FRENCH POLICY:FRANCE IS pressing for international agreement on a no-fly zone over Libya after becoming the first country to formally recognise a rebel group fighting Muammar Gadafy's forces as the legitimate voice of the Libyan people.
French officials acknowledge that opposition to military action from UN Security Council members Russia and China would stymie any moves to launch air attacks on Libyan ground installations, while the United States remains unconvinced by the proposal. “We’re not there yet,” a senior Élysée Palace official said, but Paris, with support from London, believes that a sudden turn in events in Libya could bring sceptics around to the idea.
President Nicolas Sarkozy will tell EU leaders in Brussels today that military plans for every scenario must be urgently drawn up. “If, God forbid, there was an absolutely egregious action [against civilians], then the security council would suddenly be under pressure to act from public opinion all over the world, and above all in the Arab world,” said a senior Élysée Palace official. “So we could suddenly have what was impossible a day before – a UN resolution . . . that’s why it’s important to put plans in place.”
France believes the support, “even symbolic”, of Arab states will be necessary to impose a no-fly zone, which would require the bombing of Libyan air defence sites and possibly the deployment of special forces on the ground. Libya’s neighbours, including Egypt and Tunisia, could offer practical aid by making their airports available to an international force.
“If they can finish the job themselves, that’s very much their preference,” the French official said of the Libyan rebels. “Our role is not to substitute ourselves for the people of Libya. At the same time, the Libyan National Council has made an appeal on specific points, to help in areas where they can’t do the job. So we have a request from Libya, to which we must try to respond, within international law.”
After a meeting with representatives of the council in Paris, Mr Sarkozy’s office confirmed that France had recognised the group as the legitimate voice of Libya. France will now send an envoy to Benghazi and receive an ambassador from the council in Paris.
At their summit on the north African crisis, EU leaders are expected to devote much of their time to agreeing further humanitarian measures as well as financial aid for Tunisia and Egypt.
Migration will be one of the most sensitive items on the agenda, with southern European states seeking measures to help avert a sharp rise in the flow of refugees crossing the Mediterranean. A strengthened role for Frontex, the EU’s border agency, is likely to be discussed, as well as deeper co-operation with the authorities in Tunisia – the point of departure for a number of boats destined for Italy in recent weeks.
“We have a good dialogue with the Tunisian authorities, and we’re going to help them,” the French official said. “One of the difficulties in the current situation is that in Tunisia and Egypt the police have largely disappeared, so there’s a real problem of control of the borders.”