer to abstain when the issue came to a vote.

France hosts a Group of Eight foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday and said they would discuss the violence in Libya.

The Libyan government said it would welcome an African Union panel to try to help resolve the crisis, but condemned the Arab League call for a no-fly zone, describing it as “a dangerous act for Arab security that only serves the Zionist enemy.”

Time, however, is short for ill-equipped rebels facing far superior firepower, including warplanes and helicopters.

A Libyan government army source told state television on Sunday: “Brega has been cleansed of armed gangs,” and revolt fighters retreating eastwards were demoralized.

“There’s no uprising anymore,” said rebel Nabeel Tijouri, his heavy machinegun destroyed in the fighting. “The other day we were in Ras Lanuf, then Brega, the day after tomorrow they will be in Benghazi.”

Brega is 220 km (135 miles) south of the protesters stronghold of Benghazi and Ajdabiyah is the only sizeable town between them.

General Abdel Fatah Yunis, who resigned as Gaddafi’s interior minister soon after the protests began in mid-February, vowed to defend Ajdabiya.

“Ajdabiya is a vital city,” he told reporters in Benghazi.

“It’s on the route to the east, to Benghazi and to Tobruk and also to the south. Ajdabiya’s defense is very important… We will defend it.”

“Certain of our victory”

The flat desert terrain means the government’s aircraft and tanks outweigh the rebels’ enthusiasm and light weaponry, except in towns where the odds against the rebels are reduced.

State television carried a confident official message. “We are certain of our victory, whatever the price,” it said.

“Those acts of division will be buried together with those who committed them, who are linked to foreign security services and the terrorist organization al-Qaeda,” it said.

Late on Sunday, revolt media officer Mustafa Gheriani told reporters in Benghazi the protesters had retaken Brega, killed 25 Gaddafi fighters and taken 20 prisoners.

“Tonight it (Brega) is back in the hands of the revolutionaries, but they will probably come back tomorrow with big machines, bomb it and take it back again,” Gheriani said. “This is a war of resolve and the resolve of his (Gaddafi’s) people is breaking down.”

Rashid Khalikov, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Libya, said in an interview he wanted unimpeded access:

“The situation is changing from one day to another,” he said. “The main concern is to find out what’s going on, which we don’t know…The civilian population is suffering a lot.”

The Libyan conflict has escalated from a popular uprising similar to protests that toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt and have shaken other countries in the region. It is now more akin to a civil war.

Protests in the capital had stopped.

“Lethal force, arbitrary arrests”

Human Rights Watch said: “Gaddafi and his security forces are brutally suppressing all opposition in Tripoli — including peaceful protests — with lethal force, arbitrary arrests, and forced disappearances.”

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned that protesters were being denied medical help in government-held areas and called for access to treatment for the wounded.

“In several conflict zones, such as Zawiyah and Misrata, large numbers of people are cut off from any external assistance, while critical medical needs and shortages of medicine and materials are reported,” it said.

Fresh from crushing the revolt in Zawiyah, west of Tripoli, elite government troops and tanks turned to Misrata, Libya’s third biggest city with 300,000 people and the only pocket of rebel resistance outside the east.

Protesters said a mutiny among government troops stalled their advance on Sunday for a second day, but this was impossible to confirm independently.

The White House welcomed the Arab League decision, but stopped short of giving full support for the no-fly zone, which Britain and France have been backing.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due in Paris Monday to meet her G8 counterparts and hold talks with Mahmoud Jibril, a top member of the national council, representing Libya’s opposition movement.

Clinton has said a plan for a no-fly zone would be presented to NATO on Tuesday.