Gadafy forces using civilians as human shields, says Nato

FRENCH FOREIGN minister Alain Juppé has said the military situation in Libya is “unclear and uncertain”, with Nato jets finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish Muammar Gadafy’s forces from civilians.

While military intervention had averted a massacre in the eastern city of Benghazi and prevented the defeat of the rebels, Mr Juppé said, “it has not tipped the balance of forces between those of Gadafy and those of the opposition. We must work on a political solution.”

He also contradicted his cabinet colleague, defence minister Gérard Longuet, by hinting it would be legally permissible for the coalition to arm the rebels.

Nato, stung by complaints from the rebels that air strikes had eased since it took over from US command, said Col Gadafy’s soldiers were making its task more difficult by using human shields.

Spokeswoman Carmen Romero maintained that “the pace of our operations continues unabated. The ambition and the position of our strikes has not changed.”

She said that relieving the siege of Misurata, a rebel enclave in the west, was the priority but conceded that Col Gafady’s army was a resourceful, elusive target.

“The situation on the ground is constantly evolving. Gadafy’s forces are changing tactics, using civilian vehicles, hiding tanks in cities such as Misurata and using human shields to hide behind.”

Misurata, under daily shelling, tank and sniper fire, is the sole significant population centre in western Libya – about 200km east of Tripoli – where the revolt against Col Gadafy has not been stamped out. Mr Juppé said its ordeal “cannot go on” but that “the situation is unclear”.

The chief of France’s armed forces, Admiral Edouard Guillaud, said he would like to see faster progress “but . . . protecting civilians means not firing anywhere near them. That is precisely the difficulty.”

With concerns growing about civilians, France pledged yesterday to open a sea corridor to allow the rebels to send aid and supplies to Misurata. “We are going to ensure that . . . aid comes from Benghazi and that at no moment Gadafy’s military forces will be able to stop this,” Mr Longuet said.

The inconclusive battlefield situation, defections from Col Gadafy’s camp and the plight of civilians ensnared in fighting or running out of food and fuel, has spurred diplomatic activity in pursuit of a peaceful solution.

Asked about the option of arming the rebels to help them force a breakthrough, Mr Juppé contradicted Mr Longuet, who said last week that such assistance would not be compatible with United Nations Security Council resolutions.

“There is an embargo on arms destined for the Jamahiriya [Col Gadafy’s term for his state, meaning republic of the masses], in other words for Gadafy’s troops,” Mr Juppé said, implying he believed there was no legal ban on arming the opposition.

Nato claims coalition air strikes have destroyed 30 per cent of Col Gadafy’s military capacity and that the intervention appears to have fashioned a stalemate in which neither side has the strength to overrun the other. A stand-off has developed near the eastern oil town of Brega, where the front line has remained broadly stagnant for more than a week.

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis have made little progress this week, with the rebels adamant that Col Gadafy must step down and the government, aware of the limitations of western intervention, offering minor concessions but insisting he will stay in power.