THE PROSPECT of military intervention in Libya receded yesterday after France failed to persuade G8 foreign ministers to approve plans for a no-fly zone.
French foreign minister Alain Juppé conceded after a summit in Paris that he had failed to persuade his counterparts to support targeted air attacks and suggested that, with Muammar Gadafy’s forces gaining the upper hand on the rebels, the moment for external action may have passed.
“If we had used military force last week to neutralise a number of airstrips and a few dozen of their planes, perhaps the reversals against the opposition might not have happened,” Mr Juppé said.
While France’s position was supported by Britain, Russia remained sceptical and Germany was flatly opposed to it, resulting in a final declaration that did not even mention a no-fly zone.
The communique affirmed that Libyans had the right to democracy and that Col Gadafy faced “dire consequences” if he ignored citizens’ rights. It urged the UN Security Council, which meets today, to increase pressure on his regime.
“One has to ask the question whether military intervention would hurt more than it helps,” German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle said after the meeting.
“We do not want to get sucked in to a war in north Africa and we would not like to step on to a slippery slope.”
The divisions mirrored a lack of consensus over the issue at the security council, where veto-wielding states Russia and China, and Germany, a temporary member, are reluctant to sanction an intervention.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said a call by the Arab League for a no-fly zone over Libya was short on detail and more information was needed on how it could work, given the Arab League’s opposition to foreign military intervention.
“We are waiting for the Arab League to make specific proposals,” Mr Lavrov said. “We need to have more specific information to see how our friends in the Arab League see that and once we have that we will consider all options.”
British foreign secretary William Hague insisted there was common ground on the need for some form of additional pressure on Col Gadafy among the foreign ministers of France, the US, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia. Ministers discussed ideas such as establishing “safety zones” in Libya and tightening sanctions, but Mr Hague said any action would have to be agreed at the UN Security Council.
“There is common ground here in the G8 and while not every nation sees eye to eye on issues such as the no-fly zone, there is a common appetite to increase the pressure on Gadafy,” he said.
Attention now turns to the UN security council, where France and Britain – supported by Lebanon, the only Arab state represented on the body – hope to table a draft resolution.
Leaving the Paris meeting, Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini observed that “tanks move faster than debates in the UN Security Council” but added that “we don’t want to respond to violence in the same way”.