[ 2011-04-14 ]

Allies to step up military pressure on Libya
France and Britain have agreed to step up military
pressure on Muammar Gaddafi's regime after meeting
of world powers in Doha promised Libyan rebels
cash and the means to defend themselves.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and David
Cameron, the British prime minister, agreed on a
heightened military pressure against Gaddafi
during a working dinner in Paris on Wednesday,
according to a source in the French presidency.

"All means must be made available" in the fight
against Gaddafi , the source said.

Ahead of a NATO meeting on Thursday, London and
Paris moved to exert more pressure on their allies
to help defeat the Libyan regime.

Cameron said he will "leave no stone unturned,
militarily, diplomatically, politically, to
enforce the UN resolution, to put real pressure on
Gaddafi and to stop the appalling murder of
civilians that he is still carrying out as you've
shown on our television screens in Misurata and
elsewhere in Libya".

The NATO meeting was part of a three-pronged push
by the international community to find a solution
to end the fighting in Libya and halt the growing
political impasse.

On Wednesday in Doha, the so-called Libya contact
group pledged financial support for rebels.

And on Thursday, international leaders gathered in
Cairo to focus on political solutions and look for
ways to reinforce co-ordination between the Arab
League, the UN and the African Union.

The diplomatic moves come amid rising friction
within the alliance over a NATO air campaign in
Libya that has so far failed to change the balance
of power on the ground.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, who
arrived in Berlin for the meetings on Thursday and
Friday, issued a statement denouncing what she
said were continuing attacks on civilians by
Gaddafi's forces.

"In recent days, we have received disturbing
reports of renewed atrocities conducted by
Gaddafi's forces," she said.

Air strikes criticised

Even as NATO and its allies scrambled to formulate
a unified front on Libya, five big emerging powers
expressed misgivings about the air strikes against
Gaddafi targets and urged an end to the fighting.

The air campaign was one of the issues on the
table when the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa (BRICS) met in southern
China for a one- day summit on Thursday.

While expressing their concern about Libya, the
strength of the leaders' public comments varied,
suggesting that they did not emerge from their
summit with a firmly united stance.

"We are deeply concerned with the turbulence in
the Middle East, the North African and West
African regions," the leaders said in a joint
statement issued after the summit in the resort of
Sanya.

Meanwhile in Tripoli, Khaled Kaim, the Libyan
deputy foreign minister, charged that elements of
the Lebanese group Hezbollah were fighting
alongside the rebels in the east of his country.

He said Qatar had sent military trainers to Libya
and was supplying the rebels with French-made
Milan anti-tank missiles.

Trust fund for rebels

Mahmud Jibril, who handles foreign policy for the
rebels' Transitional National Council, was due in
Washington to meet with senior state and defence
department officials and congressional leaders.
But his trip was cancelled and the talks
postponed, US officials said.

In Doha, the international contact group on Libya
decided, after a day-long gathering, to set up a
"temporary financial mechanism" to aid the rebels
seeking to oust Gaddafi.

It "affirmed that Gaddafi's regime has lost all
legitimacy and he should leave and allow the
Libyan people to decide their future."

While there was a consensus that Gaddafi must go,
differences emerged over arming the rebels.

The rebel leadership said in a Tweet: "We're
discussing weapons deals with countries that
officially recognised the council; we've been
getting positive replies."

The meeting's final statement said "participants
in the contact group agreed to continue to provide
support to the opposition, including material
support."

Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, the Qatari prime
minister, told reporters the statement refers to
"humanitarian means, and also means of defence.
And that means that the Libyan people should get
the means that they need to defend themselves."

But he seemed to acknowledge that this view was
not universally held. He said "people gathered
here have different interpretations," while
reiterating that "the first thing that the Libyan
people need is self-defence".

Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister,
said "either we make it possible for these people
to defend themselves, or we withdraw from our
obligation to support defending the population of
Libya".

The UN resolution "does not prohibit supplying
arms ... for self-defence," Frattini said.

Meanwhile, William Hague, the British foreign
secretary, said Britain had been providing
non-lethal equipment to the rebels, and would
continue to do so.

Belgium expressed opposition to arming the rebels,
while Germany insisted that there could be "no
military solution".

But Mahmud Shammam, a spokesman for the rebels,
indicated that the arms issue does not require
consensus.

"If needed, we will request (arms) from countries
on a bilateral basis," he said.

Source - Al Jazeera and agencies

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