Europe may send force to ensure Libya aid delivery
Source: Agencies |
April 20, 2011, Wednesday
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EUROPE is ready to send an armed force to Libya to ensure delivery of humanitarian aid and Britain said yesterday it will dispatch senior military officers to advise the opposition - signs that Western nations are inching closer to having troops on Libyan soil.
The bid by the European Union to deploy the armed force to escort humanitarian aid drew an immediate warning from Moammar Gadhafi's government that this would be tantamount to a military operation.
The new tactics seem to have been spurred by the continued deadlock after two months of fighting between Gadhafi's army and rebel forces. There has also been growing international concern over the fate of the besieged rebel city of Misrata, where NATO has been unable to halt heavy shelling by Gadhafi's forces.
Misrata, Libya's third-largest city, has been under siege for nearly two months, with rebels holding on to seaside positions in the port area. In recent days, Libyan troops have pounded the city with shells and rockets. Yesterday, rebels and troops clashed in central Misrata.
NATO officials acknowledged yesterday that they are having trouble destroying Gadhafi's mortars and rocket launchers from the air, for fear of inadvertently harming civilians in such strikes. "It's not a conventional war," said Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, chairman of NATO's military committee.
The fighting in Libya has been deadlocked for the past month. Gadhafi is holding on in the west, while the rebels control the east.
As the allies seek ways to break the battlefield stalemate, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain will send a team of up to 20 senior military advisers to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to help organize the opposition forces. He insisted they would not be involved in supplying weapons to the rebels or in assisting their attacks.
The EU, meanwhile, said it could deploy an armed force to Libya within days to ensure the delivery of humanitarian supplies.
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim, asked about the possibility of foreign troop escorts of aid convoys, said "if there is any deployment of any armed personnel on Libyan ground, there will be fighting, and the Libyan government will not take this as a humanitarian mission" but as a military one.
The bid by the European Union to deploy the armed force to escort humanitarian aid drew an immediate warning from Moammar Gadhafi's government that this would be tantamount to a military operation.
The new tactics seem to have been spurred by the continued deadlock after two months of fighting between Gadhafi's army and rebel forces. There has also been growing international concern over the fate of the besieged rebel city of Misrata, where NATO has been unable to halt heavy shelling by Gadhafi's forces.
Misrata, Libya's third-largest city, has been under siege for nearly two months, with rebels holding on to seaside positions in the port area. In recent days, Libyan troops have pounded the city with shells and rockets. Yesterday, rebels and troops clashed in central Misrata.
NATO officials acknowledged yesterday that they are having trouble destroying Gadhafi's mortars and rocket launchers from the air, for fear of inadvertently harming civilians in such strikes. "It's not a conventional war," said Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, chairman of NATO's military committee.
The fighting in Libya has been deadlocked for the past month. Gadhafi is holding on in the west, while the rebels control the east.
As the allies seek ways to break the battlefield stalemate, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain will send a team of up to 20 senior military advisers to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to help organize the opposition forces. He insisted they would not be involved in supplying weapons to the rebels or in assisting their attacks.
The EU, meanwhile, said it could deploy an armed force to Libya within days to ensure the delivery of humanitarian supplies.
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim, asked about the possibility of foreign troop escorts of aid convoys, said "if there is any deployment of any armed personnel on Libyan ground, there will be fighting, and the Libyan government will not take this as a humanitarian mission" but as a military one.
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